Match Report: St. Kilda vs Richmond

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon at the Docklands, and St Kilda supporters filed into Marvel stadium amongst a sea of yellow and black to watch the boys take on a Dusty-less Tigers. Richmond fans may have been nervous at the loss of a legend, though some of us at St Kilda were feeling a bit uncertain ourselves as our own legend in the making, Matteas Philippou, was out with the flu.

Instead, we hung our hopes on Carlton recruit Patty Dow, who was ready to square off against his younger brother and show us why we made him a Saint. So, with the roof down and our spirits up Round 22 began.

1st Quarter

The first bounce saw Marshall vs Nankervis, with the support of Jones, Steele, Clark, and Byrnes. Marshall kicked the ball downfield, but a slightly out-of-sync St Kilda gave a small bit of momentum to the Tigers. But the defence stood strong with Battle collecting four disposals in the first five minutes of the game. The Saints generated enough pressure for Hunter Clark to kick an inside 50 into the hands of Cooper Sharman who scored the first goal for the Saints against a backdrop of a very loud chant from the cheer squad and the good folks at Aisle 29.

Within 30 seconds Richmond threatened a response with Jacob Koschitzke kicking a set shot. Luckily, he only managed a behind. Although St Kilda succeeded in moving the ball out of the back half, it sputtered back and forth around the midfield, sometimes into the hands of Richmond, and back to the Saints where a handball from Membrey went to Ryan Byrnes and then landed back with Membrey again who kicked a beautiful running punt that landed between the sticks.

The next centre clearance, however, went to the Tiges. A long kick from Campbell placed the ball right in front of Koschitzke who was inside the goal square and managed to sneak the ball over the line for the Tiger’s first. The next clearance saw them on the attack again and although our defence kept moving the ball out of danger, the home team continued to press and in less than a minute Hugo Ralphsmith dribbled the ball across the line for Richmond’s second and the yellow and black took the lead by one. Was the one-point lead worrisome? No. But it wasn’t necessarily comforting either.

Fortunately, the lead didn’t last long. On the next bounce St Kilda moved the ball into their 50 and it was Dow vs Dow for Paddy’s first attempt at goal for the day. He kicked a behind bringing the scores level. Hoping to retaliate, a greased-up Daniel Rioli grabbed the Sherrin and darted around the midfield with his dangling mouthguard being the least slippery thing about him. Angus tried to tackle him and copped his first cut on the field, the umpire sending him off for the blood rule.

Moments later Sinclair launched the ball from halfback directly to Jack Higgins who passed the ball to Mason Wood, who punted the pill right into the arms of Mitch Owens who was leading in front of the goals. Michito then kicked our third and Angus came back on ground with a Spidaesque headband that he sported the rest of the game.

Richmond responded by chipping through the St Kilda defence. A goal from Bauer brought the scores level again. The next few minutes saw lots of turnovers on both sides until Rowan Marshall took a mark near the 50 and kicked another for the Saints making him the AFL’s highest goal-kicking ruckman in the last six games. The quarter ended with St Kilda holding on to an unconvincing lead 25 to 19.

Zak Jones and Jack Steele in action for the Saints

2nd Quarter

Richmond won the first clearance of the quarter, but Wilkie’s spoil sent the ball back for another four minutes of movement that included an intercept from Josh Battle but amounted to nothing, until Tim Membrey passed to Paddy Dow who was leading the team in disposals by then. Paddy with a slick sidestep, scored the Saint’s first of the quarter, bringing them to a twelve point lead. Bynes and Hunter Clark kept momentum with the Saints and an assist from Brad Hill sent Mason to the goals, but unfortunately for all the trigger-happy Mason Wood chanters, he hit the post.

The Tigers tried to get the ball down to their side of the field but an assist from Dow gave possession back to Skunk who kicked his second of the game and the lead for St Kilda got a little larger. An intercept from Angus went to Steele, but we lost possession and Taranto was there to put another point on the board for Richmond.

St Kilda then adeptly moved the ball from the back half into their forward 50 (something they have struggled with up until recently) Cooper Sharman marked again and scored another six for the Saints. Caminiti followed up with a behind bringing the tally to 45 for the red, white and black.

