senior coach Scott Watters was sacked. On 14 November, former Port Adelaide director of coaching Alan Richardson was announced as new senior coach for the next three years. In the off-season, the Saints trading negotiations resulted in the arrival of Shane Savage, Luke Delaney, Josh Bruce and Billy Longer, while also picking up draft picks 3, 18 and 19, which were used to take Jack Billings, Luke Dunstan and Blake Acres respectively. St Kilda began 2014 under new coach Richardson with a 17-point win over favourites Melbourne. They followed this with a win over the GWS Giants to start the season 2-0 for the first time since 2010. After a close loss to West Coast and a heavy defeat to Adelaide, the Saints managed to upset top eight favourites Essendon by 16 points. Following this, the Saints lost the next 11 games, including losses by over 80 points to Hawthorn, Collingwood, Geelong and Carlton. On 15 July, Lenny Hayes announced that he would retire at the end of the 2014 season. The following weekend, the Saints beat Fremantle by 58 points at Etihad Stadium in the upset of the season. The Saints then lost the remaining five games to end the season with 4 wins and 18 losses as well as their first wooden spoon since 2000. With pick one in the draft, St Kilda selected key forward Patrick McCartin. In 2015, the club still struggled to compete with the higher echelons of the competition, however, the team still showed its potential with an eleven-goal comeback against the Western Bulldogs a particular highlight, as well as the emergence of key forward Josh Bruce, who finished the year with 50 goals. 2016 saw the club begin to challenge for the top 8, however despite gaining twelve wins (including victories against Geelong and eventual premiers the Western Bulldogs) and the continued development of the club's young stars, St Kilda finished ninth on the AFL ladder, missing the finals on percentage. In 2017, St Kilda once again challenged for a spot in the top 8, highlighted by their Round 16 victory over eventual premiers Richmond, in which they recorded an 82-point margin at half time, leading 14.8 (92) to 1.4 (10) before running away to a comfortable 21.12 (138) to 10.11 (71) win. However, after a mid season dip in form which saw them lose three games in a row by over six