ALAN Richardson won't revise his hopes for St Kilda in 2014 despite the Saints' unexpected three wins from their opening five games.
The rebuilding Saints were tipped to finish low on the ladder and a number of younger players were expected to get regular games.
But they added an unlikely victory over a lacklustre Essendon on Saturday night to the scalps of Melbourne and Greater Western Sydney.
The rookie coach said the positive run – with the winless Brisbane Lions to come next week in Wellington – would not alter his approach to the season.
"We won't change our focus. Our focus is to make sure we get our footy right and that looks like we're going to be a really good defensive team, a hard team to score against, and that we're really trustworthy in the contest," Richardson said after the 16-point win over the Bombers.
"Whatever happens in terms of win-loss, that will be, but we won't change our focus.
"It's all about the way we want to play. [We've had] 27 new players in three years … we've had to really go back to the drawing board in terms of methodology and attack on the man, attack on the footy, team defence.
"We won't change from that focus."
There were two major positives to come from Saturday night's win for Richardson and the Saints.
The first was the response to their sluggish effort against Adelaide last week, which resulted in a heavy loss and the realisation of what a lowly effort can produce.
The second was the even spread of contributors they had, from the younger players that stood up early and the veterans who carried the game home.
"It was probably our best 22-player performance for the year," Richardson said.
"I wouldn't have thought we had too many passengers."
Captain Nick Riewoldt, whose five goals mean he leads the charge for the Coleman medal by three from Port Adelaide's Jay Schulz, thrived on the frustration of the stagnant first quarter to lead the team to victory again.
Lenny Hayes was enormous in the second half and Leigh Montagna played well against Jobe Watson late in the game.
Luke Dunstan and Jack Billings were important early with the latter showing what Richardson described as a "glimpse of what we're going to get" when he plays more midfield minutes.
He was also impressed with the team's defence with Josh Bruce standing Joe Daniher and Luke Delaney taking Jake Carlisle's influence away as well. Tom Curren's nullification of Dyson Heppell was also significant.
"We rated them really highly and to keep them to [44] entries and to nine goals when you consider they had five on the scoreboard at quarter time, they've only taken nine marks and they've got some quality forwards," he said.
"We thought Delaney and Bruce were really good for us. Whilst we were able to get real pressure on the footy, those guys stood up.
"There were certainty mainly one-on-ones where those blokes had to defend really strongly and they did."
The Saints went into the game with just two tall forwards, which dropped to one when Rhys Stanley went into the ruck, for the first time this season.
Richardson said they would again consider their structure next week with the potential of playing Billy Longer with Tom Hickey, but admitted he had been pleased with the energy the small forward brigade provided at the fall of the ball.
