Saints can stay aggressive: Dal Santo

ST KILDA midfielder Nick Dal Santo says the Saints should be able to maintain their aggressive style of football throughout the season.

The Saints have been widely praised for their ruthless approach to the contested football and their defensive pressure, but Dal Santo denies it is too taxing to maintain the standard.

“I’m not too sure. You put a lot of pressure on in the front half so it means you don’t have to chase it all the way to the opposition’s forward line so you don’t have to run as far,” Dal Santo said.

“It is probably more intense when the ball is in your area. It also helps when you turn the ball over and you’re running towards your own goal, it makes life a little bit easier. I think it works both ways.”

Dal Santo, who is one of the early Brownlow favourites, says he feels the Saints’ style of play is no more physically demanding than what he has known.

“The game is hard no matter how it is played, whether you are winning or losing, whether you are stopping the ball in the midfield or you are running all the way down to the opposition’s forward 50. You walk off and you’ve pretty much had enough,” he said.

Injured ruckman Steven King was a chance to return to the St Kilda line-up but Xavier Clarke will have to wait until 2010 to add to his 105 AFL games after undergoing a knee reconstruction on Wednesday.

Dal Santo, who was drafted to St Kilda in 2001 – the same year as Clarke – said he was shattered at the news Clarke had ruptured his ACL for St Kilda’s VFL team Sandringham last week.

“It is devastating for X. He has had a really good pre-season. He got a few games under his belt in the seconds and he had the ACL on the weekend,” Dal Santo said.

“He had his operation yesterday and apparently it went really well. We need to support him. It is a hard situation no matter who you are. He has had a lot of injuries and it is just devastating.”