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St Kilda have celebrated their greatest victory over Collingwood and regaining top spot on the AFL ladder after an 88-point triumph at Etihad Stadium on Monday night.
The Saints’ 20.8 (128) to 5.10 (40) victory was their biggest over the Magpies in 205 clashes spanning more than a century, and gave them a seventh consecutive win for the season.
Captain Nick Riewoldt and goalsneak Adam Schneider booted five goals apiece while Stephen Milne kicked four.
A crowd of 46,880 will also satisfy the AFL that the Monday night timeslot can be a long-term success, although officials will be relieved they count crowd numbers at the start of games rather than the end, as many Magpie fans departed early given their side’s woeful showing.
Collingwood managed just one goal in the first half – via a free kick to Tarkyn Lockyer – and at times were comical with their use of the ball.
Their midfield had no answer to ruckman Michael Gardiner’s impact, and the run and skill of Leigh Montagna, Nick Dal Santo, Jason Gram, Brendon Goddard and Lenny Hayes.
Completing another exemplary team showing for St Kilda, Zac Dawson turned the tables on Anthony Rocca given their famous mismatch of three years ago, while fellow defender Sam Gilbert beat Travis Cloke.
Such was the size of St Kilda’s victory, they raised their percentage back above the dizzy heights of 200 at a stage in the season, when early percentage should be descending.
The Saints’ win surpassed their previous best margin over Collingwood, 73 points, achieved in 2005.
After a fairly even first quarter, the Saints took control with six unanswered goals in the second quarter, and another six in the third to make the win a formality well before the final siren.
Collingwood entered the match severely depleted, as forward Paul Medhurst (ankle) and midfielder Leon Davis (hamstring) withdrew before the game, and were badly missed.
The Magpies, who fell into the red at 3-4, were untidy with the ball all night, were badly shown up for class and were hopelessly impotent in attack, as their score was the club’s lowest since round 21, 1997, when they were kept to 5.9 (39) by Adelaide.
Sharrod Wellingham booted two goals, captain Nick Maxwell tried hard in his 100th game, Shane O’Bree was solid in midfield and Marty Clarke was serviceable, but few others will look back on this clash fondly.
But the AFL is likely to consider the timeslot a success, which is timely given the pending introduction of the 17th and 18th teams in the next three years, which will require finding room for a ninth game per round.
This will be the only game played on a Monday night this season, although the Magpies and Melbourne will play on the Queen’s Birthday holiday in round 11, which, on form, will not be pretty.
Collingwood’s loss was made even worse by injuries to key players when the game was well gone.
Cloke suffered a hamstring strain, ruckman Josh Fraser hurt his knee and midfielders Dane Swan and Dale Thomas were sore from heavy bumps.
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said the Saints were determined to play well before a big audience.
“To come here on a Monday night, big stage, we were aware the nation was watching, the Monday night was a experiment in the timeslot, and we knew it was going to be a big crowd because Collingwood is a big club,” he said.
“… what we spoke about was controlling our actions, which was being hard at the ball and pressuring, and we’ve been in this situation against Collingwood last year – round 19 – and we lost, so we’ve learned a lot from that.
“We focused on our football, which we’ve done all year, to play our brand which is aiming to be a really aggressive, contested team that scores heavily and defends well and we’ve walked out of there having ticked those boxes.”
Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse was at a loss to explain the defeat, but said many of his younger players were over-whelmed by St Kilda’s pressure skills.
“How many things can be disappointing? We were just badly beaten,” he said.
Malthouse refused to speculate on the severity of any of the injuries, but said his absent players would not have had any impact on the result.
St Kilda play Essendon on Sunday and Collingwood play arch-rival Carlton the same day.
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