GOING into Saturday’s men’s Premier League Hockey grand final qualifier on the back of their worst defensive performance of the year, you might think that St Pat’s coach Jaden Ekert would be a troubled figure.

He’s not. He is far from it.

What has Ekert confident his Saints can get the better of Lithgow Panthers in the major semi-final is the squad he has at his disposal oozes talent. They have already proved in 2014 that if they click, no-one can go with them.

Even when conceding seven goals to Parkes last Saturday in a below par performance, the Saints still managed to net eight goals of their own and won the minor premiership by eight points over Panthers.

That effort means the Saints finished the regular season with 33 more goals than the next best attacking line up.

“We still won and we still scored eight goals, so there is some positives in that,” Ekert said after the 8-7 win over Parkes.

“That we can play like that and still score eight goals is good, but if we had played the way we have been, we should have scored a lot more and conceded a lot less.

“Parkes are probably looking at it as a confidence thing, but we did score eight goals against them and did not play very well. If they look at the other side of it – if we play well we are a scary side to play against.”

With a line up that includes former Australian representative Matt Naylor, whose penalty corner drag-flicks have given rival goalkeepers massive headaches, recent NSW Country representative Sam Macpherson and two men who toured with the Australian Country side earlier this year – Shane Conroy and Ekert himself – it is easy to see why the Saints can be devastating.

But they are by no means the only threats.

Brendan Burke has twice (2009-10) finished as the league’s top scorer, Josh Toole provides plenty of pace, Brodie Cooke has scored his share of goals and defender Tobbie Muldoon provides an alternate penalty corner option.

Midfield work horse Cameron Liles returns to the Saints line-up on Saturday after missing the Parkes match and will provide stability and direction, and though goalkeeper Daniel Casey might not 

have enjoyed the best of days in the final round, he was the 2012 grand final’s most valuable player.

Still, even with all that talent, Ekert knows his players must play with more intensity against the Panthers than what they displayed last week. He is confident they can do just that.

“If we come with that same attitude we are going to get absolutely belted – our complacency was rubbish,” he said of the round 15 effort.

“It was goal for goal for a while there and we just panicked, we didn’t have that composure. Then when we did get a couple of goals up, the complacency kicked in again, it was just an around the world circle.

“You won’t see that again from us, I’ll give you a tip.”

The Saints will host Lithgow Panthers at the Cooke Hockey Complex this Saturday at 1.50pm, the victor to earn a home grand final.