ONCE again, St Kilda had Melbourne’s measure.

And again it was at Etihad Stadium.

But it hasn’t just been at Docklands, even though that remains an issue for the team, but more on that later.

It’s been the past 14 times: the Saints have won seven at Etihad Stadium, six at the MCG and one at Metricon Stadium.

Not since Melbourne’s come-from-behind and memorable second elimination final win against St Kilda in 2006 has the red and blue overcome the Saints.

That was when Neale Daniher was at the helm for Melbourne and Grant Thomas coached St Kilda for the last time. It was also Melbourne’s most recent finals victory.

Since then, Melbourne has lost to St Kilda by an average of 32.71 points, with coaches Daniher, Dean Bailey, Mark Neeld, Neil Craig and Paul Roos all tasting defeat. On the flipside, Ross Lyon, Scott Watters and Alan Richardson have also guided St Kilda to victories since 2007.

So why have the Saints been so dominant over Melbourne?

It’s a frustrating one for the red and blue faithful, and several theories have been raised.

For Jack Viney, he said quite simply that each match had to be taken on its own. He added that St Kilda wanted it more against Melbourne on Sunday – and it did.

Roos said the lists – although similar in some aspects – were still enough to sway it St Kilda’s way. On the weekend, St Kilda fielded a side featuring an average age of 24 years, 328 days. Melbourne’s was 23 years, 300 days.

In terms of games experience, St Kilda possessed 589 more than Melbourne: 2036 to 1447.

Interestingly, St Kilda had seven 100-game-plus players who combined for 1375 AFL matches. Melbourne had five 100-game-plus players who had played a total of 776 matches. That included Jack Grimes, who notched up the ton on Sunday.

It highlighted the absolute experience St Kilda possessed at the top end, and for Roos that was the key difference from the round 17 loss.

“I think they are at a different stage to be honest,” he said.

“If you look at the impact of [Sam] Gilbert, [Nick] Riewoldt, [Leigh] Montagna, [Sean] Dempster and [Jack] Steven – it’s their experience that has come through with [former coach] Ross [Lyon] that is really helping their young guys.

“The advantage that they have in that area probably puts them in a different category, in terms of where they are, which is great for [St Kilda coach] Alan [Richardson]. If you’ve got that senior experience that’s teaching your young players, it’s a real benefit.”

Roos said St Kilda’s cream was a big factor in their fortunes, although he remains adamant – as he pointed out in the lead-up to the match – that both teams are on the right track.

“At the moment, they’re on top of us on the ladder. I think where both teams will get to – I would think we would be pretty similar over a two or three-year period,” he said.

“But [on this occasion], we struggled at the ground (Etihad), clearly, and that’s another issue [for us], as we don’t play there that often.

“The ladder doesn’t lie – they’re (St Kilda) a game ahead of us and they’ve beaten us twice.” 

As for winning at Etihad Stadium?

Roos said it was a genuine issue at the moment – even though it broke the drought in the final home and away round last year, against Greater Western Sydney with a win to end a 22-game losing streak.

It’s incredible to think that Melbourne lost just six of its first 20 matches at Docklands from 2000-05. But since mid-2005, it has won just three of its past 34 games.

It’s horrible stuff.

But as Roos rightly points out, the team has made strides – and will get better at Docklands – remembering he took over a side that had won just two matches in 2013. Already, Melbourne has seven wins in 2016, which is one shy of equalling its best effort in 10 years.

“As we get better as a football team, [we’ll do better at Etihad Stadium],” he said.

“It’s interesting, if we look at the stats, it’s a different venue – and you have to acknowledge that it’s a different ground to play at.

“It’s as much a problem for teams that are home teams here going away, as it is for teams coming here. You just watch it and it’s a different game.”

Roos said his team needed adapt better at the ground.

“We don’t seem to work quick enough or hard enough at this venue, because the ball goes a lot quicker. We won contested possessions, but tackles are always low here, so the ball is on the outside more,” he said.

“You’ve got to really react quicker in order to slow the ball down. We did that well in the first quarter, but we didn’t do it often enough.

“Hopefully as we get better as a footy team, we can cope better with this venue.” 

Along with St Kilda, as it’s long overdue.