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Rohan Connolly will be blogging here live from 12pm on Monday. Leave a comment now or join the conversation from midday.
Saints captain Nick Riewoldt celebrates with fans after the victory over the Cats. Photo: Getty Images/AFL Media
THE TRIUMPH
St Kilda coach Alan Richardson wasn't prepared to say outright this was the Saints' best win in his tenure as coach. So let us do it. The Saints took on the ladder leader and not only jumped them comprehensively, but then fought back on three separate occasions when the Cats surged, even hauling back a nine-point deficit with less than six minutes remaining. Their forward set-up was damaging, their midfield managed to at least for a while blunt the effectiveness of "Dangerwood", and their hardness at the contest was evidence in the clearance and tackle counts. This wasn't just a good win. It could well be one which proves the making of Richardson's Saints.
Melbourne skipper Nathan Jones and his Demons will be well rested after their bye. Photo: Getty Images
THE BREAK
Are teams learning to cope better with their week's break? The evidence this year seems to suggest so. In the four seasons prior to this one, we'd had the three weeks of just six games, the teams who'd had the week off hadn't fared at all well when they came back from the break against a side which had played through, just 17 wins to the "rested" team, 30 to those who'd continued to play. But so far in 2016, the rested team has won four of six meetings, St Kilda and Collingwood's victories against Geelong and Fremantle respectively after weeks off perhaps the most significant. It's encouraging news for the rested Melbourne and Port Adelaide, who take on Adelaide and Richmond respectively this week.
Hawks backman Josh Gibson handballs out of trouble against the Suns. Photo: Getty Images
THE PROS
And so here we are, 14 rounds into the season, and Hawthorn, whose premiership capacity has been questioned more than ever this year, is back to the familiar surrounds of top of the ladder with an 11-3 record. The Hawks' 26-point win over Gold Coast was like several others in recent rounds, not a consistent four-quarter effort, but enough to get the result. We've said it before, but surely it's Hawthorn which still has more scope for improvement this season than any other top-eight team. Bonus points this week, too, for getting the job done in a "Licorice Allsorts" number of pink and brown, fortunately for a good cause in the Tasmanian Cancer Council. You'd have to be pretty good to get away with a number like that. And the Hawks are.
Geelong coach Chris Scott had more reason than usual to be agitated in round 14. Photo: Getty Images/AFL Media
THE ATTITUDE
It was an unusually agitated Chris Scott who faced the media on Saturday night after Geelong's loss, the coach very quick to bat away queries about his side's preparation ahead of the three-point defeat to St Kilda. We suspect that may be his way of reinforcing to his players that while their bodies were ready for their challenge, their minds weren't. And that's been a consistent theme now in the three of their four losses which have come to sides well outside the top eight. Scott has often laboured the point this season about the evenness of the competition, and given the way the Cats have performed well in their clashes with top eight rivals but dropped games to those teams outside, we can't blame him.
