ST KILDA defender Jimmy Webster let his side down after he copped a two-match ban for eye-gouging Fremantle's Nick Suban at Domain Stadium last Sunday, Saints captain Jarryn Geary says.
Webster accepted his suspension on Tuesday after the club considered challenging the Match Review Panel's finding of intentional conduct with medium impact to the head.
It happened in the second quarter of the club's nine-point win.
"I've had conversations with him about jeopardising his spot in the team by doing something unnecessary," Geary said on Tuesday.
"Obviously he's pretty lucky it didn't end up converting into a goal, but Jimmy knows he's let himself down. He's let us down.
Match preview: St Kilda v Richmond
"We're not going to have one of our better players for the season for the next couple of weeks, which is disappointing.
"But I'm sure when Jimmy comes back into the team, he'll learn from that and become a better player and better person.
"He's pretty remorseful today that he's not going to be able to come out and run out with us on the weekend. Going forward, hopefully it's something he learns from and something that doesn't really happen again."
Webster missed a couple of games earlier this season with a broken right hand. Both of those were losses, against Sydney and the Western Bulldogs.
The left-footer's toughness and kicking skills will be sorely missed against Richmond on Saturday night at Etihad Stadium.
On-field discipline has also been an issue for star midfielder Jack Steven.
The triple best and fairest has been twice fined for striking this season (on Dogs midfielder Marcus Bontempelli and Dockers forward Hayden Ballantyne) and if he commits another low-level classifiable offence, Steven will automatically miss a week.
Taggers have negated Steven at times, with the Saint finishing with 17 disposals or fewer in three of his past five games.
"It's something we've spoken about. We definitely need to help him out," Geary said.
"He's in the same boat as Jimmy, probably needs to be able to control his reactions a little bit better as well. It's now a couple of times he's had a few fines reacting to the attention he's had.
"The tagger's always going to be there. It's something that happens when you're a really good player. You need to learn to deal with it yourself. We're looking to help him as much as you can."
Inaccurate goalkicking has plagued St Kilda's season. In nine of 14 matches, the Saints have had more behinds than goals.
Champion Data ranks St Kilda equal worst in the competition (with the Western Bulldogs) at converting its chances, when accounting for where a shot is taken from and what type of kick it is.
Jack Lonie (26 per cent worse than the AFL average), Mav Weller (22 per cent), Jack Steven (13 per cent) and Jade Gresham (11 per cent) have been some of the worst offenders.
"We've probably been having some shots that are from a wide range of angles and from too far out at times, so we probably need to work better on finding another option and giving ourselves a better opportunity to score," Geary said.
The Saints' playing group was in St Kilda to present $10,000 to the Maddie Riewoldt Foundation on behalf of the AFL Players' Association.
