Round 20 – Hawthorn v St. Kilda: Saints find their halos against the Hawks

 

 

Hawthorn v St. Kilda

1:10PM Sunday 30 July

Marvel Stadium

 

 

Last week, the Saints and Kangaroos were partners in crime in one of the worst games of footy seen since the sport was invented in 1858. Somehow the Saints managed to put together a five-goal last quarter to win in a low scoring contest. This game between the Saints and Hawks was the reverse of that sad encounter. It was a high scoring, free flowing game where both sides had periods of dominance. The Saints seemed to find the fluency that has been lacking since the start of the season and, as an added bonus, found their kicking boots, to boot!

 

The game started and the Hawks had two goals within a couple of minutes. The Saints reply following a contested mark by Mason Wood. The Hawks get another one within 30 seconds from a neat snap by Chad Wingard. Then the game turned and the Saints suddenly became a champion team. They kicked the next eight goals in little over ten minutes of play. Brad Crouch and Jack Steele dominated centre bounces and kept on pushing the ball forward and the goals just kept on accumulating. What was going on? Either a mark was taken or the ball bounced which a Saint grabbed and either belted it through or hand passed to a teammate who did the same.

 

That the fates were smiling on the Saints is best exemplified by the goal to Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, the sixth for the quarter. Now Nasiah is a highly skilled and accurate kicker, except when he is shooting for goal. He seems to get the yips. Prior to this game he had only kicked three goals in 35 games. Well, he grabbed the ball outside the forward 50, exchanged hand passes with a teammate, entered the forward 50 was about to be tackled, before off balance he kicked it forward to the goal square hoping to set up a mark for a teammate when it sailed over six or seven pairs of hands and bounced through for a goal. Having spent a life time watching the Saints muff ‘certain’ goals here we have one from a kick which wasn’t even a shot in hope. I repeat, what was going on? Had Ross Lyon having achieved a closing of the roof made contact with even higher powers? It was obvious that even if the Hawks got their act together, which they did, this was one that the Saints weren’t going to lose. Saints had kicked nine goals by quarter time, as many as they had kicked last week against the Kangaroos and surpassing their two eight-goal hauls (probably not the right noun) in their two earlier outings against the Suns and Demons, respectively. The Saints up by 37 points at quarter time.

 

The Saints kicked the first goal of the second quarter. The game then entered a phase where the Hawks began to get their act together which was matched by the Saints seeking to slow things down and play keepings off. The Hawks were ahead in the key indicators, especially forward entries and kicked three goals to the Saints’ one. The third quarter belonged to the Hawks. They kicked six goals to the Saints’ three. Luke Bruest had a purple patch for the Hawks where he kicked three on the trot. He finished the game with six. Things could have been better for the Hawks if they hadn’t given up a free kick when one of their backs took a dislike to Dan Butler and pushed him to the ground when the Hawks had already been awarded a free. The Saints were only up by 11 points at the final change.

 

The Saints put the foot down on the accelerator pedal and dominated the last quarter. They kicked five unanswered goals, dominated the inside 50s 21-6. The best goal of the lot was by Brad Crouch, who received a handball outside the 50, baulked an opponent and kicked a neat 40 metre goal in a best on ground performance. The Hawks got two late goals to bookend the two they had opened the game with.

 

The Saints kicked their biggest score for the season, only the second time they have cracked 100 points in 2023-the first was against the Suns in Round 4. One of the highlights of the game was Cooper Sharman’s attempts to take the mark of the year, all of which failed; but can he fly. The downside for the Saints was the knee injury to Zak Jones in the first quarter; he was on crutches after the game. Cooper spent the final stanza of the game on the bench due to what may be a hamstring problem. And Anthony Caminiti, who doesn’t like players molesting him was reported for a punch in retaliation. He didn’t seem to cause any harm.

 

Next Sunday against the Blues will be a test. The Saints are currently fifth and six points clear in the Eight. Hope still springs eternal.

 

Go Saints!

 

 

HAWTHORN   3.1   6.4   12.6   14.9 (93)

ST KILDA     9.2   11.3   14.5   19.8 (122)

 

GOALS

Hawthorn: Bruest 6, Wingard, Lewis, Day 2, Moore, Ryan.

St. Kilda: Butler 4, Crouch 3, Sharman, Caminiti, Higgins 2, Wood, Wanganeen-Milera, Marshall, Cordy, Clark, Gresham.

 

BEST

Hawthorn: Bruest, Day, Impey, Wingard, Sicily.

St. Kilda: Crouch, Wanganeen-Milera, Steele, Wood, Sinclair.

 

Crowd: 22,769

 

Malarkey Medal: Steele 1 (StK), Wanganeen-Milera 2 (StK), Crouch 3 (StK).

 

 

 

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