Round 13
Sydney v St Kilda
3.15pm, Sunday 7th June 2026
SCG
Pre-Game Thoughts
Ins for the Saints are Nas, Stocker, Ryan, Owens, Hastie and 21YO Campbell Lake another mid-season draft pick from Southport. It seems all the mid-season draft picks are playing immediately and coping extremely well. Says a lot about the talent available in the second tier programs around the country.
Out go the injured Flanders, and Keeler, Carroll, Henry, O’Connell and Banfield have been omitted.
The Swans bring in Mills, Roberts, Rosas and Grundy. Out go the injured Melican and Hanily, Ladhams and Cunningham have been omitted.
The equation for me is simple. If The Saints execute less than 80 tackles for the game after the Hawthorn debacle then a Royal Commission will be set up. Not kicking a goal for a first half is unacceptable.
I couldn’t care less about the result today. I just want to see maniacal pressure. Saints by 7 points.
1st Qtr
McInerney goals from a poor Wilson HB. After a 20min delay from the arc play resumes. Lake takes them on but gets caught, doesn’t matter, very exciting. Sharman and Ryan take advantage of a Mill’s shank and goals. Great CB clearance from TDK , Windy and Hall pass to Ryan who kicks his second. Terrible Sharman turnover (insert profanity!) and Swans capitalise with a Rowbottom goal. Gee Lake looks good. Runs straight and hard. Finally a good contested mark from Sharman 30 out and goals. Windy doing a good job on Heeney so far. Terrific ground ball from Silvagni boots the ball I50 and Sharman gets on the end of some excellent work from Ryan and kicks his second. Windy great work in the middle again gets to McCrae who HB to Hall who rarely misses. 10 to 5 clearances The Saints. STK pressure up. Heeney mung bounces over SOS for a goal. Owens drops 2 sitters I50. Good fwd pressure and Sinclair rewarded on the siren. STK by 17 points at the break
TDK holding his own in the ruck v Grundy, Windy superb tagging Heeney but a long way to go. STK still struggling with that second kick from defence although we did take some risks on the 45 that came to fruition. Overall it’s all about pressure and we delivered that qtr.
2nd Qtr
Snap from Owens goal. Good work from Wood and Silvagni. Swans are flat. Kick smothered on the mark by Wilson, HB to Nas and goal. Phillipou having a shocker. A Mung from Owens ends with Garcia HB to Wilson who goals. Quick response and McLean goals. Two Saints spoil each other and Rosas goals. Warner lifting. CB clearance and Owens centres to TDK who gets a free in the square. Goal. Ryan cops one high and kicks his 3rd from 30 out. Dropped Caminiti mark due to being mauled, no free, and the Swans transition ends up a goal to McDonald. Warner kicks one from the boundary. Amartey kicks another one against the grain. Theatre goers in the crowd getting excited. Another turnover and ball goes to the show pony extraordinaire Curnow and its 4 in a row from the Swans. Saints by 8 points at the break.
Saints looked tired half way through that qtr. Grundy got on top and brought Warner into the game with a dozen possessions for the qtr. Nas has 18 possessions but hasn’t penetrated like he usually does. Phillipou with two possessions and zero tackles needs a kick up the backside. As does Sharman with zero tackles. 21 team tackles to half time isn’t anywhere near enough against a team of this quality. Despite this there have been some good efforts but I’m concerned. I just don’t want to see the inevitable drop off.
3rd Qtr
After twoing and froing for 3 mins, Ryan kicks a worm burner to TDK who misses from 30.Good quick advantage taken by Garcia to Sharman to Ryan who kicks his 4th. Ryan crashes into McCartin and he’s finished for a couple of weeks. STK defending space well and Sydney crowd quiet, perhaps on their phones to their financial advisors or quaffing canapes. Rosas kicks one around the corner and keep the Swans in it. Phillipou drops another one (insert profanity). Excellent series of contests from both sides. Fantastic work from Sharman and TDK who goals. TDK showing us what he can do this qtr. Heeney carries on like a pork chop after finally kicking a goal on Windy who has killed him all game. One of the biggest ballsup in history at CHB and Curnow gets a cheapy then celebrates as though he’s the Statue of David. Saints by 6 points at the break
Such a great qtr from The Saints but two late goals are costly. Very Saints-like. Hopefully TDK can keep that physicality going and Hall has been brilliant again. STK have dominated clearances and stoppages. Tackle count up to 48 and more importantly 8 more than Sydney. We seriously need a good start in the last qtr because if they get in front they will flourish in the backslapping from the theatre goers.
4th Qtr
Couple of big clashes early. McLean kicks one after a centring kick from Warner. Great persistence from STK and goal to Hill. Superb courage from Owens. Pressure and fatigue kicking in. Sharman’s casual errors will put me in a premature grave. RYAN TAKES A SCREAMER! And kicks his 5th. Curnow ensures the entire crowd is watching him then kicks a point. Phillipou!!! (insert profanity!) Players exhausted 4 mins to go 10 points up. Warner kicks one and carries on like a pork chop as the ‘doof doof’ starts up. STK by 4 points. Phillipou doesn’t shepherd a goal!!! (f……!) What a saving mark from SOS!! I need a wee! AAHHHH! Serong!! F>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>K!!!!!! Swans by 2 points.
One stoppage cost the Saints. The slightest drop off in concentration and its over. That hurts. I hate admirable losses with a passion. The boys tried extremely hard except for Phillipou! He’s on a million dollar a year contract at the age of 21. 4 x possessions and 2 x tackles late is not good enough. He looks so cumbersome this year and not shepherding through Wilson’s shot for goal was unforgivable. Windy did a terrific job on arguably the best player in the comp. Heeney racked up stats but wasn’t his damaging self. Some promising signs from TDK and excellent games from Garcia, Sinclair, Ryan, Wilson, Wilkie and Silvagni. Loving Lake’s first game also.
For the record The Saints had 55 tackles for the game. The Swans had 19 tackles in the last qtr v The Saints 7. When it mattered most they were able to turn the ball over with pressure.
What hurts most about losses such as that, is where we are on the ladder. If you’re Sydney you can live with the odd close loss but I felt we deserved that win. We led for 99 minutes Psychologically those losses with the season on the line seriously hurt. And the trials and tribulations of a Saints supporter meanders along. Go Saints!
The Malarkey Votes
3 – M Windhager
2 – C Warner
1 – M Hall
Whoever gives the votes on the AFL website hasn’t got a clue. Windhager dominated Heeney at the source, TDK was the best big man on the ground and Blakey had little effect on the game.
SYDNEY 3.3 9.9 12.9 15.14 (104)
ST KILDA 6.2 11.5 13.9 15.12 (102)
GOALS
Sydney: Rosas jnr 2, Heeney 2, Curnow 2, McLean 2, Warner 2, McInerney, Rowbottom, McDonald, Amartey, Serong
St Kilda: Ryan 5, Sharman 2, De Koning 2, Hall, Sinclair, Owens, Wanganeen-Milera, Wilson, Hill
BEST
Sydney: Heeney, Warner, Blakey, McDonald, Serong
St Kilda: Wanganeen-Milera, Hall, Garcia, Sinclair, Marshall
INJURIES
Sydney: McInerney (hamstring), McCartin (concussion)
St Kilda: Nil
Crowd: 42,143
Read other round 13 match reports HERE
Read more from Ian Wilson HERE
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Former army aircraft mechanic, sales manager, VFA footballer and coach. Now mental health worker and blogger. Lifelong St Kilda FC tragic and father to 2 x girls.
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