St Kilda are searching for answers to their "alarming" form swings following a horror AFL performance against the Western Bulldogs.
Led by chief operating officer Simon Lethlean, the Saints coaching staff, club psychologists and player representatives gathered at Moorabbin on Monday morning for an honesty session to thrash out the humiliating 111-point loss.
Mystifyingly, it came a week after they challenged third-placed Geelong before falling by 21 points.
Lethlean said they immediately ruled out any division between coach Brett Ratten and the playing group, and are looking for reasons behind their rollercoaster results which make AFL finals increasingly unlikely.
After making the semi-finals last year the Saints, who are now 4-6, have failed to kick on in 2021 and appeared bereft of confidence and desire on Saturday.
Lethlean didn't believe there were issues with recruitment or with the game plan; more so with execution.
"This is not a disenchanted playing group... who don't have a coach they don't want to play for," Lethlean said on Monday.
"We've got a coach the players love and respect so there's more to this and we've got to uncover what that is ... this gulf between our best and worst is not good enough.
"We haven't got all the answers right now but we're searching for them and we're not in denial that there's a fair bit going wrong on match day."
Set to meet last-placed North Melbourne this week, he said there would be personnel changes with some players from their winning VFL team coming in - mentioning Nick Coffield and Luke Dunstan.
But they would resist benching a star for the sake of a "statement".
"It's a pretty thirsty industry for making statements; we will make the best decisions for the balance we need to beat the Kangaroos this weekend," he said.
"If that's a big name player so be it, if there's a replacement that's going to field a better performance this weekend.
"We're looking for a response against the Kangas."
