ALAN Richardson believes St Kilda's performance against West Coast on Sunday wasn’t reflective of a bottom-of-the-ladder team.
In a heartening performance seven days after they were destroyed by Geelong by 96 points, the Saints fell to the Eagles by 33 in a hard-fought battle at Etihad Stadium.
With Jack Billings playing the best game of his short career, Billy Longer solid in the ruck against Nic Naitanui and Scott Lycett, and Jack Newnes and Shane Savage showing positive signs, Richardson said there was plenty of optimism to come from the game.
He was mainly pleased about the early efforts, which came after a slightly different week at the club where the players bonded over dinner at Wednesday night's State of Origin NRL game.
"We thought our attack on the ball - although we ended up getting beaten as the game wore on in contested possessions - we thought it was much better," Richardson said.
"It was really disappointing last week - that was a significant focus that we could at least come off the ground and respect each other in terms of our effort, attack on the footy, attack on the opposition, our tackle pressure was strong.
"Certainly from that point of view it was good."
With Greater Western Sydney's upset win over Carlton, Richmond's loss to the Sydney Swans and the Brisbane Lions' loss to Fremantle, the Saints remain on the bottom due to their percentage (59.3).
Richardson conceded last week's performance was indicative of a bottom side but he felt showing on Sunday – highlighted by Billings' "pretty special game" – would be capitalised on as the team settled as far as selection was concerned.
"There's no doubt as we continue to gain synergy, we've played 39 players - the club hasn't played that sort of numbers in one year, and we're only at half-way - for 15 years," he said.
"So there's been real instability in terms of understanding the way each other plays.
"As we start to solidify a little bit more and give those opportunity to the same group for as long as we can - I'm not sure whether we can but if we can - we're much more likely to get better performances going forward.
"I don't really care about [the ladder]; I just care about the way we play.
"Today was, whilst an incredibly small step given the performance of the team last week, it was really positive."
The recall of James Gwilt gave the Saints a much-needed injection of experience against the Eagles, as could the possible return of Adam Schneider for Saturday's clash with Richmond after his 33 touches in the VFL.
But Richardson said the main reason for optimism was the younger players standing up, especially Billings.
"There is no doubt in our better performances there has been a heavy reliance still on Lenny (Hayes) and 'Roo' (Nick Riewoldt) but Billings has had 25 possessions and got 100 per cent efficiency," he said.
"They are great numbers when you are a small forward, he's kicked three goals - they ended up putting [Mitch] Brown on him after quarter-time such was the influence he was having.
"That is a pretty special game.
"What the young guys have shown already is their appetite to work and I'm talking about away from the club to make sure they become the players we need them to become and they're earning the respect of their leaders.
"I think the fans should be excited about the young blokes coming through, absolutely."
Leigh Montagna was a late withdrawal with gastro and is expected to be available next week.
