St Kilda have kept their slim finals hopes alive by taking a 49-point win over the North Melbourne Kangaroos in Nick Riewoldt’s last home game on Sunday.
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Final score
St Kilda Saints 18.19.127
North Melbourne Kangaroos 12.6.78
The St Kilda Saints and the North Melbourne Kangaroos are at the point of playing for pride when they meet at Etihad Stadium on Saturday. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match starting from 3:20pm AEST.
St Kilda’s season likely came to an end last week when they fell short by four goals against the Melbourne Demons at the MCG.
Although the Saints fought well in the latter half of that match, it wasn’t enough to recover from a poor start that saw the Demons dominate the opening quarter.
Although mathematically things could still work out for them, it would require a bizarre series of events reminiscent of a Happy Gilmore gold jacket winning shot.
They can live in hope, but aside from that, can also play for pride, to build momentum for 2018, and do honour to retiring club legend Nick Riewoldt.
North Melbourne’s season has been over for much longer than that. They’ve been an alright team at stages this year but just haven’t won that many games – and, well, that’s a pretty crucial part of the whole deal, y’kno?
The Roos have had only one win from their last eleven games and that has seen them drop from a side in the middle of the table to one in the running for the wooden spoon.
Next week’s match against Brisbane shapes as a spoon decider, with the loser likely to finish eighteenth and cop that unwanted prize.
Both sides have leaders back into the team this week, St Kilda regaining Nick Riewoldt, and North have their skipper Jack Ziebell back.
Prediction
St Kilda are the better team of these two and have no good reason not to show it today.
St Kilda Saints by 36 points.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match starting from 3:20pm AEST.
peter chrisp
Guest
A slight chance if the Saints could get over Richmond next weekend.
Swannies
Guest
Well played Sainters, but should really have piled on 4 or 5 more goals given the amount of scoring shots and the quality of the opposition.
Josh
Expert
Must close off by giving a salute to Nick Riewoldt in his final game at Etihad Stadium. A truly incredible career, so much of it played at this ground.
Josh
Expert
Well, that's all she wrote - Saints big winners and if things fall their way they're still a finals chance, if not a particularly likely one.
Josh
Expert
FULL TIME ST KILDA 18.19.127 NORTH MELBOURNE 12.6.78
Josh
Expert
GOAL NORTH MELBOURNE Nathan Hrovat kicks his second goal of the game. ST KILDA 18.19.127 NORTH MELBOURNE 12.6.78
Josh
Expert
GOAL ST KILDA Jade Gresham bangs through goal number three, and the Saints lead by 55 with two minutes left. ST KILDA 18.19.127 NORTH MELBOURNE 11.6.72
Josh
Expert
GOAL NORTH MELBOURNE Taylor Garner kicks a second goal. ST KILDA 17.18.120 NORTH MELBOURNE 11.6.72
Josh
Expert
BEHIND NORTH MELBOURNE Cameron Zurhaar adds a behind. ST KILDA 17.18.120 NORTH MELBOURNE 10.6.66
Josh
Expert
GOAL ST KILDA Two in a row for Membrey, and his third from the match. ST KILDA 17.18.120 NORTH MELBOURNE 10.5.65
Josh
Expert
GOAL ST KILDA Tim Membrey kicks goal No.2. ST KILDA 16.18.114 NORTH MELBOURNE 10.5.65
Josh
Expert
GOAL ST KILDA Shane Savage bangs through his second goal of the day. ST KILDA 15.18.108 NORTH MELBOURNE 10.5.65
Josh
Expert
GOAL NORTH MELBOURNE Ben Brown adds a second goal for the day, and a 56th for the year. ST KILDA 14.17.101 NORTH MELBOURNE 10.5.65
Josh
Expert
GOAL NORTH MELBOURNE Ben Cunnington kicks his second goal of the day. ST KILDA 14.17.101 NORTH MELBOURNE 9.5.59
Josh
Expert
Final term underway.
Josh
Expert
Well, this one's quite dead, folks. Saints lead by 48 at the final change and nothing left but some shifting of the margin in the final term.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
Oh, wow. Classic BT, hey?
Josh
Expert
3-QUARTER TIME ST KILDA 14.17.101 NORTH MELBOURNE 8.5.53
Josh
Expert
GOAL ST KILDA Beautiful banana goal from a set shot for Josh Bruce. ST KILDA 14.17.101 NORTH MELBOURNE 8.5.53
Josh
Expert
BEHIND ST KILDA Jack Newnes a behind for the Saints. Lead at 42. ST KILDA 13.17.95 NORTH MELBOURNE 8.5.53