Scott Watters beams about his Saints despite loss to Swans.
Sydney claim the first overseas AFL win, beating the Saints in Wellington.
Saints coach Scott Watters with his players after the loss in Wellington. Source: Getty Images
ST KILDA coach Scott Watters last night lauded the fighting spirit of his defeated side, after Sydney held off a hard-charging Saints outfit in Wellington's Anzac Day contest.
The Saints dragged the margin back within ten points in the last term after being 29 points down, and while Sydney steadied for a 16-point win the inexperienced St Kilda kept fighting.
Watters was frustrated at the close-checking tactics of Sydney's key defenders, labelling as ''interesting'' their continual blocking of his forwards well off the ball.
But while that might result in several days of scrutiny for Ted Richards and Heath Grundy, Watters' over-riding emotion was excitement his batch of raw kids and veterans nearly pulled off a fighting win.
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'(I am) really proud. I hate losing, we hate losing as a club, but I am really proud of their efforts. And if they continue to give that, win, lose or draw, the club moves forward,'' he said.
St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt ran himself to a standstill with 27 possessions and two goals, while Lenny Hayes (28 possessions, eight tackles, 11 clearances) was also exceptional.
''(We had) ninety seven tackles, plus two in contested ball against arguably the best contested ball side over the last three or four years,'' Watters said.
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''(There was) great leadership - I thought Nick's game today just reeked of one of the great captains. He knows he's got to lead a lot of our younger players and be a really strong role model.
"We had four or five kids that came in and none of them look out of place"
St Kilda had five players under three games experience, with debutantes Brodie Murdoch and Josh Saunders both looking at home at times.
Sydney went to 4-1 and rebounded strongly from their last-start defeat against Geelong, with Dan Hannebery winning the Anzac Day Medal ahead of worthy contenders Luke Parker, Riewoldt, Hayes, and Jarrad McVeigh.
Watters believes the St Kilda fans are coming along for the journey despite his recent concession the club's premiership window was likely slamming shut.
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The Saints face Collingwood, Carlton and Adelaide (away) in the next three weeks in a testing run.
''I hope the (supporters) enjoy the strong performances of both our younger and our older players,'' Watters said.'\
'That's the great part of supporting a footy club. We all want to win, mark my words we don't put the time in and the players don't train their guts out to lose, that's not what we're about.
"There's value in effort, there's value in courage under pressure.''
Unprompted, Watters questioned whether Sydney's defenders were infringing their opponents too far from the ball.
''I think they block off the ball better than any defensive group in the league. We need to have a really good look at the way they block from 10 or 15 metres away off the ball and see if we can bring some of that into our game.
"Some of their blocking, yeah, was pretty interesting, but we will learn from it.'
'We need to have a good look at the way they block 10 or 15 metres off the ball and don't get infringed against.''
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