AFLW Round 6 – St. Kilda v Richmond: Saints achieve their goal against goalless Tigers

 

 

 

 

By Braham Dabscheck

St. Kilda v Richmond

5.10 PM Saturday March 14

Moorabbin Oval

 

The Saints put in their best game for the season in declawing the Tigers with a comprehensive 39 point win. In the process they kept the Tigers goalless; a first in the history of the AFLW. It is also the first time that a team has been kept goalless since the Saints then VFL team defeated the Tigers at the old Junction Oval in the Round 16 clash in 1961: 12.19.81 to 0.8.8. This is a game I attended as a twelve year old (I am still young at heart) and I distinctly remember the umpire giving the Tigers two dubious free kicks late in the last quarter in the goal square which they managed to miss. The Tigers, like the Saints, are an expansion club in the AFLW. They had an off day. They will improve. In Monique Conti they have one of the most skillful players in the game.

 

The Saints dominated the game from start to the finish, saving their best for the last quarter. They dominated the Tigers with an all-round team performance. Peta Searle and her brains trust engineered a master class in working out how to take on the Tigers. The Saints big girls tend to be clumsy with the ‘little ins’ being more sure and quick in the contest. Poppy Kelly did most of the ruck work in the middle of the ground. Kate Shierlaw was pushed up forward doing a duo act with Caitlin Greiser. Rhiannon Watt was dropped back to pick up the Tigers big forward Sabrina Frederick who she easily contained.

 

The small brigade out tackled and outplayed the Tigers. They won the possession count 206 to 144 and the inside 50s 29 to 19. Caitlin Greiser was the dominant player on the ground with three goals and some crucial interventions down the ground in the second quarter. She currently heads the goal kicking for the league as a whole. The Saints midfield dominated proceedings. Rosie Dillon, Olivia Veseley and Georgia Patrikios were outstanding. Catherine Phillips probably had her best game for the season and Nicola Xenos, who seems to get better with every game, capped of a fine performance with her first AFLW goal in the last quarter. Signalling out these players is to do a disservice to the rest of the team; everyone played well. As they have played more the team has looked increasingly cohesive and fluent.

 

The Saints played their best football in the last quarter, kicking into the wind. Both goals resulted from fine team play. The first was from a series of combinations which got the ball to Georgia Patrikios in the center, who dodged an opponent on the left, straightened up with a long kick into the forward line, a contest for a mark, a gathering of the crumb and a hand pass to Nicola Xenos bursting down on the grandstand side who steered it through from about 30 meters. The last started in the backline and went the whole distance of the ground with a handball to Darcy Guttridge who waltzed into the goal square for an easy goal; the goal of the game.

 

Next week the Saints take on the Pies at Victoria Park. A win there, of all places, is something to contemplate!

 

Go Saints!

 

 

St. Kilda       2.1   2.1   4.5   6.6 (42)

Richmond   0.0   0.2   0.2   0.3 (3)

 

Goals

St. Kilda: Greiser 3, Shierlaw, Xenos, Guttridge.

Richmond: (No one).

 

Best

St. Kilda: Greiser, Dillon, Veseley, Patrikios, Phillips.

Richmond: Conti, Campbell, Monaham, Makur Chuot, Edmonds.

 

Umpires: Jago, Rodgers, Wallace.

 

Crowd: A few trees, empty seats and the groundsman.

 

Our Best: Greiser 3 (St. Kilda), Conti 2 (Richmond), Dillon 1 (St. Kilda).

 

 

 

The Tigers Almanac 2019.
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Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

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