ST KILDA getting to the halfway point of the season in third position on the ladder with an 8-3 win/loss ratio is a great return.

After losing captain and major goalkicker Nick Riewoldt in round three, the Saints have struggled to kick big scores and, in particular, in the key stat of inside-50 marks.

The mark and set shot at goal is footy's simplest scoring method. Top team Geelong averages 18 marks inside-50 per game while the Saints over the last six weeks have only been averaging eight.

Stephen Milne is a 176cm small forward known more as a crumber than a marker of the footy.

 Against Richmond on Friday night, Milne personally exceeded the team average getting on the end of nine inside-50 marks on the way to 16 kicks and a five-goal haul.

Milney kicked 11 against the Brisbane Lions late in 2005 so I have seen his capabilities, but I've never seen him play the small full-forward role as well as he did against the Tigers.

It must be said that his Richmond opponents were terrible in their man-to-man coverage. They played off Milne by a few metres, rarely maintaining touch and contact, and when he led to the footy that few metres became a few more.

A forward of any stature should not be allowed to take nine uncontested marks because his opponent should never be caught that far away that many times. I'm sure that will be addressed by the Richmond coach in the post-game review.

Milne has sometimes thrilled and many times infuriated his fans. His best and worst are often a long way apart, but he plays a difficult position extremely well.

When he kicked his third against Richmond, that was also his 400th career goal in his 199th game.

Averaging two goals a game as a permanent small forward is a very good return, but getting nine inside-50 marks - now that is something right out of the box, which is very much a one-off.