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A decimated Richmond have their AFL premiership defence back on track after storming home to defeat a much-improved St Kilda by 28 points at the MCG.
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Final score
Richmond Tigers 15.15.105
St Kilda Saints 12.5.77
It could be one of the mismatches of the season as the Richmond Tigers aim for a return to the winners’ circle against the struggling St Kilda Saints. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 1:45pm (AEST).
The defending premiers suffered just their second loss of the season last weekend in a trip west. After a loss to Adelaide in Round 2, the Tigers had won six on the trot, but their defence fell apart in Perth last week.
In a 47-point rout, the West Coast Eagles ran up 20 goals on the Tigers, who seemed powerless to control the midfield as they so often have done. The storyline of not being able to play out of Melbourne continues for the club, who had only a fortnight prior ran up 110 points on Fremantle in a 77-point thumping at the MCG.
The form of Dustin Martin has been a major talking point for Richmond. He has been down from his best, but has a chance this week to dominate the contest from the outset against the likes of Jack Sinclair.
St Kilda will be trying to bring on a repeat of Essendon’s shock win over Geelong last week. They will need to do it in a similar fashion as well, getting away to a strong start, playing an attacking brand of footy and putting their opponents under a mountain of pressure.
They have just a single win and a draw to show from their first nine games, and while the draw came against the GWS Giants, it’s fast fading in the rearview mirror with the Saints since losing four straight, including being handed a 28-point beatdown by Collingwood last week.
While their chances of finals footy are rapidly fading, the club have plenty to work on with the club unable to control games. It’s going to start with defence, but capitalising on chances in the forward line who can’t seem to kick straight to save their life will be crucial.
St Kilda have a season total of 79 goals and 112 behinds, and while accuracy has been down competition-wide, their percentage of shots on goal actually being converted into six points is terrible.
Just about the only thing working in the Saints favour today is their record over the Tigers. They have won 103 of 183 in total and 23 of 35 at the ‘G. Whether that helps them in what looks like an absolutely hopeless situation remains to be seen, although they did shock Richmond last year.
Prediction
The Tigers will win, it’s just a question of by how many points? Five goals seems a little bit on the conservative side, ten closer to the mark.
Tigers by 56.
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