The Saints got the game off to a flyer, notching up 6.5 to the Hoppers’ 0.3.

“But our second quarter was terrible,” Saints coach Ty Russell admitted.

“We were full of run and all played together, then we just went to sleep.

“They went to not playing a team game and not playing to our rules, so they got a revving at half-time and came back out and played a lot better.”

Russell said the Saints’ disposals let them down, with turnovers proving costly and allowing the Hoppers to chip away at the 38-point deficit to come within 12 points.

But the rain in the second half turned the match into a “slog”, with Harley Middleton shining on a dreary afternoon.

“It was a tough second half but we went back to basics and played as a unit,” Russell said.

“It was about helping each other out and doing the small things like shepherds and tackles, and Harley must have had a dozen or so tackles in the second half — he did a lot of hard work.

“Our skills were really good in the rain, I was quite surprised how good they were.”

Ted Walliss booted five goals for the Saints from centre half forward, while on-ballers Kyle Russell and the Mynard twins, Jack and Cameron, stood up in the rain.

And while that second quarter was cause for concern, Russell said the Saints were just happy to come away with the points.

“I’m an old-fashioned coach and a win’s a good win, especially away from home,” he said.

With only two losses, the Saints are in the cluster of teams vying for a third spot.

“We’ve still got a few to come back from injury so we think we’ll be thereabouts at the end,” Russell said.

Topping off the morale-boosting win was the Saints’ Patron’s night with guest Brendan Fevola.

“The boys were excited with the win and Fev was really good and very funny,” Russell said.

“So we celebrated pretty hard.”