IT'S TIME for St Kilda to get "back to basics" according to Saints midfielder Nick Dal Santo following St Kilda's demoralising 19-point loss to Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night.
Dal Santo, who was easily St Kilda's best against the Crows with 29 disposals and a goal, said the club is under no illusions regarding the Saints' lacklustre start to the season, managing just one win from five games.
"We're just not playing well at the moment - there's no other way to put it really." Dal Santo said.
"We've got no excuses, we never had any when we were winning games and we aren't going to try and find some now that we are losing.
"The message is clear. It's back to basics - it's as simple as that."
St Kilda was overawed by a more desperate Adelaide outfit in the opening-half of the match, with the Saints enduring a goalless first quarter and managing a meagre 1.9 in the first half to allow the Crows a 30-point lead at the major break.
"To put six behinds on the board in that first quarter was just costly," said Dal Santo of the Saints' disastrous opening-quarter.
"The position we put ourselves in early on in the game obviously cost us the match in the end.
Dal Santo said the loss against Adelaide highlighted a plethora of areas the Saints need to improve to rectify their season.
"I thought our accuracy was just way off. Our skill level across the four quarters was a little bit down as well.
"Our defence is giving up way too many goals and we are not kicking enough ourselves.
"We've just got to try and get our football right at the moment."
The Saints' slow start to the season has garnered much criticism from outside the club, with many pundits now questioning whether St Kilda can lift itself back into serious finals contention.
"There's bigger issues," said Dal Santo of the debate surrounding the Saints' finals credibility.
"We've got to look at the immediate future. I think with finals those sorts of things take care of themselves. It's more about the process of getting there.
"But we've got a lot to work on."
