‘It’s a challenge’: AFLW to break new ground amid St Kilda’s surprise rise to the top

St Kilda are the the surprise leader of the AFLW as the league enters its contentious phase of midweek matches, but coach Nick Dal Santo believes his team aren’t yet among the competition’s heavyweights.
The Saints have now won three in a row to start the season, including a tough eight-point victory over Essendon at Windy Hill on Sunday. The visitors kicked the last two majors and held their opponents goalless in a gutsy second half display.
It’s a drastic turnaround for a club that hasn’t made the AFLW finals since its debut in 2020, and lost its first three matches of last season. Dal Santo said he is glad the team is winning, but he isn’t yet looking at the ladder. “We’ve rarely been in a position where we are happy or proud of where we’ve sat, so we can’t have it the other way now,” he said.
“We’ve got so much work to do, and we know where some of the really good teams are at – we played North Melbourne, for example, in a practice match earlier this year, and they showed us what the best teams are doing. We need to try and bridge that gap.”
The Kangaroos humbled the Saints by seven goals in pre-season, and last year’s runner-up have also started the season unbeaten, although they drew with Geelong in round two.
St Kilda captain Hannah Priest said the Saints’ players have built a strong connection that proved vital on Sunday. “It was an ugly win, but 12 months ago we probably would have let that game slip, so I’m pretty proud of the way our girls have dug in,” she said.
Alongside Adelaide, which have won their first three matches including a 26-point win over previously undefeated Hawthorn on Sunday, St Kilda lead the competition as the AFLW enters its compressed phase. Between rounds four and seven, all teams are required to play a midweek match, starting on Tuesday with a clash between Collingwood and West Coast.
The Pies will be coming off just a four-day turnaround. They flew back to Melbourne on Friday night after losing in Brisbane, and were then back at the club on Sunday preparing for their next match. “It will be a lot about recovery, a lot about resetting the body and the mind,” Pies captain Brianna Davey said on Friday.
Dal Santo said St Kilda are already planning how to manage their compressed period, even though it’s still a month away. “You’re trying to map out who’s available, who can back up within three or four days, does that compromise following weeks, and then what does that look like once you come out of that compressed fixture? So it’s a challenge for every team.”
Before then, however, Dal Santo said the focus was on preparing for Hawthorn at Moorabbin on Saturday. Priest urged Saints fans to come down and sample the AFLW match-day, which includes a ferris wheel that is becoming synonymous with the team.
“I haven’t been on it, for obvious reasons, but the vibe is exceptional,” Priest said. “If you’re a Saints fan, you know that it’s been a long time without silverware, so any opportunity to support a St Kilda team is a huge opportunity for us, and we encourage all of our Saints fans to be at Moorabbin on Saturday.”