ST KILDA coach Alan Richardson was remaining upbeat about the season ahead despite watching his side suffer a 68-point loss to fellow strugglers Greater Western Sydney on Saturday.
A contest between two sides tipped to prop up the ladder this season started evenly, with GWS taking a one-point lead into quarter-time.
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But the Giants then took St Kilda by the throat in a one-sided second quarter that ended with the Sydney-siders holding a match-winning 58-point lead.
It is a result that will shock Saints fans just two weeks out from the season, but Richardson insisted afterwards it wasn't all doom and gloom for his young line-up.
"Oh no, far from it," the first-year man told reporters. "We had some pretty good performances from some of our younger guys.
"Lenny (Hayes) and (Adam) Schneider were relatively impressive for us, and Roo (Nick Riewoldt) looked like he was up and about early.
"There was some positive stuff there and it was primarily the second quarter from a physicality and concentration perspective that we'll work on."
There was a suggestion after the game that Hayes had suffered a hamstring injury, but Richardson said his veteran midfielder had made it through the match fine and was always going to have limited game time.
While he was keeping his head up about the performance, Richardson knows there is plenty to work on before his side tackles Melbourne in round one before a return match against the Giants at Etihad Stadium in round two.
"We certainly didn't kick the ball well, didn't use the ball well and didn't work hard enough to make the kicks a little bit easier," he said.
"Their pressure was really good and that was the disappointing part, particularly in the second quarter, that we didn't cope with that pressure.
"We'll make sure we work on that really strongly.
"While you use games like this to work on what you've done and get minutes into players, there are a few agendas, but our second quarter in particular was disappointing.
"We got beaten badly in and around the ball at clearances and under pressure.
"Full credit to GWS, we just didn't cope well at all with the pressure, so that was disappointing."
Richardson said he would make some changes for next week's practice match against Port Adelaide, yet stressed he needed to start settling his line-up for the season ahead.
He also said the performance of the Giants had not taken him by surprise.
"We know that they've had another pre-season, they're an incredibly talented group, both from a football sense and athletically," he said.
"I rate Leon (Cameron) highly as a coach and he would be running a good, strong program and I think the whole competition is expecting them to improve."
