VFL stint taught Dal Santo valuable lesson

WHILE he might not have thought so at the time, St Kilda midfielder Nick Dal Santo believes his one-game stint in the VFL earlier this season has taught him a lesson.

Dal Santo and Stephen Milne were casualties of the Saints' 35-point loss to the Sydney Swans in round 12, and spent the following week playing for the Casey Scorpions.

They were both recalled to the seniors the week after that, but Dal Santo, 24, considers the temporary demotion to have made a lasting effect.

"It's never easy being dropped from something that you love doing, but looking back, it's probably an experience that I've learned from and maybe something I needed at the time," he said on Monday, the day after the Saints sealed their fate as a finals contender with their win over Adelaide.

"You learn not to take things for granted and I think the way that myself and even Stephen Milne have come back since being dropped has been positive for the club, and we've won a few more games so that's always nice."

Dal Santo has also had to deal with the fact he was trying to reinstate his position in the side under duress, when just a month after his VFL relegation, he picked up a nasty bug. 

"I was sick about four weeks ago, nothing too serious and you don't like to make excuses but I wasn't feeling great," he admitted.

"That's just football. Everyone has little niggles and stuff like that. I had a bit of tonsillitis, and I lost about five or six kilograms.

"It's just the way it is. Some weeks you don't feel great and it happened to me, but I wasn't playing great footy anyway.

"It was no big issue but I'm starting to feel a lot better."

Dal Santo's 25-possession game against the Crows indicates the handy ball-getter is through the worst of his slump – although he admitted he'd like to be in even better form than he is currently displaying.

"I'd always like to play a bit better. I've obviously had a poor patch eight to 10 weeks ago, and it was well publicised," he said.

"But I was happy just to contribute and when we're winning, I'm not too fussed if I'm getting a kick or not; it's just nice that we're getting over the line."