AFLW champion Daisy Pearce has given her assessment of St Kilda’s list and how they drafted through the early-to-mid 2010s.
Pearce has compared the first-round picks the Saints acquired during that time to the players Melbourne selected.
The Demons selected the likes of Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver, Angus Brayshaw and Christian Salem – who have all become established stars of the competition that played key roles in the club’s drought-breaking 2021 premiership.
As for St Kilda, they didn’t quite nail their first-round selections in that same period.
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“I’m just trying to work out, where are they (the Saints) at with their list?” the Demons AFLW captain told SEN’s Whateley.
“It’s well known that they traded in 2018, 2019 and 2020 and brought players in, but for me, do they have enough young top end draft talent left on their list?
“It’s an interesting comparison with Melbourne because they’re two teams that until last year had had similar droughts, had been down the bottom on the ladder and would’ve had similar opportunities at the draft.
“When you run through the drafts of 2013, 2014, 2015 that the age group of players that should be making up the core of their top end talent right now, a lot of the St Kilda picks just aren’t there.
“I’m not saying this, or I didn’t run the exercise as a matter of trying to attribute blame on anyone because they’ve done really well with some picks with Callum Wilkie, Rowan Marshall and Jack Sinclair being all rookies and even the steal they got with their skipper Jack Steele.
“They’ve had some wins in terms of their list management, but the facts are a lot of their first-round picks just aren’t there.
“In 2013 they got Jack Billings, Luke Dunstan and Blake Acres. Billings through injury at the moment and a bit of form at the start of the year just isn’t playing, and of course Dunstan and Acres are playing at other clubs.
“Paddy McCartin in 2014, playing for Sydney, Jade Gresham pick 18 in 2015, he’s had a torrid run with injury.
“This is what I mean, they’re all different reasons as to why they’re not there, but the facts are they just aren’t out there.
“You look at Melbourne in the same drafts – Christian Salem in 2013, Christian Petracca and Angus Brayshaw in 2014, Clayton Oliver and Sam Weideman in 2015 – there’s the core of their side in Oliver, Petracca, Brayshaw, the players that should be driving this team at the moment and it’s just not on the park at St Kilda.
The Saints will most likely need to win their final two home and away games against Brisbane and Sydney to make the finals.
Pearce was asked if this current St Kilda side is good enough to win a premiership.
“Given that they did go at the trade (period) it did heighten that sense that it had to be now… this is their window with how aggressive they were at trade in that three-year period – 2018 to 2020,” she said.
“It feels like no. I feel like they’ve got aging top end talent in (Paddy) Ryder, who isn’t playing which hasn’t help their cause, (Brad) Hill and those kinds of player, and then the underbelly and those that should be coming through still feels like a while off.
“There does feel like there’s a gap at the moment that they’re going to have to bridge if it’s going to be now. I can’t see it, it feels like not to me.
Pearce continued: “When you look at their list and the great white hope of talent coming up who’s going to carry them, it feels like it’s Max King, doesn’t it?
“He’s their big win when I was talking about their drafting in the last nine years, Max King is the one that you go ‘yes, that’s a win’.
“He’s here, he’s committed, he’s signed a long-term deal and he’s got the talent.
“But that’s not enough.”
After years of trading, the Saints went to the draft in 2021 and selected Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera with their first pick before securing Academy prospects Mitchito Owens and Marcus Windhager.
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