Round 17
Essendon v St Kilda
3.15pm, Sunday 5th July 2026
Marvel Stadium
Pre-game thoughts
I love it when Ross Lyon refers to integrity. His and Lachie Neale’s integrity over others? Spare me please.
This was Captain Smug at his smarmy best during his midweek press conference determined to not talk about having dinner with Lachie Neale, then proceeding to talk about having dinner with Lachie Neale for ten minutes.
Another distraction from what has been another poor year for The Saints and it’s faithful.
Outs for this Sunday – McCrae, Butler, De Koning and Sinclair and Ins – Travaglia, Henry, Phillipou and O’Connell.
For the Bombers – Achkar goes out and ins are – Wright, Cox, Kondogiannis and El Hawli.
Put simply, the Bombers are due and The Saints need a big win, not a token one. Anything under forty points is a loss for The Saints.
1st Qtr
Caminiti starts on the wing and doesn’t know why he’s there. Burst from Nas out of the centre and it’s a Wilson goal backing him up. Caminiti now realising he’s playing forward, marks 20 out and misses. My brain hurts. Mark and goal to Archer after slack marking from Wood. Caddy misses a sitter. Four Saints players overrun the ball in the fwd line, all wanting to be the hero. Nas everywhere. Marshall goals from a free 30 out. Hill, who is having a great year, kicks a beautiful 45 that sets up a nice chain to Nas who goals. Bombers’ pressure seems to have dropped off after a good start. Phillipou continues to do blind turns that fail. STK defenders on top. Caminiti gives away his 900th free kick for the year. McGrath to Wright, goal. I wonder if some players truly understand the importance and ultimately the consequence of not giving away simple kicks. Lucky free to Higgins who goals from 45. Marshall kicks a cracker from the boundary on the siren and it’s the Saints by 21 points at the break.
Hats off to the Bombers fans who keep turning up despite their team’s woeful performance over such a long period of time. Respect. The Bombers pressure definitely dropped away after a promising start and didn’t capitalise on the Saints errors which are abundant. Nas has had 13 possessions already, while Hill, Hall, Wilson, Wilkie and Silvagni have played well.
2nd Qtr
Good tackle from Caminiti is rewarded with a goal 20 out. Nas mauled off the ball by his tagger Day-Wicks, and Hill goals from a 50m penalty. Bit stiff on replay for the young Bomber. Durham working hard for his team. Nice transition from STK and a MUNG from Windhager ends up with an Owens goal. 8 x tackles I50 for STK. Bombers stuck in their own half. Caminiti crumbs and goals dare I say quite cleverly. Excellent efforts from Hill ends up with Higgins who goals from 45. Hill 11 x kicks @ 100% efficiency. Worst defensive kick from Redman in the history of the game and Henry goals when he should have handed it to Higgins. Wilkie beats 3 x Bombers fwds like he’s eating breakfast. Transition ends up with Hall and goals. Easy CB clearance and Garcia goals. Massive red flags for the Bombers. Ten in a row from STK. Turnover from Hill and Caddy goals. Saints by 65 points at the break.
If only The Bombers played with Durham’s will. They have been very poor. Slow ball movement and lack of passion is evident. The STK midfield of Hall, Nas and Garcia are running amok. 26 clearances to 13 tells the story. 50 x more uncontested possessions and 10 x more tackles to STK is unacceptable. The Wilkie-led defence have been good but haven’t had a lot to deal with to be fair. This isn’t the brutal and relentless Bombers of the 80’s, 90’s and 2000.
3rd Qtr
Too easy transition from STK. Bomber’s ruckman Bryan trying hard and winning taps. Another I50 and Wilson marks uncontested. Bombers refuse to man up properly. Ugly goal to Caddy from a rare Wilkie error. STK wasting I50’s again. Saints players with way too much time but not capitalising. Caddy takes 2 x strong contested marks. Saints by 65 points at the break.
I’ve seen more aggression at an Old Scotch v Old Xavierian’s game when the cheese platter wasn’t up to scratch. Fox commentator Matt Hill rightly described The Bombers as ‘labour intensive’ and STK fell into that category in the 3rd Qtr. Terrible footy. No AFL footballer is soft but collectively this game is a giant marshmallow.
4th Qtr
Game deteriorating from an already low base. Caddy goals from some contested ball wins up the ground. Bombers with the last 3 x goals. McKay gets one from his 3rd disposal for the game. Saints asleep. Big unforced error from The Bombers and Sharman goals. Another Bombers turnover in the centre and Phillipou passes to Ryan who goals. Good efforts from Bombers fwds and Robey goals. Another Nas-led transition and Ryan goals. Nas to 45 x possessions and is untaggable. Saints by 67 points.
STK only beat The Bombers by 2 x points in the 2nd half. Numerically it was a good win but the reality was The Bombers are in terrible shape. The Bombers have way too many passengers and rely on the same players, Durham, Merrett (who doesn’t want to be there) Robey and maybe Caddy. The ruckman Bryan tried very hard and has a promising future. Same old same old for us. The midfield have grown this year, the defence ok but the fwds are unreliable. A win is a win. Go Saints!
The Malarkey Votes
3 – N. Wanganeen Milera
2 – B. Hill
1 – M. Hall
ESSENDON 2.1 3.3 4.5 7.8 (50)
ST KILDA 5.4 13.8 14.10 17.15 (117)
GOALS
Essendon: Caddy 3, Wright, Day-Wicks, McKay, Robey
St Kilda: Higgins 2, Ryan 2, Caminiti 2, Wilson 2, Marshall 2, Hall, Sharman, Henry, Wanganeen-Milera, Hill, Garcia, Owens
BEST
Essendon: Durham, Merrett, Caddy, Robey, Farrow
St Kilda: Wanganeen-Milera, Hill, Hall, Marshall, Wilson
INJURIES
Essendon: Nil
St Kilda: Nil
Crowd: 34,713 at Marvel Stadium
Read other round 17 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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