ST Kilda coach Alan Richardson says he believes he had an “influence” on Nathan Brown’s decision to bump Adam Saad, as the Saints had planned to target Essendon’s half-back runners.

Brown will face the AFL tribunal on Tuesday for the late bump on Saad that left the Bomber concussed.

Richardson said his players had been asked to “check” Essendon half-backs Saad and Conor McKenna, due to the devastating potential of their run and drive from defence.

“We do ask players to go close to the line, physically. We were playing against the Bombers who’d been in really good form. Part of their form is their run off half back. There’s a couple of blokes in particular in Saad and McKenna that really lead the way there,” Richardson said on Fox Footy’s AFL 360.

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“Absolutely (we focused on them), in terms of our planning. These guys, in terms of their run and their rebound are really significant to the way that they play. And we want to make sure that when we can, we look to body and check.

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“And so you do ask yourself afterwards, when someone does something that’s out of character, ‘have I had an influence on that?’ And the reality is I probably have, because he does what the coach tells him to do, Browny.

“He’s just always put the team — whether it be the Collingwood footy club and now the St Kilda footy club — in front of himself.

“And he’s left someone, their most dangerous forward — I imagine it was (Jake) Stringer in that case — to look to influence and come forward. He’s an outstanding person. He’s remorseful, you can see the vision there (of Brown speaking to Saad post-match).”

When asked whether he’d delivered a “souped-up” pre-game speech, Richardson said the Saints had been keen to respond after a poor drop-off against the Western Bulldogs a week earlier.

He said he believed Brown had been looking to enforce a focus on bodychecking the Bombers’ runners.

“Whether the delivery of the message is an emotional one … the reality is, when you don’t quite get the response that you’re after … if you don’t quite get the response, (we had a) really positive start to the game last week, (but) fell away against the Dogs,” Richardson said.

“We focused on what does that look like, what does that feel like, what are we going to do about it?

“And then you get into the plan, and … part of the plan was to make sure we controlled that run off half back (and) a couple of players in particular.

“So … I reckon at times we would. In fact why would you give a message if you don’t think it’s going to influence. Clearly it is going to have influence … I can’t quite explain why Browny continued on when it looked like clearly he got rid of the ball as early as he did.

“But I’m sure that the message had some sort of influence.”

Richardson also praised Brown’s character, saying there had been no malicious intent to the defender’s bump — which wasn’t high, but was very late.

“To say it’s out of character would be a massive understatement,” he said.

The St Kilda coach said ahead of the tribunal hearing, he believed Brown had no intent “to hurt someone”, but his “timing was out” in delivering the bump.

“The debate will be intentional versus reckless,” Richardson said.

“I know what his intent is, His intent was not to hurt someone, absolutely.

“And he didn’t run front on, he’s come at the side to check. He’s absolutely done what he thought was the right thing to do, the timing was out.

“I think we’ve got to be really clear on what his intent was.”

Geelong counterpart Chris Scott emphasised Richardson’s comments didn’t mean either coach wanted to see bumps like Brown’s in the game.

Scott said the bump was “very, very late” and Saad shouldn’t be expected to have to brace for contact that late.

Jake Stringer remonstrates with Nathan Brown. Pic: Michael Klein Source: News Corp Australia

“To be clear … you weren’t asking for that. I think no-one should interpret what you’re saying now as being okay with what happened,” Scott said on AFL 360.

“That (bump) was very, very late.

“And it was interesting, someone said to me that that’s so uncommon in today’s footy. It wasn’t uncommon maybe 20 years ago.

“And as a result, players aren’t expecting contact. And most of the damage I suspect there was because he was completely blindsided.”

Scott said times had changed from an era where players had to always expect contact, and it was “reasonable” for Saad to not expect contact at the time.

“Well that’s the point that was put to me. 20 years ago you would half expect contact there and sort of be ready for it. Today you’re just not expecting it at all,” he said.

“I think everyone’s got to move with the game and I think it’s reasonable not to expect contact there.

“I mean, I’m not trying to hang Browny at all, I just don’t think the bump was necessarily as vicious as the outcome would suggest, it was just more the fact that he was just not braced for contact at all.”

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