You can fault many things about St Kilda – their kicking, their stodgy play, the quality of their forwards, to name a few – but one thing you can never fault is their commitment to the cause.
The Saints might have gone down by 21 points to Melbourne in an unlikely top-four play-off, but this was a performance full of heart and spirit all the same.
Any team that loses their spearhead after 15 seconds, the back-up tall before half time and an experienced midfielder to boot, such as befell the Saints with Max King, Zaine Cordy and Seb Ross all invalidated out of the game, is going to find it all but impossible to beat anyone. Heck, one can only shudder if that had happened against West Coast last week.
It left the Saints down more than half their bench for effectively two and a half quarter, which was always going to tell, especially against a Demons outfit that at one stage this year was the best final-term team in the game.
It also meant a catastrophic hole in the Saints’ forward structure, one they, try as they might, couldn’t come close to filling for the rest of the night.
Steven May, who might have been bracing himself for a tough night at the office opposed to King, instead had free rein to do as he please, paying scant regard to Cooper Sharman and Anthony Caminiti on his way to eight defining intercept marks – one of them knocking out Cordy, the man who’d been sent forward after King went down to try and curb his influence.
To remain in the hunt throughout, and in the end cost themselves a real chance at a famous win with some wonky kicking for goal and some rare accuracy from the Dees up the other end, was a commendable effort.
All the same, you can’t help but wonder whether the scope of the misfortune suffered by the Saints on Saturday night will sound the death knell on a season already spluttering.
The positives, which Ross Lyon will no doubt make his focus for the week, were numerous. Rowan Marshall took on two of the game’s premier ruckmen in Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy, and comfortably shaded them combined.
His exploits around the ground are well known, and a remarkable 30 disposals, 10 marks – five of them intercepts behind the ball – and game-high seven inside 50s is the stat line of a premier midfielder.
Even more impressively, despite losing the hitout battle comfortable, with the Dees pair enjoying a 39-18 advantage, he’d finish with four to advantage, as many as Gawn and more than Grundy despite competing against both of them all evening. At ground level, too, he was tremendous, with game-highs for clearances (eight), centre clearances (four) and contested possessions (18). You’ll struggle to see a better game from a ruckman in modern footy.
The All-Australian ruck debate this year has mostly centred on whether it should be Tim English or Sean Darcy in the spot come season’s end; but while he’s flown below the radar this year, Marshall’s efforts as essentially prime Grundy mark II kept the Saints in the game all evening, and ensured a 32-32 clearance split against what was once the league’s most fearsome stoppage team.
The Demons usually dominate the inside 50 count, but by half time they’d managed just 21, with the ball spending 60 per cent of the game in the Saints’ attacking half – a victory for a higher, more aggressive press than the Saints have employed in recent weeks.
The Saints in 2023 have usually been fine with the opposition controlling the ball – going into Round 17, they had conceded more disposals than any team in the competition (including West Coast), while giving up the equal-most marks along with North Melbourne. Then, when they get it back, they’re equally cautious – they’re top of the charts as well when it comes to disposals, while only Essendon and Carlton have taken more marks.
The result is the sort of stodgy, painstaking play that has gotten the Saints canned since their 4-0 start to the season, and slowly eaten away at their form and place in the eight.
The stats told a similar tale on Saturday night, with the Dees taking 111 marks and controlling the footy: but when the ball was in dispute, they were met with wave after wave of pressure, with the Saints’ ferocity hardly wavering until the final minutes when a result beyond doubt saw fatigue set in.
Jack Steele, battered, bruised and copping criticism for his form unlike at any prior stage in his career, led from the front: for the first time all season, he’d pass 30 disposals, while also laying a trademark 12 tackles and laying down a statement with the game’s first goal.
It was Steele as much as Marshall dictating terms around the ball early, with the game’s first three goals built on repeat entries, ferocious pressure inside 50 – they’d lay seven tackles in attack before the Dees laid their first – and forcing Demon turnovers in dangerous positions. That’s been the Ross Lyon method for 15 years.
It brought players into the game who have in recent weeks struggled for influence: this was Jade Gresham’s best game in a long while, his presence around the ball given a sizeable boost by the amount of loose balls on offer, even if his kicking still leaves plenty to be improved upon.
Ryan Byrnes, named as sub after a quiet run of form, found space and time out on a wing, running at 100 per cent disposal efficiency from his 18 touches; Jimmy Webster provided plenty of rebound while also totally shutting down Kysaiah Pickett; Jack Billings did nothing spectacular on his AFL return but hardly missed a beat with his calm ball use and gut-running to provide options.
