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Many a young St Kilda player will be reaching for their Melways this Saturday afternoon as they prepare to trek across the Westgate to face Geelong at Simonds Stadium for the first time since 2004. Live scores and commentary will be available from 7.40pm AEST.
Both Geelong and St Kilda enter Round 18 smarting from narrow losses to Adelaide and Port Adelaide respectively, however the pressure will well and truly be on the Saints to reverse a long run of outs to the Cats at home.
St Kilda have not beaten Geelong at home since Round 10, 1999 and have notched up 13 wins from 56 matches at the Cats’ home ground.
Geelong hold many of the statistical ascendancies, having won seven of their past ten games, including perhaps most importantly the 2009 Grand Final.
The Cats have made five changes following their disappointing loss to the Crows, with Jordan Murdoch (Omitted), Mark Blicavs (Managed), Josh Hunt (Shin), Jesse Stringer (Knee) and Jimmy Bartel (suspension) making way for Taylor Hunt, Steve Johnson, Mitch Brown, Nathan Vardy and George Horlin-Smith.
Geelong has played well in spurts throughout 2013, often doing enough to get themselves over the line as evident by their 13-3 record.
Yet it has been against the lower-ranked sides that Chris Scott’s men have come undone.
After last-week’s shock loss, Geelong will be ready to come out firing as they return to play on their home turf under lights.
In a match that the home side has dedicated to the Casey Tutungi Appeal, the Cats will be aiming for a repeat of their 2012 clash from which they went home comfortable 42-point victors.
The visiting side will have their hands full with big man Tom Hawkins knocking on the door of a big goal haul, a task made ever more achievable through the absence of St Kilda key defender Sam Fisher.
St Kilda on the other hand have replaced Trent Dennis-Lane and a head-sore Dylan Roberton with Arryn Siposs and Jarryn Geary.
They will sorely miss the run Roberton has provided so far this season, with the ex-Docker accumulating more running bounces than any other Saint, with a club high 62 placing him 10th best in the league.
Nick Dal Santo enters Round 18 off a season-high 33 disposals and five tackles against Port Adelaide, while the evergreen Nick Reiwoldt leads the AFL for marks, averaging 9.9 per game.
The Saints will need the pair to produce their best this Saturday night if they are to stand a chance against the second-placed Cats.
Interestingly, both teams are ranked as low as 16th and 17th in the league for clearances.
But the tough-bodied Cats have been countering that anomaly with pure, physical force; as they are currently leading the competition in forcing and scoring from turnovers.
Geelong will be hurting from their narrow loss last week and should come out firing and prove too strong for the Saints.
Watch out for Stevie Johnson to put on an exhibition this week. After his second suspension of the month, Stevie J owes his team mates a big one and should prove a handful.
While the Saints are in their rebuilding phase, it’s hard to see them overpowering the Cats at home, however as we saw last week – stranger things have happened.
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