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St Kilda have stunned the Gold Coast Suns by 28 points at Metricon Stadium to win their first game in seven matches in the AFL.
ST KILDA 16 8 104
GOLD COAST 10 16 76
In the first half, it was all St Kilda, as they kicked 8 goals in the second quarter to lead by 47 points at half time.
The Suns would come back in the second half, with 9 more scoring shots, but they were too inaccurate to win the contest.
They would get to within 22 points of St Kilda, with 4 minutes to go, but not be able to make a solid challenge to the Saints.
The Suns would make a good start to the match, taking an early 8 point lead as they got plenty of the ball.
With five minutes to go in the quarter, the game changed, with one 100 metre penalty.
Nick Riewoldt would take a mark on the wing and get two penalties to kick an easy goal from the goal square.
Sam Day would concede the first by tackling Riewoldt to the ground after he took the mark, with Tom Lynch then conceding another penalty with abuse to the umpire.
This triggered the Saints into action and they would kick one more goal to take the lead at quarter time.
They then kicked eight of the next nine goals to take control of the game and lead by almost 50 points at half time.
Josh Bruce would become the hero for the Saints with 4 goals in one quarter, including two great checkside goals from the boundary.
For Gold Coast they were wasteful with the ball and weren’t as attacking at the ball as St Kilda.
Rodney Eade would have demanded a lift from them after half time.
While the Suns gave him one, they didn’t translate that onto the scoreboard, as they kicked one goal seven behinds in the third quarter.
They won the quarter by four points but still needed to come back from 43 points at the final change.
When the Saints kicked the first and second goal of the final quarter, to extend the lead to 54 points, the game was over.
Gold Coast would kick the next five goals to reduce the margin to 22 points but they ran out of time.
The Saints, deservedly, would win their first match of the season.
After some media critics said they wouldn’t win a game all season, it is a timely reminder that St Kilda’s kids aren’t that bad.
Newnes and Dunstan had over 20 disposals in the match and 22nd gamer Josh Bruce kicked six goals.
For the Suns it was Rischitelli and Prestia who starred again, with 35 and 27 disposals respectively.
Ablett didn’t have his best game on the field but still had 23 touches.
The Suns will now need to re-group quickly before heading to Geelong to take on the Cats next week.
The Saints, buoyed by the win, will now face Collingwood on Friday night footy.
The Gold Coast Suns will look to bounce back from their 1st round loss when they take on the St Kilda Saints at Metricon Stadium tonight. Join The Roar for a live blog of the match from 7:50pm (AEDT).
After plenty of hype during the off-season, with a new coach and high expectations from the media, the Suns were brought crashing back to earth by Melbourne at the MCG in Round 1.
They would concede five of the first six goals of the match, and never recover, as they would be defeated by 26 points by the Demons.
The Suns would be beaten in many areas statistically as they struggled in their first match under new coach Rodney Eade.
Only Dion Prestia and Michael Rischitelli, who had 29 and 21 disposals respectively, could hold their heads high after the match.
They will now travel back home to face the Saints who didn’t lose any fans in their close loss to GWS.
The Saints had their chances but couldn’t capitalise on them to pull the upset. Jack Steven, David Armitage, and Josh Bruce, impressed for the Saints in their narrow loss.
They head to Metricon Stadium on the back of two straight losses to the Suns at the venue.
In 2013 Gary Ablett showed his freakish skills as he led the Suns to their first win over the Saints in the AFL.
Last year, in Round 19, Gold Coast had their biggest win over the Saints as they won by 53 points.
After the loss last week, Eade has been ruthless at the selection table. Out comes Trent McKenzie, Matt Shaw, and Daniel Gorringe with Seb Tape, Tom Lynch and Sean Lemmens replacing them.
They will be hoping for a response after the lucklustre match last week.
The Saints have made two changes with Leigh Montagna out with a knee injury and Eli Templeton omitted.
In comes Jack Billings for his first match of the year with Tom Curran also into the 22 man squad.
The key to this match will be how Gold Coast respond after last week.
If they play like they did against Melbourne then the Saints are a chance of causing the upset.
While the Saints are expected to struggle this season, you still have to give the team plenty of respect.
They showed that against Fremantle last year when they smashed the Dockers at Etihad Stadium.
If Gold Coast turn up though, and come out with all guns blazing, then they should defeat the Saints comfortably.
Prediction:
Gold Coast by 30 points as they account for the inexperience Saints.
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