The Saints, despite ending with 26 more disposals than the Dees – and giving up 111 of the 386 touches their opponents had from marks – laid eight more tackles. That’s a combination that as likely as not ends in a victory.
Their turnover game was back, with the Saints looking to press forward at higher speeds than previously – and with more corridor use to the naked eye than in quite a while.
With 620 metres gained, Jack Sinclair (33 disposals) was the chief instigator in this regard: playing almost full-time midfield but for the occasional kick-in, the Saints build a lot of their game around getting the ball into his hands.
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His penetrating use moving forward, and willingness to bite off aggressive kicks, is something I’d love to see Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera learn from. The Saints half-back was paid scant regard by the Demons, racking up an impressive 33 disposals; but too often for a player with his gifts, he takes the easy sideways kick or makes only partial gains with a handball, rather than trying to use his speed or kicking skills to take the game on.
He and Sinclair would end with an equal number of disposals – Wanganeen-Milera even ended with three more kicks – yet Sinclair would end with 242 more metres gained. It’s not a problem as such, and more a recognition that the second-year young star has the potential to be a major weapon coming out of defence, that at the moment either he or the game plan is too cautious to unleash fully.
In the end, though, two problems persisted. The Saints won’t be the only team to fail to contain Christian Petracca forward of centre, whose body strength, reading of the play and pressure presence made him dangerous in a more attacking role than his usual full-time on-baller position.
They can, however, count themselves unlucky that where he booted four straight behinds last week in the wet against GWS, and had 12.19 to his name for the season and 31.50 since the 2021 grand final heading in, he managed four straight goals to prove the difference.
Part of it was higher-quality shots – two of his goals came within 25 metres – but for him to flush two set shots from around 40 out, including the last of the game, was stiff for the Saints to contend with. That’s exactly what Petracca’s game has been missing for a while now: if he’s back online, it’s a terrifying thought.
The biggest issue, though, was May. As cruel a blow as King’s injury was to their hopes of a winning score, the crueller one was in freeing up the monster that is Steven May when he feels he doesn’t need to be accountable.
Of his eight intercept marks, three were contested, with his size and sticky hands just too much for any Saint to contend with. I’d argue that for least two of them, King would have brought it to ground or at least provided more of a contest than the outsized and outclassed Caminiti-Sharman combination.
As for the rest, many were simply the Saints throwing it desperately on the boot forward, only to find May in their way, having read the play better than anyone else and plonked himself in the most dangerous spot. It happened time and time again, particularly in the second and third quarters to slowly but surely extinguish St Kilda’s chances of victory.
Harrison Petty and Jake Lever were no slouches either, with three and two intercept grabs respectively; but they at least had their hands full with their Saints’ opponents, Petty in particular given a run around at times by the talented Mitch Owens.
Jack Steele looks dejected after a St Kilda loss. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
May, though, scarcely looked at anyone else from the moment King went down.
At his prime in 2021 and 2022, he spoke of there being only a handful of key forwards in the game he deems worthy of needing to defend mano e mano; otherwise, he just leaves the stopping to Petty or Adam Tomlinson, takes the third tall and becomes an immovable object.
His exact words speaking to Fox Footy after the game were ‘Thank God’ after learning of King’s substitution; that pretty well covers it.
“He’s big, he’s fast and he can win the game off his own boot,” May went on to add.
“I was like, oh, he’s off for a little bit, I’m going to try and get in some good spots, try and take some intercepts until St Kilda make a change.
“Unfortunately, then Zaine Cordy got injured as well.”
The sheer exertion of the Saints repeatedly crashing through stoppages or slingshotting off half-back had to have taken a toll when, time and again, they’d kick forward to a contest and find May there, set up with a cup of tea and a plate of scones, ready to intercept. It was the tale of the night.
This doesn’t have to be the end for the Saints’ season. They will likely finish the round sixth, and Geelong’s probable win over North Melbourne will likely leave them clinging to their spot in the eight by a solitary win – and with King set to miss another extended period, they just aren’t playing the footy that saw them brilliantly cover for his absence to start the season.
It’s St Kilda right now whose place in the eight looks most shaky – and there are a host of teams clamouring to usurp them.
But if they do miss the finals, it will be a shame: because for all the adversity they’ve needed to take on in season 2023, with a good dollop more about to come, they play with a pride and a spirit in defeat that is as commendable as it doubtless is frustrating for their long-suffering supporter base.
Put it this way: if they hang on and make it to September from here, no team in the eight will have earned it more.
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