'That’s unforgivable': St Kilda star under fire for 'droppable offence'

AFL great David King has called out St Kilda's Jack Higgins over an "unforgivable" moment in his side's opening round defeat to Collingwood in the AFL

Collingwood began their new era under coach Craig McRae in positive fashion with a 17-point win over a St Kilda side desperate to put a woeful 2021 campaign behind them.

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However, many of the Saints' failings from the previous season were again on show at Marvel Stadium as Brett Ratten's side began 2022 in underwhelming fashion.

Dissecting the match on Fox Footy’s First Crack, North Melbourne premiership legend King said for starters the Saints players needed to get a simple concept through their heads.

“I just still think there’s so many times where their best players finish forward of the ball,” King said.

The AFL great said Higgins was the worst culprit in failing to get the footy to teammates in dangerous positions on the field.

“They can work harder than this. Higgins has had a good night but what’s a good night? He had four shots at goal and kicked four points, but what he gives up the other way is really disrespectful to his teammates.”

King highlighted a passage of play where Higgins opted not to hand off the footy to Jade Gresham, who was sprinting past him towards the goal square inside the forward-50.

Instead, Higgins chose to kick the footy towards Dan Butler, who was outnumbered two-to-one by Collingwood defenders, as the chance to kick a goal went begging.

“This for me is a droppable offence,” King declared.

“If he doesn’t see Gresham there then he’s limited as a player and you have to question whether he did.

“I think a player of his quality knows Gresham is there and he chose not to use him. I think that’s unforgivable, personally.

“For a team outfit that struggled last year and has Gresham back in the side, the one thing you want to do is give the ball to Jade Gresham, he’s a star.

“I’m disappointed in that mode still being there and until that changes they will still get rolled by sides they should beat.”

St Kilda coach urged to shake things up at club

St Kilda great and fellow panellist Leigh Montagna revealed that Ratten had spoken to Higgins about the error, but insisted it was also up to the Saints' senior players to provide their teammate with feedback during the game.

King suggested that the coach needs to shake things up at the club or risk yet another season of disappointment.

“Something’s got to change. We’ve talked about this for 18 months and this is why they are where they are,” he said.

“I think Brett Ratten needs to make a statement. The standards you walk by are the standards you accept. Something’s got to change.”

The Saints hit the front early in the final quarter of the game when Gresham marked his return from a long injury lay-off with a goal at the back of a pack - the first of his two for the term.

But the Magpies steadied and gave themselves breathing space when Jordan De Goey booted his second major midway through the fourth quarter.

Young teammate Oliver Henry kicked two important goals in the last term.

"We were excited in the rooms," McRae said.

"We reflected on the momentum swings of the early games and being able to capitalise when you had the momentum and clearly tonight was an example of that.

"We just love our fight and our spirit. We're trying to form a new DNA and when our fans come and watch us play we want to show them that we've got a bit of fight in us."

with AAP

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