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St Kilda have savaged a severely understrength Carlton at Ikon Park, winning by 92 points.
» Click here to read the full match report
Final score
Carlton Blues 0.4.6.30
St Kilda Saints 0.18.14.122
Two of the league’s foundation clubs meet at one of the league’s foundation stadiums, as the Carlton Blues do battle with the St Kilda Saints at Princes Park. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog from 2:05pm AEDT.
It is just shy of 120 years since these two sides first met at this ground, way back in 1897.
It seems a bit of a shame that the old suburban grounds get relegated to pre-season matches only, but matches like today are a nostalgic opportunity for those of us who still dimly remember the VFL and catching the tram up Royal Parade to see a game.
So much for the old, this afternoon we see the new. Both sides have left out key veterans in order to give their younger players a taste at this level.
Carlton have left out Marc Murphy, Bryce Gibbs, Matthew Kreuzer, Kade Simpson, Levi Casboult and Sam Docherty, but they do bring back Patrick Cripps for his first run of the season.
Other players in the squad for the first time are Harrison Macreadie, Cameron Polson, Tom Williamson and Matt Korcheck.
Korcheck, a 208cm former US college basketballer, may have a particularly big role today, as he is the only ruckman selected by the Blues. A Category B international rookie, he is yet to make his senior debut.
For St Kilda, Leigh Montagna, Nick Riewoldt, Tom Hickey, Dylan Roberton, Maverick Weller, Jarryn Geary and Sam Gilbert will all be missing.
Blake Acres returns after surprisingly being left out of last week’s team. He will be looking for a big afternoon to force his way back into the Saints’ first 22.
Other additions for St Kilda include Ben Long, Josh Battle and Rowan Marshall, all recruited by the club in the draft at the end of last season.
The Saints started last week’s game on fire against Port Adelaide, before appearing to run out of steam, withdrawing key players, and barely hanging on for a narrow win. There would be positives out of that performance but also some things to work on.
Certainly there’ll be players fighting for a spot in the round one team, including new recruits Jack Steele and Koby Stevens.
Carlton were totally outmatched in their first pre-season game against a hungry Melbourne team.
That said, there were good signs from Caleb Marchbank, Jarrod Pickett, Zac Fisher and Kym Lebois, who all get a chance to build on that today.
Recruits Billie Smedts and Rhys Palmer would be looking for better performances for the Blues.
Don’t expect a super high standard in this one, with the premiership season some weeks off and both sides clearly taking the opportunity to blood the kids.
It’s hard to pick a winner in games like this, but the Saints seem to have a few more quality players left in their squad, and would be likely to run away at some point for a win.
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