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With four points or less splitting their past four encounters, St Kilda coach Brett Ratten is expecting another heart-stopping AFL contest against Gold Coast.
St Kilda coach Brett Ratten is bracing for another AFL thriller against Gold Coast, with the teams locked on 12 competition points and with an average margin of less than three points splitting their past four meetings.
The Saints are coming off an impressive 69-point win over Hawthorn and have won each of those four recent clashes against the Suns, but know that banking successive wins for the first time this season won't be easy.
"It's a long season and we've had some ups and downs and our challenge will be making it two in a row - we haven't done that this year," Ratten said on Thursday.
"If you look at the margin the last four times we played ... it's telling us it's going to be a tight game.
"I think it's going to be that again - they're not going to give us time and space and we'll have to try and take that away from them but it's pretty even and should be a great contest."
The Suns posted an important win over Collingwood, with Ratten saying he was impressed with their work-rate, which his team would have to match.
"They are a running team, really good endurance athletes who work extremely hard and their pressure is enormous and you can only do that if you're getting numbers to the ball.
"They do that consistently so we're going to have to work extremely hard."
While impressed by the form of some players in their VFL team, naming Luke Dunstan, Tom Highmore and Jack Lonie, Ratten was reluctant to change a winning combination for the Metricon Stadium match on Saturday.
James Frawley won't play as he builds his fitness into form while Shaun McKernan was late to training after a car accident.
After serving a one game ban Dan McKenzie tweaked his calf and won't come back into the line-up, nor will Jake Carlisle (back).
Veteran ruckman Paddy Ryder had pulled up well after his 2021 debut and was ready to go around again on Sunday, much to the delight of Ratten.
"It's just good to have his presence out there as it makes others stand taller.
"He gives us confidence and we've been fluctuating in that space."