Richmond followed up with a few moments of good ball movements and a few intercepts, but they ultimately amounted to nothing until a free kick from the umpire gave Bauer another shot at goal. He scored his second. St Kilda followed up with some superior ball movement, their uncontested possession reaching 29 in the second quarter alone. Although, this was a hardly game of pressure. Richmond only had four tackles in the second quarter and neither team had any tackles inside the fifty for the entire first half. With two minutes left in the 2 nd , Shai Bolton who had been pretty quiet until then, snagged six points for Richmond. The siren blew with a score of 46 to 32. The Saints were holding on to a semi-comfortable lead of 14 points while Ross sneaked a peak through his binoculars to see if he could catch a glimpse of any early Christmas pressies, on the way.

3rd Quarter

The first bounce saw Jones with first possession and Hunter with the first clearance as the ball sailed into St Kilda territory for the round’s first 50. But the first score of the 3 rd ended up with Richmond, with Samson Ryan slotting a behind. A St Kilda error in the back half gave an additional point to Taranto.

The Saints took a few shots at goal but missed and another field error turned the ball over to Richmond who moved it downfield and into the Tigers 50 where Shal Bolton kicked his second goal, bringing the Tigers’ margin down to seven points. Still, the Saints kept the pressure on and an intercept by Tim Membrey put St Kilda back to a two-goal lead. And St Kilda kept on firing, sometimes missing, but it didn’t matter, the effort was there. With 12 minutes left in the quarter Rowan was awarded a free kick for holding which he converted into another goal for St Kilda.

Thanks to a few slippery moves of Dan Rioli, Ralphsmith took a mark inside Richmond’s 50 and scored another for the Tigs. But then the Saints made a change.

With 10 minutes left in the quarter, Angus was subbed out and Jimmy Webster came in. The Tigers tried to rally, sneaking the ball into their inside 50 six times in a row. The Saints helped their efforts by launching a few poor kicks. These were the kinds of errors they used to pay for. But not on Sunday. With six minutes left, the Saints decided they’d had enough. Sinclair moved the ball out of Richmond’s 50 to Byrnes who kicked a gorgeous pass to Rowan. Marshall handballed to Steele who kicked to a pack. Caminiti gained possession and passed to Brad Hill who passed to Owens who kicked to Darcy Wilson, directly in front of the sticks. He scored his first of the game and brought St Kilda’s score to 59. Minutes later high contact led to a free kick for the Hammer who scored the 11 th goal for the Saints. The quarter ended with St Kilda leading in inside 50 conversions and holding on to a comfortable lead in the game, the tally up to Saints’ 15.9 to Richmond’s 7.9.

Ryan Byrnes being admired by Dion Prestia

4th Quarter

The quarter started with Marshall missing a goal. But Jack Sinclair was owning the back half. Mitch Owens too, tried for a goal but it was a very short kick that landed in the arms of a Tiger. The Tiger was then tackled by Dan Butler inside the goal square. Seeing all this, the umpire called a ball up instead of a free kick. Perhaps to rectify the error of his ways, he then gave a free kick to Rowan Marshall (who was leading the team in score involvements) for a holding call instead and another six points went to St Kilda. Moments later Owens tried for a goal again but it sailed outside the big sticks and was blocked by Nankervis for a behind. But Saints kept on coming with an almost, hangar by Cooper that just slipped through his grip, and a shot at goal from a hungry Dan Butler that was touched for another point.

A free kick to Nankervis broke the momentum and gave the Tigers some courage, with Graham, Campbell, and Bauer all kicking behinds in the span of a few minutes. But St Kilda defended the field well. With eight minutes left in the game, Cooper took a mark in the middle of the field and the ball came back into Saints’ territory with Butler taking a mark inside 50 that he finally converted into a goal. Caminiti attempted another but it just missed. Later, Mason Wood punted the Sherrin into the 50 where Higgins took the mark and after being held in a chokehold by Vlaustin (that did not result in ANY sanction from the MRO or the umpire), kicked his first of the game against his old side. The Tigers tried to respond, against the backdrop of a happy St Kilda cheer squad who were already knocking for the win. An assist from Wood with a minute thirty left saw Dan Butler score the last goal of the game.

And so, the sunny Sunday afternoon ended with a score of 99 to 51, St Kilda. Although the win was a group effort, it was a standout performance from Jack Sinclair who accumulated team highs for both disposals and score involvements and averaged 93% disposal efficiency for the entire match. Was it our greatest win of the season? No. But the Saints got the job done and Ross Lyon was all giggles in the coach’s box. I’m guessing he found what he was looking for.

Angus ‘Beef’ McLennan celebrating his first AFL victory