ST KILDA’S Brendon Goddard believes his side's 30-point win over Hawthorn at Telstra Dome on Saturday was up there as one of the finest victories he has tasted in the red, white and black.
Goddard said the Saints knew it was going to be a tough ask to knock off the Hawks, but he was confident they could overcome the third-placed team.
"It's pretty high [in terms of wins I've had at the club] – especially the emotions after the game, which were really good," Goddard told saints.com.au.
"We drew confidence from the game in Carrara and we brought that up. We'd been in worse spots than this and everyone had confidence at half-time. There was a good vibe in the room and the boys came out [strongly] in the first five or 10 minutes and we were then able to get on top of them.
"The boys then ticked off the effort in the second half, which was great. We knew it was going to be a challenge and the Hawks have been up for awhile, so we knew we might have got them on an off week and the boys put in a really good team effort."
Goddard praised the performances of underrated Saint Jason Blake and inspirational skipper Nick Riewoldt in the win. The duo provided the pivotal spark in the third term.
"The efforts of Jason Blake in the third quarter and 'Rooey' standing up – his leadership has been awesome in the past six to eight weeks and he's in red-hot form," Goddard said.
"He's definitely grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck and he's been kicking goals – and he's been criticised in the past for not doing that – but his role in the team is just super and his leadership is outstanding.
"We knew everyone had to lift in the second half and give a little bit more and we did."
Goddard said the Saints couldn't afford to take their eye off the ball now.
"We're slowly digging ourselves out of a hole, from the first half of the season and we're just focusing now on playing West Coast next week at Subiaco," Goddard said.
"We need to again tick off the effort and get 22 contributors and that's what we've been focusing on, so hopefully we can do that next week."