While they never looked likely to repeat the nightmare of their shock Round 15 loss to the Brisbane Lions, the Roos were not necessarily firing on all cylinders during the 59-point win, but Scott said he was pleased with a ‘solid’ display at Blundstone Arena.
“I thought it was a really good start to the game,” he said. “We focussed a lot on that as we do every week, but the guys came out and we knew right from the start the attitude was terrific.
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“We converted opportunities and looked really good.”
The Kangaroos led from start to finish, keeping the Saints to just three goals for the afternoon, and only wayward kicking in the final term stopped the margin blowing out significantly.
“We’ll review it really closely, as we do every game, but the gut feel was it was a good, solid performance with areas to improve like every week.”
Among a handful of Kangaroos to comprehensively outplay their opposite number on the day, Scott paid tribute to Todd Goldstein who racked up 39 hit outs, had 20 disposals and kicked two goals in a dominant performance that underlines his status as one of the AFL’s premier ruckmen.
“I think he’s been terrific, particularly the last six or so weeks. He’s played against some really good opposition and been pretty dominant.
“He thrives on the workload and is a really important player for us. When he’s on top and giving first use to our inside midfielders it makes them better players and us a better team.
“He’s been terrific and it’s another big challenge next week against (Robert) Warnock who is a good tap ruckman. He’s just got to continue to build his form leading into the end of the season.”
Emerging half-back Sam Wright also shone for the Kangaroos, helping himself to 30 disposals while keeping a lid on St Kilda youngster Jack Billings – the latter aspect particularly pleasing for the coach.
“Sam was terrific again today on a player we really rate in young Jack Billings and I thought he shut him out of the game and got a lot of the ball himself,” Scott said.
“He’s got to play the way we want him to play and he’s really clear as to what that is. He’s been terrific the last two weeks.”
