The Roar
The Roar

AFL
Advertisement

Soaring Saints ground Greene-less Giants

5th May, 2017
Advertisement
St Kilda are young and enthusiastic. But perhaps a tad vanilla. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Roar Guru
5th May, 2017
39
1063 Reads

The St Kilda Saints have pulled off a stunning Friday night result, defeating an admirable but ultimately disappointing GWS Giants outfit by 23 points at Etihad Stadium.

It proved to be a tough night for suspended Giant Toby Greene, who had to watch from the sidelines a game where he could have been the match-winner for a GWS team that had only two players kick more than one goal.

While a win wasn’t always out of the question, a win of this magnitude would’ve surprised even the most dedicated Saints fans, as their team put the Giants to the sword in the final quarter, booting eight consecutive goals, including two towards the end of the third quarter.

To say it went the Saints way the entire game, though, would be to falsify the Giants efforts: it wasn’t all that easy for the hosts, as the Giants looked great at times.

The first quarter set the tone for what would be close and hard fought match. St Kilda’s pressure was evident from the get-go, consistently striving to attack the footy and making life difficult for the Giants, who initially looked a little uncertain, and struggled to move the football without experiencing the intense pressure.

St Kilda, frustratingly, couldn’t – for all their attacking effort – make any sort of indent on the scoreboard, and predictably, the Giants came back strongly. They soon overtook the Saints’ pressure and attack, and were able to slam on a couple of goals to take a 10-point lead into the first break.

The second quarter was played at a frenetic pace, with both teams able to gain the ascendency at differing times, and St Kilda especially able to get on top.

Then they got a case of the turnover yips, which prevented them from taking any form of extended ascendency, and enabled the Giants to slam on at least two goals from horrendous St Kilda turnovers.

Advertisement

GWS kept their lead (albeit, a reduced one) come the main break, but St Kilda – for all their flaws – didn’t look out of the game.

The third quarter continued the entertaining, yet topsy-turvy, tradition that had been established in the preceding quarter; both teams had period of dominance, St Kilda had some disappointing blunders, and GWS had the lead come three-quarter time.

But the lead just didn’t feel safe, and ultimately it wasn’t, as St Kilda dominated GWS, and ran out with the win.

St Kilda’s victory was made even sweeter by the fact that they’d managed to pull off the win with limited contributions by Nick Riewoldt, Jarryn Geary and Leigh Montanga.

Seb Ross, Jack Steven, Jack Newnes and Jimmy Webster were excellent for the winning team, while Dylan Roberton and Jake Carlisle were brilliant in defence.

Jack Billings, while missing a few shots, was great up front, as was Jade Gresham’s fourth quarter effort.

Tom Scully, Heath Shaw, Josh Kelly and Callan Ward were prolific for the visitors, while Stephen Coniglio performed very well in his first game for the year.

Advertisement

Jeremy Cameron was their joint-highest goal kicker (with Scully) but would be disappointed with the 2.3 he produced, and Steve Johnson was also very quiet.

St Kilda face Carlton in a very winnable match next weekend, while GWS host a potentially resurgent Collingwood next Saturday.

Final score
St Kilda Saints 16.12.108
GWS Giants 12.13.85

close