One at a time: Eyes on the task, no jumping ahead, priority one for Dal Santo
Nick Dal Santo and the Saints aren’t looking too far the road as a potential finals berth remains in the air with two games left of
Senior coach Nick Dal Santo says a lack of execution on his side’s behalf against Walyalup has been a “small step back” compared to the past month of football, but is hopeful the Saints can correct course with two games remaining of the home-and-away season.
The Saints’ four-game winning streak came to a head on Sunday afternoon against an assertive Walyalup, who never looked like fumbling the bag following a four-goal start which saw them run out comfortable 24-point winners.
Walyalup’s ascendancy came from its dominant midfield efforts, which yielded one-sided inside-50s (44-18) and disposals (256-177) counts and was something Dal Santo said his side “couldn’t get right” in countering for large parts of the game.
“I think it was a combination of things, it wasn’t just the experience,” Dal Santo said on his side’s loss post-game.
“I thought Fremantle were really impressive from the word go. They challenged us and we were well aware of their style of play, we just didn’t execute our side of the play.
“We came over here with a really clear plan about how we wanted to go about our football. It’s something we’ve been building throughout the course of this year and (has) probably been more highlighted off the back of the last month where we’ve got some pleasing results, but we didn’t execute in any of those areas.”