Round 4 – St Kilda v Gold Coast: Saints block out the Sun(s) at night under the roof!

 

St. Kilda v Gold Coast

7:30PM, Saturday April 8

Marvel Stadium

 

 

Hallelujah, I see it but don’t believe it. After four rounds the Saints are on top of the ladder and the only undefeated team in the league. After a 2022 which promised much and delivered little, and with the longest injury list in the competition, 2023 had all the hallmarks of being another exercise in character building for us long suffering Saints. Just goes to show you how the footy gods like to play sport with us Saints. Start the season with a young brigade up forward and win the first two games against teams that played finals in 2022. Then the Saints swept aside the Bombers in what was more than a celebration in the sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) match on April Fool’s Day to win three on the trot.

 

The game against the Suns, who had beaten the reigning premiers the Cats in the previous week had the potential of being a danger game for the Saints. These are the sorts of games where the Saints have often come unstuck. The ball was bounced and the Saints looked out of sorts. The Suns dominated from the start and controlled most of the play with the ball spending most of its time in their forward half. Oh no, its going to happen; or rather, not happen. Here we go again. It wasn’t to be. The Saints got back into the game in the second half of the quarter and kicked three goals. The pick of them was a nice gather by Seb Ross who broke a tackle and snapped a neat goal on his left foot. Despite going forward more often in the second half of the quarter, the Saints coughed up two goals, the first from a terrible turnover, the second from an error with two Saints spoiling each other going for a mark. The Suns won the inside 50s for the quarter 18 to 11 and were two points up at the first break.

 

The Suns grabbed the first goal in the second quarter from another Saints error. From then on the Saints took control of the game. They kicked five in the second quarter from the 11 minute mark and kicked another five in the first half of the third quarter. By that point the game was really over and while the Saints maintained their control of proceedings, they became somewhat inept going forward with passes being cut off and/or missing their target. The last quarter was little more than playing out time with the Suns managing to put on a few goals, but were still outscored by the Saints four goals to three.

 

This was another game where Saints young brigade came to the fore. Mitch Owens had a break out game with 27 possessions. He kicked two class goals, one from a running gather and snap and the other from a contested mark, a quick two step and turn around for an easy goal. He also set up goals for team mates, took some strong marks, competes well on the ground and doesn’t mind a bit of ruck work when the ball is in the forward 50. Anthony Caminiti competes well in the air and chimed in with two goals. Jack Higgins had another good game. He finished with five goals, kicking three in the second quarter. Moving Jack Sinclair into the midfield is paying dividends with his ability to read the play and passing ability. He also kicked a nice goal from a snap wide out in the forward pocket. Mention should also be made of Brad Crouch who always puts in; he had 27 possessions in the second half. But this win was due to an all round team performance with everyone doing their bit. For example, there was Josh Battle’s desperate touch on the line that robbed the Suns of a certain goal late in the third quarter. The bad news for the Saints is that there is another injury. Substitute Jack Bytel has done something to his ankle. For their part, the Suns need to find some quality forwards to finish off the work of the rest of the team.

 

So, here we are; the Saints on top of the ladder and the only undefeated team in the league to boot. Sainters always live in hope but have been close to the sun before and have been burnt. Should we really tempt fate and dream the impossible dream? The Pies after their loss to the Lions will be a test in the Gather Round at Adelaide. Gather ’round and see what happens. We have encountered the Sun(s) once this year and things worked out. Hope springs eternal.

 

Go Saints!

 

 

ST KILDA      3.2   8.6   13.10   17.11 (113)

GOLD COAST    3.4   4.8   5.11   8.12 (60)

 

GOALS

St Kilda: Higgins 5, Hill, Caminiti, Owens 2, Windhager, Ross, Phillipou, Sinclair, Cordy, Butler.

Gold Coast: King, Rosas, Casboult, Anderson, Jeffrey, Ainsworth, Sexton, Holman.

 

BEST

St Kilda: Owens, Higgins, Sinclair, Crouch, Marshall.

Gold Coast: Anderson, Miller, Weller, Macpherson, Moyle.

 

Crowd: 21,049

 

Malarkey Medal: Sinclair 1 (StK), Higgins 2 (StK), Owens 3 (StK)

 

 

 

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