Brad Hill has repaid the faith shown in him by St Kilda coach Brett Ratten, playing a starring role in the Saints' big win over Hawthorn.
Ratten resisted calls to axe his big-money star despite the team's 2-4 start to the year, and his side reaped the rewards of a vintage Hill performance in the Saints' 19. 14. (128) to 9. 5. (59) win over Hawthorn at Marvel Stadium.
Hill finished with 27 possessions to go along with five tackles and thrived in an unfamiliar halfback role thrust upon him after he was moved from his wing position.
Following his side's win, the 27-year-old admitted that he was looking to regain consistency in his play.
"It's pretty hard to play consistent footy year on year, but that's something I want to do," he told Fox Footy.
"Obviously I've gone through a bit of a struggle at the start of the season, but hopefully I can build on tonight."
Western Bulldogs legend Brad Johnson also praised Ratten for shifting Hill into a foreign position to start the game, which allowed the ex-Hawk to hit the ground running.
"I loved the way Brett Ratten coached Bradley Hill in terms of getting him back into a position to at least give him a chance to succeed," he told Fox Footy.
"He didn't let the coach down, but I loved the way Brett Ratten structured him in the early part of the game to try and get his confidence up."
Johnson added that the challenge for Hill was to back up his season-best performance in the coming weeks.
"It's an interesting position that he finds himself in now because he's played extremely well, but he'll play it down within the realms of the ways he's thinking," he said.
"He'd be proud of his performance of course, but he'll be like, 'Yeah, that's better, that's the level I need to get to'. It goes onto next week now and the week after that.
"It's the consistency that he's after, he mentioned that after the game, and that's where he needs to continue to improve."
Hill was assisted by Zak Jones, who registered a career-best 37 disposals to go along with two goals, while Jack Higgins was at his lethal best up forward with four goals.
Hawthorn's efforts were once again led by the tireless Tom Mitchell, who finished with 38 disposals, while James Worpel and Jack Scrimshaw added 33 disposals apiece.
St Kilda will aim to get back-to-back wins for the first time this season when they travel to the Gold Coast to take on the Suns in Round Eight, while Hawthorn will host the West Coast Eagles at the MCG.
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