A key issue has come to the fore for St Kilda as they slumped to their third loss in four games against Melbourne at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.
The standout for the Demons in their 58-79 win was defender Steven May, who took eight intercept marks to go with his 29 disposals.
While May was aided by the fact that Max King was subbed out early with a shoulder injury, his strong performance is just another where the Saints have allowed star defenders to intercept freely against them.
With the likes of James Sicily, Nick Vlaustin, Harris Andrews and now May having season-best games against St Kilda this year, Kane Cornes highlighted just how big of an issue opposition intercept defenders are becoming for Ross Lyon’s side.
“For Ross Lyon and St Kilda, it’s been an issue all year, the intercepting defenders against them,” Cornes explained on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.
“This is the history of what the interceptors against the Saints have done.
“James Sicily (eight intercept marks) had one of the greatest games we’ve seen this year, Nick Vlaustin (six intercept marks) had his way until they evened up the numbers, Harris Andrews had nine (intercept marks) - the record is 10.
“These are all against the Saints, and May last night took eight (intercept marks).”
Cornes believes the Saints need to share the football more in close instead of kicking long to the likes of May as their inside 50s become too easy to pick off.
“You’ve got to use your numbers around the footy rather than kicking it to Steven May,” Cornes said.
“They were hopeless at using their numbers around the ball last night.
“You’ve got to work your way through (with handballs) because the set-up behind the ball is always going to be the outnumber for Melbourne.
“They took 23 (intercept marks) Melbourne, and May took eight.
“For Ross Lyon, it’s been an issue for too long.”
St Kilda will need to combat Gold Coast’s Charlie Ballard - who has announced himself as one of the competition’s best interceptors - when they face the Suns next Saturday at Heritage Bank Stadium.