St Kilda has arguably two of the most damaging half-backs in the competition, boasting the likes of Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Jack Sinclair.
The pair generally begin contests in defence, but have been known to push further up the ground, and even play through the midfield when the Saints need a different look.
But Sunday's damning 28-point loss to an emotionally charged West Coast outfit highlighted the club's deficiency in moving the ball from the back half to the front, which coach Ross Lyon says has "consistently" been issue.
In 2025, the Saints are ranked 18th in transitioning the ball from the defensive half to inside 50. This, in turn, sees a below-AFL average in scores from defensive half and defensive 50.
This is a dramatic turnaround from 2024, with St Kilda ranking among the top clubs for ball transition.
"We weren't good enough," Lyon said.
"We had an expectation to bring great effort and system, but it used to be our strength, and for whatever reason, a bit of personnel change, and we're just not handling it and getting the ball out of our back half, wet or dry, consistently."
Sinclair had a game-high 38 touches, and almost reached the 1000 metres gained, which would've been the third player across the weekend to reach that feat.
The club's next best ball user was Brad Hill (415 metres gained), Wanganeen-Milera (349 metres) and Jimmy Webster (337 metres).
A result of the Saints' poor ball movement is the lack of connection going inside 50, with Lyon trying to utilise his damaging half backs up the field.
Aside from Jack Higgins' five-goal haul, St Kilda struggled to find a scoring source, although it recorded 54 inside 50s, highlighting their inefficiency (42.6 per cent) in the front half.
"What I've highlighted are the areas of concern," Lyon continued.
"On entry, we were skinny a fair bit. Was that the leads that took us there? Or the kicks?
"We did fix that up a bit, but it's just slow going at the minute."
The Saints have lost five of the past six encounters, and will look to Gold Coast at Marvel Stadium in Round 11 to rectify their problems.
