ST Kilda has kept its undefeated start to the 2024 AFL Women’s season in tact after a win over Sydney on the weekend, and the start the Saints have had to the season has delighted coach Nick Dal Santo. 

“Yeah, really pleased,” Dal Santo said, speaking about the start to the season. 

“I mean, with the results absolutely, and had a similar conversation last week when we went up to the Gold Coast and pleased with the way that we played and our brand of football.

“And today was completely different challenges. That included Sydney and the way that they went about, and they played some fantastic football in the back half of last year. I thought their preseason looked solid from the vision that we’d seen with their practice matches.

“They were very impressive last week against the Pies. So we were well aware about what they look like when they play their best football, and we felt like we prepared really well.”

In 2024, St Kilda has also increased the number of different avenues they have to goal, which pleased their coach.

“Really pleased and I mean, it’s a cliche,” Dal Santo said. “We need everyone to do their job and to play their role. And when you look at the ball use, it’s probably more the halfbacks that are taking it forward.

“Externally, a lot of people speak about Jesse Wardlaw and probably rightly so she’s had a really solid start to the year, but she can’t do what she does if her other teammates aren’t doing their piece around her, but we’d like to think that we’ve got more avenues to goal than just Jesse and she’ll always have really good moments.

“But we’re really pleased with the growth and development of those around her to be able to play their role and hit the scoreboard as well.”

Another area that really pleased Dal Santo was how his defence was able to sustain pressure, but he noted there was still areas for his side to improve on.

“We were not going to be able to control the game for the whole thing, we’re well aware of that,” Dal Santo said.

“So there will be times where the opposition got momentum and that probably happened more in the last quarter. I thought we could have done some stuff better on field to manage those moments, but that happens. I mean, the Swans came hard.

“I thought their mids challenged us really strongly. I thought the ruck situation from the Swans probably gave them some advantage in that last quarter, and then you flip it and you look at our defenders, but also as a team defence. I felt we held up relatively well, even though we conceded I think three goals in the last quarter. So we’ve got work to do.”