ST KILDA:

22 wins, three losses - Position: Runners-up:

This year's grade (A-F) A-

Positives from this year: Up until Round 20 nothing went wrong for the Saints and indeed not only did the team appear on track to win only its second premiership and end a 43-year premiership drought but it was even threatening to become the first team since Collingwood in 1929 to go through a home-and-away season unbeaten. The Saints played incredibly to win their first 19 games - including a memorable six-point win over Geelong in Round 14 in what was billed as the greatest home-and-away match in history given it was the first time that two unbeaten teams had ever met so late in the season. And when the Saints beat reigning premier Hawthorn with a virtual reserve side in Round 19 - on a day when seven stars were missing through injury - the team looked unbeatable. The Saints' dominance was built around defence as St Kilda would end the season having conceded the least amount of points ever by a team since the advent of the 22-round season in 1970 - just 1411 points at an average of just 64 points per game. Former Hawthorn defender Zac Dawson was a revelation in his first season as was former Dogs wingman Farren Ray while re-born ruckman Michael Gardiner put his injury woes behind him and enjoyed his best season since his All-Australian year at West Coast in 2003. And inspirational skipper Nick Riewoldt, despite having already won a club record-equalling four best-and-fairest awards, took his game to an even higher level culminating in him being named All-Australian captain for the first time.

Negatives from this year: Unfortunately for long-suffering Saints fans their team may have just peaked too early and there is no doubt the club's form tailed off at the business end of the season. When Riewoldt missed a gettable set shot after the final siren in Round 20 against Essendon, the Saints lost their first game of the season, and would go down again the following week to lowly North Melbourne before looking unimpressive in beating wooden spooners Melbourne in the last round. The Saints then overcame slow starts to beat Collingwood and the Bulldogs in their first two finals but looked below their best in both games and indeed would have lost to the Dogs in the preliminary final except for the sheer brilliance of skipper Riewoldt. But in the grand final, as the Saints searched for their first flag since 1966 and only their second in 113 years of the competition, the team became the first to ever lose a grand final despite outscoring their opponents in each of the first three terms. And unfortunately the Saints' weaknesses were not exposed until it most counted - primarily the inconsistency of goalsneaks Stephen Milne and Adam Schneider, who wasted countless chances to win the grand final through inaccuracy, while the ageing ruck combination of Gardiner and Steven King offered little and the impressive Dawson faltered under the pressure of a grand final having exceeded all expectations during the season, again raising questions as to whether the more experienced Max Hudghton should have been included. And the overreliance on skipper Riewoldt to kick goals was also apparent as he struggled to have an impact in the wet conditions on grand final day as the Saints lost by 12 points despite having more scoring shots and 16 more forward entries for the game.

Likely departures: Jarryd Allen (retired), Max Hudghton (retired), Matt Maguire, Leigh Fisher, Luke Ball, Stephen Milne

Next year:

Type of Players needed: With King to soon turn 32 and Gardiner turning 30 this year, the Saints badly need young ruckmen and will hope 20-year-old Ben McEvoy builds on the promise he showed this year but another young tall would not go astray in the upcoming national draft. And despite the team's defensive performance this year, the Saints could do with another key defender to ease the pressure on Dawson now that Hudghton has retired and with Matt Maguire's career looking over. And the failure of Milne and Schneider in the grand final to make the most of their chances means the Saints could be in the market for a new goalsneak particularly with Milne now aged 29.

Likely improvement (if any) The Saints are certainly capable of bouncing back from arguably the biggest disappointment in their entire tortured history but will need to inject some more youth and pace into the team. Expect to see Jack Steven, David Armitage, Robert Eddy and Jarryn Geary to get more game time next year while much will depend on whether much-improved players this season such as Gardiner, Dawson, Ray, Jason Blake, Sam Gilbert, Brendon Goddard and tagger Clinton Jones can maintain the same high standards they set this year come 2010.

Finals next year? That goes without saying but only a premiership will now satisfy Saints fans, who were left heartbroken by this year's failure to capitalise on the club's best ever home-and-away season. Throughout their long history the Saints have rarely shown a capacity to bounce back from adversity and indeed went into free-fall after their last grand final loss in 1997. But they have the right coach in Ross Lyon and the right aged list to make amends and will take heart from the fact that both West Coast in 2005 and Geelong last year bounced back from heart-breaking grand final defeats to win the flag the following season.