Richmond Tigers: AFL upset against St Kilda, injuries to Nick Vlastuin, Noah Balta, Nathan Broad

In a game that saw the Tigers held to their lowest score in 60 years, they also copped the triple whammy of Noah Balta (knee), Nathan Broad (ankle) and Nick Vlastuin (cork) finishing the game hobbled.

Making matters worse for the reigning premiers is that early indications suggest that Balta might have ruptured his ACL and Broad appears to have sustained a syndesmosis injury – both of which are usually long-term injuries, with Balta potentially looking at 12 months on the sidelines if the club’s worst fears are confirmed.

“It doesn’t look great at this stage which is disappointing for the lad … it looks that way (ACL),” Hardwick said of Balta’s injury.

“It was a disappointing performance, and on the injury front it doesn’t get much better so we’ve just got to roll with the bumps and find out a lot about yourself, your organisation and your players.”

In their last three premiership years, the Tigers have come back from slow starts to the year to salute on the final day, but Hardwick says the difference this year is that they are suffering more “catastrophic” injuries than in 2017, 2019 and 2020.

“We just can’t seem to get that connection (when players are) coming back into the side – we get players back, we lose players going out,” Hardwick said.

Hardwick added his VFL players had a real opportunity on Saturday to put up their hand for selection against Gold Coast next round.

The Richmond coach described the humbling defeat to the Saints as “really disappointing” and that his side was “incredibly poor” and sloppy.

“I’d like to think we’re a proud footy club and we don’t let people down too often, don’t let our fans down, but tonight we just didn’t fire a shot,” Hardwick said.

“Everything we’re doing at the moment is looking incredibly hard and difficult.”

In some good news for the Tigers on the injury front, former Sun Tom Lynch (knee) could face his old side next round.

St Kilda coach Brett Ratten hailed the performance as a “big step forward for our group” and, while admitting it was a frustrating result considering how wildly inconsistent the side has been this year, he acknowledged the challenge was to maintain that level of output for the remainder of the campaign.

“It can get boring just sticking to the process and doing exactly what you have to do and the plan,” he said.

“We don’t want to stray from that and tonight was great evidence for us.

“It was outstanding … there was just acts of desperation really led by (Jack) Steele and co. through the midfield.”

Luke Dunstan finished the game with 32 disposals (17 contested), 11 clearances, nine inside 50s, 667 metres gained, six score involvements and a goal to win the Ian Stewart Medal and Ratten agreed with the judges that he was the best player on the ground.

But it was the reunion of the Saints’ ruck tandem of Paddy Ryder and Rowan Marshall that really helped their on-ball brigade fire as well as it did.

“To have those boys out there really gave us first look at the ball and they contributed well but gave our boys a bit of confidence in the clearance area and we won that by a fair margin (19),” Ratten said.

“(The result) probably highlights the need for Ryder and Marshall to be out there for us to be at our best.”

Ratten was also rapt for Max King and Jack Higgins to convert set shots for goal early in the game and set the tone for the match after coming under increased scrutiny following poor performances in front of goal this year.

“I think it helps everybody. When you’re working so hard to get the ball down there and you keep competing, it can be deflating if you miss,” he said.

“They took their time, they executed what they were after and we got the result and the morale-boosting goals that we kick really help get some scoreboard pressure.”

Nick Coffield looks set for a stint on the sidelines after injuring his hamstring, but Ratten suggested the player he was a late inclusion for, Jack Billings (knee), could face Collingwood next week, insisting the plantar fascia injury in his foot which had been troubled him this year was not a factor anymore.