Match Report: St. Kilda vs Brisbane Lions

The Matt Maguire belt was on the line at the Gabba on Friday, and St. Kilda enters their mid-season bye having not captured the goose. On Friday morning, Brisbane residents reported seeing a flying pig, and then Darragh Joyce got thirty-one disposals against the Zebras and we scored over one-hundred points. C'est la vie.

Mitch Owens kicked two first quarter goals and the Lions kicked seven. Windy went to Neale and we won clearances for the quarter by twelve. But most of those clearances were spanked on the boot from the middle and traveled to the paint of 50 then bounced immediately back, like there was an invisible trampoline force-field.

 Eleven minutes into the second, Daniher put Brisbane 36 points ahead after Jack Higgins took advantage in the forward pocket and missed a snap from almost point blank range. Feeling remorseful for this, Higgins decided to send two massive bombs from fifty through the big sticks. He finished with three goals that quarter. We scored from 82% of entries which is our highest percentage for the seson, and Riley Bonner absolutely butchered a goal on the siren that would have sent earth tremors from Melbourne to Brisbane.

 We made Eric Hipwood look like a decent forward, as he kicked two goals in two minutes to start the second half. We mounted a serious comeback with three on the trot and then Brisbane was like ‘nah, don’t think so,’ and decided to kick three in a row themselves.

The last quarter was one of the best quarters we’ve played all year. Seven goals in one quarter! That is sometimes our entire total for the match. We got the margain back to within a goal, and just as our hopes had risen, Brizzy again went ‘Nah, don’t think so’ and went bang bang bang and our St. Kilda hearts simultaneously went bang, bang, bang.

Arie Shoenmaker had a ripping debut game. His first kick was a 55m penetrative bomb onto the chest of Dan Butler. Who missed. And he finished with 18 touches, six marks, three spoils.

We found some forward rythtym. Finally. And it didn’t come easy. Most of our F50 entries are super shallow and get picked off but something shifted and we actually started being. Higgins kicked five, King had three, Butler, Owens and Henry all with two.

The best part of the whole night though, was Tom Campbell. This guy is a legend and he’s actually pretty decent when he’s playing. I like the two-ruck combo.

Good news is we can’t lose next week. Go team.