Watch Chris Run

I attended the Saints Blues match last night and spent most of the time focusing on Carlton skipper Chris Judd. Judd had a pretty poor night by anyones reckoning, racking up 19 disposals (7 in the meaningless final term) and having virtually no impact on the game. Judd just didn't get his hands on the ball early, and this was due to three things: 1) a great tagging job from Leigh Fisher. Fisher didn't give Judd an inch. 2) luck. As good a player as you might be there are days when you simply won't be in the right place at the right time to get your hands on the pill. This was the case for Judd in the first three quarters. 3) Judd was clearly restricted by his injured groin. He didn't cover enough ground, didn't put in sprints, and lacked his trademark explosive pace. You get the sense he's still only at 75%. Despite this he still picked up 19 possies and used just about all of them effectively. But it's going to be a while before he's back to his normal game.

The bigger story was the performance of Marc Murphy. The kid is already a star, and it's only a matter of time before he reaches superstar status. He doesn't seem especially quick or strong, but his composure, decision making and disposal is insane for someone his age. At the very least he'll be a Nick Dal Santo, but he has the potential to be even more.

The Saints looked absolutely dreadful in the first quarter, looking like the weak laconic side of early 07 and mid 06. They picked up their act in the 2nd and 3rd terms, but it wasn't a thoroughly convincing victory. The next two weeks represent massive tests for St. Kilda. Friday night they play a Bulldogs team full of confidence which will come into the match thinking that they're better than they are. It's crucial for St. Kilda to beat these kinds of middle of the road borderline contender teams if they want to stake a legitimate claim for the premiership. Round 4 is the big one though - Geelong. This will be the ultimate test for the Saints, and will give a great indication of where they are at. The game will hinge of the mindset of the Saints. If St. Kilda succumb to the expectation of taking Geelong to the wire they will get blown out, but if they see themselves as the big underdogs (which they will be) they could give the Cats a run for their money.

With one of the top four midfields in the league (Dal Santo, Hayes, Montagna, Fisher, King) the second best forward line (Riewoldt, Koschitzke, Gehrig, Milne), and (when fit) arguably the best defence in the league (Maguire, Fisher, Hudghton, Gram) that has players that can both shutdown opposition forwards and provide run, the Saints should be hoping for nothing less than a grand final berth.