THE feeling in the coach's box was upbeat and focused. We worked cohesively and each coach was in total control of his assigned duties.

Apart from some frustration about missed shots at goal, the coaches were all alert, positive and on the edge of their seats. Things were going nearly perfectly to plan.

By the end of the match, we were a sombre-looking bunch. A surreal fog seemed to cast itself over our heads. With heavy hearts, we collected ourselves and marched down to the troops to offer our support.

It seemed like a few minutes ago we were in complete control and a strong chance to win our elimination final against Melbourne. Alas, within a few moments, we had lost half a dozen of our best players.

We had sent Robert Harvey, with a torn hamstring, to the goal square to lure his tag — the dangerous Cameron Bruce — which had bluffed the opposition for a while. But Melbourne had woken up to us, persevered and ended our season.

St Kilda had produced a gallant performance that left us with a sense of pride. But I remember a racecaller once referring to a horse as being gallant in defeat, and a punter was heard to say "I didn't back the f---ing horse to be gallant!"

Simple explanation: the game was there to be won and St Kilda was not good enough. Melbourne also will have vivid memories of that match and its inspired performance. The Demons were on the ropes and looking at another early September exit. It goes to prove the value of perseverance and belief.

These qualities are synonymous with good teams — they never give up. Nobody will ever know which factor influenced the outcome more: Melbourne's determination or the Saints' crippling first-half injuries.

However, I am certain that such values need to be bubbling away to take advantage of wounded teams.

I remember a wise old man saying that luck is where preparation meets opportunity. "Yabby" Jeans was right — Melbourne was prepared with perseverance and injured players provided the opportunity and they took advantage of it.

That result, my final outing as St Kilda's coach, is now history, but will serve as a great learning experience for the Saints players. You can either take the victim approach and accept the excuses, or you can take responsibility and accept that the gap needs to be filled with leadership.

That provided a great experience and learning curve to both teams, especially from a maturity and development perspective. I am a fervent believer in life experiences being a great educator, which is why I'm such a believer in overseas training camps in environments that take teams out of their comfort zone.

Last September's loss may have been hard to stomach, but it was a significant life experience for the St Kilda players.

Dealing with adversity is absolutely a prerequisite for successful teams. You do not win premierships if you cannot tolerate situations when they are unfavourable. In fact, the difference between successful and unsuccessful teams is their ability to come together and lead their way through the mire.

St Kilda has every right to cry foul in relation to the wretched run it has had with injuries but will be better for it. Injuries fit into two distinct categories; controllable and uncontrollable. We tend to think that uncontrollable injuries are collision-type injuries and put it down to plain bad luck.

In most cases, though, the players have a choice: they can put themselves into a potentially dangerous situation for the good of the team or they can take the safer, more conservative path. It can be somewhat of a kamikaze approach, but it is inspiring and lifts a team to great heights.

At St Kilda, the players referred to it as "taking your turn" and it was something of which they were eternally proud. Max Hudghton, Matt Maguire, Brett Voss, Nick Riewoldt, Justin Koschitzke, Jason Blake and Steven Baker are vivid examples of players who took great pride in taking their turn. Unfortunately, there is sometimes a price to pay.

St Kilda's pre-season form has been marked low and the scribes are finding it difficult to position the team in the top four.

I understand the rationale that suggests it may start slowly and then gain momentum. Unfortunately, you don't get that privilege or that luxury. Tonight it is "game on", and a round-one win is critical for all teams. Flirting with form and working your way into the season is not something that survives the brutal world of AFL football.

I made a mistake a few years ago by taking the pressure off the team after it won the pre-season premiership and the first 10 games of the season. Rather than training, we went off to see the film, The Day After Tomorrow.

I allowed the signals from the playing group to crystallise into fatigue and a lack of energy. An alternative would have been to provide another challenge to revitalise the players' mental state.

St Kilda simply cannot wait until it has its best team available. The statement needs to be made tonight.

Grant Thomas writes each week in The Sunday Age