Saints chase Kilarney Vale revenge after Hawks slip and slide

In their first match-up of the new season, the Saints will return to Adelaide Street Oval on Saturday, April 27, where they lost an elimination final against the Bombers by 63 points last year.

"We spoke about it after the game (on Saturday) and we'll probably speak about it again at training," Saints coach Dustin Spriggs said.

"Every team that's on their way up, that ends up being a really strong team has to draw a line in the sand.

"We were physically outworked by Killarney Vale in that final last year - it was easy for everyone to see."

The Saints are likely to be carrying some sore legs after slogging it out in the wet against Cardiff on Saturday, April 20.

At home at Max McMahon Oval for the first time, the match was subject to some torrential downpours with the Hawks prevailing 13.14 (92) to 6.4 (40).

Amidst puddles and a gruelling battle at the contest, Cardiff got the jump, kicking the first three goals and looking to be in control by the midpoint of the first term.

The Saints rallied though and responded with two goals to Rhylan Hoffman and Djarrin Stuart.

Cardiff started the second term with another two majors, however Maitland hit back again with a booming 50-metre goal to Kevin McDonald and then from the next centre clearance, Luke D'Amico showed some good footwork and a tidy finish to leave the Saints just 10 points behind heading towards the main break.

Rywin Nock added another to keep the home side in the match at half-time, trailing 6.6 (42) to 5.2 (32).

However the visitors strode away in the third term, kicking five majors while a tight defensive effort limited Maitland to a single point in the quarter.

Kevin McDonald added another in the fourth but a another strong defensive display in the final term showed why Cardiff are on top of the ladder after two rounds.

"Cardiff were a lot more clinical with their skills in the wet I thought, our boys competed really well in the contest," Spriggs said.

"It'll be interesting to see coming off that performance against Cardiff (how we go this week).

"As disspointing as the result was there's a lot of positives there being a young group being able to match them."

Spriggs said there were some standouts from his side including Zack Stewart who was tireless in his work as was Sam Jordan.

The coach also praised the effort of Clint James on debut. The ex Cardiff player combined well with Isaak Berthold to reduce the output of star Hawks ruckman Billy King.

Both Maitland's women's side and the men's reserve grade suffered heavy defeats in their fixtures. The women lost their Black Diamond Cup match to Cardiff while the men were defeated by Newcastle City.