Match Report: St. Kilda vs Essendon

Approaching Marvel Stadium on Saturday was a strange feeling. Anticipation, mixed with trepidation, I don’t know, but there was something in the air. We all wanted the Saints to beat the Bombers, and we all wanted it very, very badly. Essendon supporters came out in their droves, and a repeat of our four-point loss earlier in the season would be unbearable.

1st Quarter

The game started with a huddle and a captain giving orders to his men. The team looked unified and determined; it was a positive start. It began with a good bounce and Draper vs Marshall in a contest that in the end, turned out to be not much of a contest at all.

Essendon made the most of the first few minutes with a Dylan Sheil goal attempt that Dougal Howard ran across the line for a behind. This was followed by a questionable free kick to Mason Redmon, who hit the post for the Dons making it two points to zero. The Saints responded with a behind from Mitch Owens, who only just missed his set shot. Essendon followed up with a mark inside 50 to Dursma, who scored the first goal of the game. This was succeeded by another from Dylan Shiel putting the Don’s two ahead in only nine minutes.

In the past, this might have put us off, but there was something different about the Saints this Saturday. Instead, our pressure increased, and aside from a few errors, our ball movement looked clean and coordinated. A tackle by Byrnes led to a chain of possessions from Marshall to Membrey back to Marshall again who lobbed the Sherrin between the sticks for our first goal of the game. We lost the next clearance, which ended up in the hands of Langford, who despite being touted as a dangerous addition up forward, missed his shot at goal.

St Kilda responded with a possession from Butler who kicked a clean pass to Caminiti. This was Hammer’s first game back from an injury and he started with a bang as he scored the Saints’ second goal of the quarter. But St Kilda were just getting started. Five minutes later, Cooper Sharman kicked to Higgins (which made sense this time because he wasn’t surrounded by a cluster of talls). Higgo then scored his first snag of the game. With four minutes left in the quarter, we were treated to a glimpse of the Mitchito we’ve been missing, whose second attempt at goal was successful. This was followed up by a possession for Tim Membrey, who was settled in a great field position for a left-footer to kick a goal, which is why he passed the ball to Mason Wood. But the umpire wouldn’t have it. He forced Membrey to take his own shot, which he did, and goal umpire David Rodan was all smiles as he threw his two fingers forward to signal another goal for the Saints. Thanks to our sleek ball movement (and Essendon’s inability to kick to their own team) St Kilda ended the quarter with 34 uncontested marks to Essendon’s 18 and Hunter Clark was leading the pack with six contested possessions, four of which were intercepts.

Membrey celebrates, with a little help from his friends in Aisle 29

2nd Quarter

Minutes into the 2nd quarter Rowan Marshall had already accumulated seven disposals and four marks, three of which were intercepts. But Essendon started off swinging. Jake Stringer kicked a goal which was shortly followed by another ‘miracle’ from Zack Merrett, and that narrowed St Kilda’s lead to only four points. Moments later a clearance from Stringer went to Harrison Jones who then kicked a goal of his own, and by the ten-minute mark, the Saints were down by two and it seemed the Dons were on a run. But the lead didn’t last for long.

The Saints countered, with our favourite sidestepper Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera. Nas was everywhere, already with 384 metres gained, and winning a clearance resulted in his first goal for the year. By this point, Draper had accrued a massive zero touches, to Marshall’s ten.

Thanks to the efforts of Darcy Wilson, the Saints were able to keep the ball in their 50 for a bit. It might have stayed there longer but Marshall’s goal attempt missed the sticks and the Dons were on the move again. It didn’t matter. St Kilda’s defence was just too strong, and Nasiah was coming back down the field on a glorious run that was interrupted by a push in the back from Gresh. Byrnes tried for a nice junk goal shortly after this but it only resulted in a behind. The score was 38 to 34 and the Saints were gaining momentum. Later, a pass by Merrett was spoiled by Mason Wood, the ball landed with Bonner, then with Mitch Owens who passed to Cooper Sharman who had already garnered ten marks and finally scored his first goal of the game.

