Aaron Hall was one of few GC SUNS to be able to hold his head high after last week’s effort against Brisbane, but the lively forward went a couple of steps further on Saturday night producing one of the best games of his AFL career against St Kilda at Metricon Stadium.

Last week’s game was all about effort with his 10 tackles against the Lions – including a superb chase on Justin Clarke which produced the SUNS’ only goal of the first quarter – but on Saturday night it was more about his ball-winning ability in his team’s 53-point win.

The 23-year-old equalled career highs in disposals (22), marks (6) and marks inside 50 (2). He also tallied seven inside 50s as the home side made the most of its opportunities in a match where it went inside its attacking arc on just two more occasions than the visiting Saints.

Hall and most his teammates were still rusty, at times, with their ball use, but the Tasmanian put the win down to his teammates’ ability to impose themselves on the game.

“We made a big emphasis on starting strong,” Hall said.

“We really wanted to make sure our first contest was exceptional. We wanted to make each teammate proud of that first effort, and from there, flow on from that and make the second one just as good as the first one.”

The win keeps the SUNS in the finals hunt. While next week’s opponent, Carlton, is out of the hunt for a top eight spot, the Blues have let go of several opportunities to win in recent times; four of their last seven losses have been by single-digit margins.

“Each game we play now, we’ve really got to bring it to the team and gather a bit of momentum,” he said.

“Obviously we really want to play finals. We’ve put ourselves in a good position to play it. We’ll go down there to Etihad Stadium and hopefully put in a good performance and come away with a win.”