Round 4 – St. Kilda v Richmond: Saints punt Tigers in marvellous display at Marvel Stadium

 

St. Kilda v Richmond

4.35 PM Saturday 27 June

Marvel Stadium

 

By Braham Dabscheck

 

The Saints needed a win against the Tigers to get themselves back on track. They had been stiff against the Kangaroos, played all over the Dogs and didn’t turn up against the Pies until the second half when it didn’t matter. The brains trust stuck with the same team, only bringing in Josh Battle and Dean Kent – both of whom put in good games – for Paddy Ryder and Nick Hind. The Saints put in an all round team performance in an entertaining and closely fought game.

 

The game started disastrously with the Tigers kicking the first goal from a Saints’ turnover with 12 seconds on the clock. Here we go again, I feared. Maybe I should take up gardening (no, never!!), or chess? Things changed quickly. The Saints found their mojo and began to dominate play. After a comedy of errors where both teams tried to outdo each other with fumbles and turnovers, Dan Butler snapped a goal. The Saints added another three to take a commanding lead. The Tigers fought back and kicked two late in the quarter. Dean Kent then kicked a miracle goal off the outside of his left foot in the goal square. The Tigers got another one late in the quarter, with the Saints leading by seven points at the first change.

 

The rest of the game followed the same script. The Saints would dominate most of the quarter, scoring a few goals ,with the Tigers getting some back to stay in the hunt. The Saints outscored them in each quarter; 3-2 in the second, 4-3 in the third and 3-1 in the fourth. The Saints produced some magical goals from outstanding team play; Brad Hill all alone in the goal square, Dan Butler’s left foot snap from a ball kicked over the top and his set shot from the boundary line in the third, two skyscraper marks by Tim Membrey, a great grab by Jonathan Marsh and another snap by Dean Kent, this time many yards from goal.

 

For reasons unknown the Saints seem to have found their kicking boots when shooting for goal. Two of their three points hit the post. The Saints combination of smalls and bigs unsettled the Tigers. The Saints out-marked the Tigers all over the ground. The backline held up fairly well; two of the Tigers goals resulted from 50 metre penalties and a couple more from unlucky bounces of the ball. When the pressure is on, the team holds together. The Tigers won the inside 50s 22 to 14 in the second half but were outscored by seven goals to four – fairly impressive when you think about it. Ben Long was outstanding in the first half, and Jake Carlisle made his presence felt throughout the game.

 

Rowan Marshall competed well in the rick and kicked two goals to boot; both from the goal square – one from a Tim Membrey handpass and the other from a 50 meter penalty. Zak Jones tweaked his hamstring early in the second half and Jade Gresham finished the game with a terrible shiner on his left eye. Hopefully both players have not suffered any long term damage. The umpires officiated well, providing an exciting and entertaining game.

 

The most pleasing thing about the win was that it was an all round team effort. Everyone did something important and you could see the team growing in self belief and confidence as the game progressed. Hope springs eternal. Blues next week. That will be a good game to win; you heard it here first!!

 

Go Saints!!

 

St. Kilda      5.2   8.2   12.2   15.3 (93)

Richmond   4.1   6.3    9.5   10.7 (67)

 

Goals

St. Kilda: Butler 3, Membrey 3, Kent 2, Lonie 2, Marshall 2, Hill, Battle, Marsh.

Richmond: Bolton 2, Lynch 2, Castagna, Higgins, Riewoldt, Edwards, Stack, Nankervis.

 

Best

St. Kilda: Butler, Marshall, Steele, Membrey, Long.

Richmond: Nankervis, Cotchin, Edwards, Prestia, Houli.

 

Crowd: The Riewoldt family.

 

Umpires: Fleer, Findlay, Haussen.

 

Our Votes: Butler 3 (St. Kilda), Marshall 2 (St. Kilda), Nankervis 1 (Richmond).

 

 

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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