ST KILDA got itself back on the AFL Women’s winners list last night after comfortably taking care of the GWS Giants.

“Well, it’s really pleasing that we did get a win,” Saints coach Nick Dal Santo said post match.

“Obviously we had a really nice start to the in regards to results and then had a tougher patch. But I actually thought the last couple of weeks have been some better signs. It was a big challenge last week, which was Friday night up against the crows on their home deck, and I thought we played some solid football.

“Clearly some areas to work on, which we came here with a clear plan that we needed to focus on some of those areas. Some of them I think we ticked off, which was really pleasing.

“But I think I say the same thing every week. There’s still a lot of other areas of the game we need to tidy up to be more consistent and compete with the really good teams.”

GWS did raise their pressure in the third term but St Kilda was able to negate it, which pleased the big boss.

“Absolutely, we actually spoke about that at halftime,” Dal Santo noted.

“We thought the Giants had had some moments, even within that first half where we thought they controlled field position and the flow of the game, and we thought that they’d come out swinging in that third quarter and they did. I think they controlled the majority of that third quarter and put us under a lot of pressure.

“They also kicked a couple of goals, which was probably expected with the amount of dominance that they probably had. But in saying that, I thought we held up relatively strong against that momentum and then probably found a way in that last quarter. I thought it was a really strong arm wrestle in that last quarter of field position, momentum, and then opportunities.”

There was a scare for St Kilda with Jaimee Lambert having to exit the field with a shoulder complaint but did return to the field. Dal Santo confirmed there was nothing to worry about with it.

“She’s a battering ram and she puts her body on the line for her teammates every single week, and when she plays that brand of football, she’s going to get a few knocks along the way,” he said. “But she played out the game. We expect her to be ready to go come Sunday afternoon.”

The Saints are in their toughest part of their fixture, having played on Friday and will need to back up again on Sunday for a clash with Melbourne.

Dal Santo said he and his players are “embracing” the challenges of the fixture at the moment.

“We’re spending a lot of time together, which is really nice,” Dal Santo said.

“You get to have a better connection and a better bond within that compressed fixture. We actually get two travels as well, so we’re really looking forward to those challenges within it. We’ll focus on our recovery, take some learnings out of tonight’s game and hopefully be better for it come Sunday arvo.”