Round 5 – St. Kilda v Greater Western Sydney: For The Saints A Tragedy Of Shakespearean Proportions

By Braham Dabscheck

Sunday 24 April 1.10 PM

Etihad Stadium

 

The day before the Saints versus the Giants the dramatic part of the world commemorated the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. As good a playwright as he was, imagine how much better he would have been – especially his tragedies – if he had have been born 400 years later and been a Saints’ supporter. Here we were after one of the best performances in a long time, and against the reigning premiers, the Hawks for a 3 point loss, taking on the Giants at home. While those who know such things and the bookies predicted a win for the Giants, it looked like we could look forward to a closely fought game.

Well, Shakespeare decided to take over proceedings and the game proceeded according to one of his most cynical plots. Doesn’t he know that his plays have always been popular in St. Kilda! And what have the Saints ever done to him? From the very beginning the Saints looked out of sorts (‘Much ado about nothing’) with kicks, especially into the forward 50 missing their mark, handballs going astray, tackles not sticking and when the ball was there to be grabbed it decided to do tricks and bounce away (‘Macbeth’). Their kicking efficiency, especially of the short variety, was not up to scratch (‘Winter’s tale’).

The Giants dominated the first half of the first quarter kicking 4 in a row. The Saints rallied (‘Measure for measure’) in the latter part getting 3 back. Jack Sinclair kicked a miracle goal (‘As you like it’) from the pocket with a dribbler which did an off break inside the left hand big stick. Even though they conceded a late goal the Saints were back in the game.

The second quarter continued much the same way. The Giants dominated most of the first half of the quarter with the Saints pegging them back in the latter stages. Josh Bruce lifted his game and booted two for the Saints. He is improving with each passing game; he with his Shakespearean hairstyle!

Who knows what happened at half time. Maybe, rather than being addressed by their respective coaches, both teams were forced to listen to Geoffrey Rush doing lugubrious renditions of ‘King Lear’. In the third quarter both sides looked lethargic and disinterested, wishing they were in attendance at Alan Seymour’s ‘One day of the year’. For the first twenty minutes what ensued was nothing less than a ‘Comedy of errors’. The Giants then kicked a major, the game picked up and the Saints slammed on three, with two from Nick Riewoldt. They then conceded a goal late in the quarter to be 16 points down.

Given the way they had been playing it was something of a miracle (Midsummer night’s dream’) that they were still in the game at the final break. The Giants then put the foot down and kicked 6 in a row (‘The tempest’) to kill off the game (‘Love’s labour’s lost’). The Saints got a few back late in the quarter but this is one of those games that is best forgotten. The Saints’ skills deserted them (‘Julius Caesar’) with ‘Hamlet’ answering for the Saints in the negative to his question ‘to be or not to be?’

Next week the Saints take on Demons who look like they are on a roll. Lets hope that things can be turned around and Saints fans can exalt in the ‘Taming of the shrew’.

 

St. Kilda     3.1   6.3   9.6   12.7 (79)

Greater Western Sydney   5.3   9.6   11.10   19.12 (126)

 

Goals

St. Kilda: Riewoldt 4, Bruce 2, Savage 2, Dunstan, McCartin, Sinclair, Newnes.

Greater Western Sydney: Cameron 5, Greene 4, Johnson 4, Patton, Smith, Steele, Ward, Whitfield, Williams.

 

Best

St. Kilda: Riewoldt, Ross, Newnes, Steven, Bruce.

Greater Western Sydney: Greene, Shaw, Scully, Coniglio, Ward.

 

Umpires: Fleer, Harris, McInerney.

 

Crowd: 21,052

 

Our Votes: Greene 3 (GWS), Shaw 2 (GWS), Scully 1 (GWS).

 

Comments

  1. Earl O'Neill says

    Another winter of discontent, eh Braham?

  2. Yvette Wroby says

    To be (a tough side) or not to be…that is my question. Are we building and tough and a fast tackling side who accurately pass to each other or not!!

  3. Great take btw

  4. And the fourth quarter (et tu)? Brutal.

  5. Kath Presdee says

    For GWS, all’s well that ends well.

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