Super Cooper Sharman celebrates another goal

Then it seemed like a bit of confusion set in, with the Dons kicking extremely accurately to Marshall, and Sinclair, and Battle, Ryan Byrnes, and Caminiti, and Jack Higgins…… you get the point. Gresham had a mark inside 50 to a host of boos from the Saints supporters. He tried for a goal but stayed true to his form by kicking it to Wilkie instead. The ball then ended up in the hands of Riley Bonner, who kicked it directly to Essendon’s Martin. Martin then kicked it back to Cooper Sharman again. To add to this confusion, an umpire blew the whistle for a blocking call on Ryan Byrnes leaving 20 seconds in the quarter for the formidable Langford to kick a goal. He missed. The half ended with the Saints holding on to a nine-point lead.

I said at the start that there was something in the air that day. By the end of the half, I knew what that was. It was Cooper Sharman, who was making a contest in the air and everywhere and he was still on a roll.

3rd Quarter

Essendon got the first clearance of the quarter but the Saints’ pressure inside the 50 was unbearable with Menzie kicking in a frenzy to Josh Battle. Less than three minutes into the second half, the Saints landed the ball back in the hands of Sharman who kicked a banana between the sticks for his second goal and solidified a 15-point lead over Essendon. It was then that the belting began. Two minutes later, Jones kicked the ball to Naz who launched it downfield to Steele. The captain kicked to Caminiti who punted an impressive second goal for St Kilda.

Supporters in Aisle 29 started singing that it was raining goals and it was. Essendon’s Harrison Jones later dove over the ball for a holding call which was awarded to Jack Steele. The captain then scored his first goal of the game and his fourth of the season. The pressure rating was 238 to 137 St Kilda and the Saints were leading in uncontested marks 17-2. Shortly afterwards inside the Essendon 50 Zak Jones grabbed the Sherrin and started a handball chain. This led to a Saints possession and a wave of players who gracefully moved the ball outside and back into Saints’ territory. The chain of possession ended with Bonner kicking a long pass right into the arms of Cooper Sharman, again. Super Cooper then passed to the Man of Steele for a second goal for our captain and the crowd went wild. Hunter Clark then kicked a dribbler that almost made it across the line. Darcy tried to get it over but he wasn’t able to assist.

The Bombers sought a response. Gresh even attempted to kick a goal. But in a karmic moment, Naz blocked the ball taking it over the line for a behind. With seven minutes to go in the third quarter Sharman had more marks than the entire Essendon team and the Saints looked like they were having fun for the second time this season.

Cooper landed another mark inside the 50 and our number 43 (who before this game had only scored four times the entire season) kicked his third goal of the game. Twenty seconds later Dan Butler kicked an eighth unanswered goal for the Saints bringing them to a 44-point lead.

Dylan Shiel managed another goal for the Bombers but there would be no comeback. The score was followed by some ball movement by the Saints that looked as coordinated as synchronised swimming. There was pressure inside the 50 with the Hammer swinging his arm in the middle of a tackle to pass the ball onto Higgins, With 30 seconds left in the third quarter Captain Jack scored another six points. The siren brought the quarter to a close with a score of 88-43 St Kilda and the Bombers looked dejected.

In the third quarter it was Hammer time!

4th Quarter

The final quarter began with a free kick for Tim Membrey who booted another goal for the Saints. In less than a minute, The Hammer followed with his third, and the Saints broke 100 points for the third time this season. To try to make things interesting for the Dons supporters, an umpire gifted a free holding kick to Sam Draper which was converted into a goal. After a few chips around the field, Sam Durham kicked another for the Dons, but it didn’t matter. The Bomber supporters were already leaving in droves and the Saints’ defence was holding strong. The team wasn’t finished just yet.

I do want to point out that things weren’t all bad for Essendon. They weren’t even as bad as Brad Scott made it seem in his presser. By this time in the game, the Bombers had racked up 42 tackles to our 35 and had four more inside 50s than we did. It’s just that this time, it was the Same Olds that couldn’t convert, and the Saints had hit their stride. With 3:48 left in the game, the Saints supporters started signing.

With 49 seconds left Jack Higgins kicked another goal and a Bombers fan angrily tossed his scarf onto the field. The game ended with the Saints winning by 53 points and a string of successful connections.

Remember when the Saints’ biggest problem was that they couldn’t convert inside 50? Yeah. Neither do I. Neither does our starting team. In his post-game interview, Josh Battle referred to the Saints as Moorabbin Men, and they certainly lived up to that name on Saturday. It looks like Christmas has come early for St Kilda supporters and the Grinch is driving the sleigh.