Dan Butler returns to pursue Richmond when St. Kilda stuns the incumbent prime ministers

Dustin Martin’s return could not spark Richmond’s return when AFL’s Prime Minister scored another goal in a 26-point loss to St. Kilda on Saturday.

The Brownlow medalist collected 19 exits after a week’s break with injured ribs, but had little impact when the Saints got away with a win from 15.3 (93) to 10.7 (67) at Marvel Stadium.

Jack Billings (25 exits) and Jack Steele (21) played through the middle when Jake Carlisle did a great job defending the saints.

Trading season recruit Dan Butler, who was picked up by the Tigers last October in return for the National Draft Pick # 56 bargain, scored three goals in his first game against his old team.

Tim Membrey also kicked three majors when Jack Lonie, Rowan Marshall and Dean Kent jumped in with two to distribute the cargo.

A suspected thigh injury from Zak Jones was the only bad news for St. Kilda, who stuck to her task with a run-and-gun play style and scored her highest score of the season so far.

The result left Richmond outside the top 8 with two losses and a draw since the restart of the season.

Tiger’s coach Damien Hardwick defeated premier players Daniel Rioli, Marlion Pickett, Ivan Soldo and Jack Graham after Hawthorn’s goal in round three.

Richmond had the hottest start when Shane Edwards scored the first goal in just 10 seconds.

But many of the same problems that have plagued them since the resumption of the season were evident again because they failed to match the speed and intensity of their opponents around the ball.

St. Kilda burned the tigers with their fast ball movement and led several times with up to 19 points before half-time.

Butler was a pervasive threat, and Bradley Hill (19 exits, one goal) hit the wing at will until a rolled ankle caused a brief fright in the saints’ camp during the second term.

Richmond challenged in the third quarter, but never came closer than 10 points after the main break and the Saints have scored three goals one last time with the game on the line.

St. Kilda suffered a blow before the game when Paddy Ryder had a late retreat with back pain and was replaced by Kent.

In Ryder’s absence, Marshall made a strong contribution to the fight against Toby Nankervis.

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