Essendon great Matthew Lloyd was shocked by St Kilda’s performance in their 84-56 loss to the Western Bulldogs on Friday night.
With the defeat inflicting a significant blow on the side’s finals hopes, Lloyd was staggered by the lack of effort shown by the red, white and black in such a big fixture.
Kicking just three goals from the first three quarters, Lloyd says the Saints played like a team who aren’t delivering for their coach.
“It was as bad a performance as I’ve seen,” Lloyd said on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.
“It was like the performance of a team where a coach is about to be sacked.
“That’s how safe they were playing, how defensive they were playing.”
Having signed a two-year contract extension in July, Lloyd says St Kilda coach Brett Ratten is lucky to have secured his future given that the side has gone 1-5 since the bye.
“He’s very, very lucky that he signed that deal,” Lloyd said.
“People want to criticise Max King and the forwards, but the delivery to the forwards (was poor).
“They’re five goals down and he (Ratten) throws Tim Membrey behind the ball, what are you trying to do? Protect the scoreboard? I didn’t like it.
“Brett can speak about pressure and that’s on him again because they aren’t doing it.
“The ball movement has to be him as well because he spoke to them at quarter time, nothing changed, got to them at half time, nothing changed, it was only until three-quarter time where they started to take some risks.
“There’s huge pressure on St Kilda moving forward. It’s just staggering how bad they’ve become considering the footy they were playing early.”
St Kilda currently sits 10th on the AFL ladder with a 9-8 record.
They’ll hope to keep their September hopes alive with a win against West Coast next Sunday in Perth.
"It was like the performance of a team where a coach is about to be sacked." 🔥
— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) July 17, 2022
The panel doesn't hold back on the Saints' 'staggering' display, despite only recently re-signing coach Brett Ratten.#9AFLSFS | Watch on Channel 9 pic.twitter.com/oE5YrCjtXf