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The St Kilda Saints handed the Western Bulldogs a 15-point upset on Saturday night in a match that also saw key Dogs Mitch Wallis and Jack Redpath suffer season-ending injuries.
» Click here to read the full match report
Final score
Western Bulldogs 9.6.60
St Kilda Saints 11.9.75
Saturday night footy in Melbourne, as the Western Bulldogs take on the St Kilda Saints at Etihad Stadium. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog from 7:25pm (AEST).
The Bulldogs have worked hard this season, and sit in third spot approaching the end of the season, with a pretty favourable draw to come.
So they’re in an excellent position to make a real run at their first premiership in half a century, provided they can hold their nerve in games like this one.
The Saints have certainly shown they are capable against elite opposition this year, knocking off the Cats and running Hawthorn very close.
But no one would accuse them of being consistent. They’ve also been on the wrong end of some rather lopsided affairs, including their first match up this year against the Dogs, where they managed just five goals and lost by 57 points.
So it rather seems as though our chances of seeing a good contest tonight largely depend on which St Kilda team turns up tonight.
The Bulldogs will, as usual, try to control the game through controlling the ball. Their young midfield is in superb form, and they remain the game’s specialists at denying their opponents any opportunity.
Once again, St Kilda will find scoring tough.
That said, the Dogs haven’t always found it that easy to notch up a winning score themselves, and some of the pressure comes off the Saints’ defence with Jake Stringer missing through injury.
Even in the pristine conditions under the Docklands roof, you wouldn’t expect a high-scoring contest tonight.
The Saints, looking to recapture some of the magic they showed three weeks ago, will need first use of the ball to be a chance, and will hope for big games from Jack Steven, Seb Ross and Leigh Montagna, all having great seasons.
Nick Riewoldt, so good in the first half of the year, has flattened a little in recent weeks. He does tend to play well against the Dogs, however. He’ll need a big night for the Saints to be a chance.
There’s no denying that when St Kilda are up and about they’re no easybeats. But the Dogs rarely play a bad game these days, and although they field a young team their professionalism and discipline stand in contrast to the Saints’ raggedness most weeks.
For those reasons its really not possible to predict an upset. Nevertheless, the Saints might well make a game of this.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog from 7:25pm (AEST).
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