St Kilda’s significant goal-kicking turnaround even has coach Brett Ratten looking for answers
St Kilda has gone from one of the worst goal-kicking sides in the AFL to the best in less than 12 months. Could the recruitment of former Hawthorn forward Jarryd Roughead be the reason for the Saints’ improvement?
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St Kilda has gone from the AFL’s worst goalkicking side to the best in a remarkable turnaround that has even coach Brett Ratten scratching his head.
The Saints kicked 12.1 against Port Adelaide on Saturday night, amounting to 92.3 per cent accuracy.
The result was the most accurate goalkicking performance of a winning team in VFL/AFL history.
Overall this season, St Kilda has now kicked 87 goals and 40 behinds – competition-best accuracy of 68.5 per cent.
Last season, the Saints kicked 233 goals and 201 behinds – accuracy of just 53.7 per cent – which had them ranked 18th in the competition.
Former Hawthorn champion Jarryd Roughead has been working closely with some of the St Kilda forwards since joining the club this year, but has not travelled with the side to its new hub in Noosa.
“Roughy does some of our goalkicking but he hasn’t been with us for a few weeks,” Ratten said on Saturday when asked about the stunning change in goalkicking fortunes.
“Sometimes it’s where you get your shots, but we did kick a couple of very good goals from wide and took our chances.
“When you do play interstate, you have to do that – silence the crowd a bit, keep yourself in the game.”
Renowned sharpshooter Tim Membrey has kicked 12.4 this season, while bargain recruit Dan Butler has booted 15.7 and young-gun Max King has 11.5 to his name.
Dean Kent has kicked 7.3, Rowan Marshall has slotted 6.1 and Jack Billings has taken his opportunities with 7.1.
Between 2017 and 2019, Billings kicked 50.65 at just 43 per cent accuracy.
The Saints scored a 29-point win over the Power despite having one less scoring shot.
St Kilda faces Sydney at the Gabba next Saturday.
SCORE REVIEW GIVES MEMBREY HIS MOMENT
– Jon Ralph
The much-maligned goal umpire system has had its finest hour approving Tim Membrey’s miracle goal thanks to the astute judgment of a goal review official.
An ARC system besieged by controversies since its inception intervened to award the goal to the St Kilda spearhead despite no initial official review.
Membrey admitted afterwards he had “no idea” he had kicked the goal after Tom Jonas’s punch ricocheted onto the St Kilda forward’s foot and over the goal line.
The AFL said on Sunday an attentive goal reviewer wanted a second look after the goal umpire had signalled a touched behind and the field umpire gave the all clear.
The goal reviewer told the field umpire to hold up play, with the field umpire then drawing a square to inform the players and public about a review.
The reviewer quickly found definitive footage that showed Membrey had kicked the goal as he tried to kung-fu kick the Sherrin in mid-air.
Membrey couldn't believe his eyes 😱
— AFL (@AFL) July 25, 2020
After this @Drinkwise Score Review it was a goal! #AFLPowerSaints pic.twitter.com/uiovXIUXJ3
Membrey said in the post-match coverage he assumed it was a point.
“Jonas had me in a pretty good position, I thought he was going to get a big fist in. I don’t know why I did it, I just stuck my foot up there and he managed to punch it onto my foot and it went through.
“The goal umpire straight away indicated that it was a behind, I was setting up and I looked back and the field umpire’s running in and it went upstairs for the review, and it went my way.
“I was pretty happy with it.”
The goal review system had its flashpoint in the 2018 preliminary final when Josh Thomas’s goal was touched by GWS defender Lachie Keeffe but not overturned.
But after an overhaul over the summer including a smaller group of elite staff and clearer messaging to players and the public the league has been happy with its operation.
There has been only one clear error this year for a review that should have gone back to an umpire’s decision.
MEMBREY GOAL MOST MIRACULOUS EVER?
— Dan Batten and Al Paton
St Kilda’s Tim Membrey pulled off one of the most miraculous goals in recent memory in extremely bizarre circumstances.
As a kick came in to the goalsquare, Membrey’s opponent, Power defender Tom Jonas, looked to have the ball covered.
However, the spoil went straight into the Saints spearhead’s outstretched leg, channelling his inner Cristiano Ronaldo in scoring a freakish — albeit fortunate — scissor kick goal late in the fourth term.
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The fact Membrey and his teammates didn’t realise it was a goal until it was looked at by the AFL Review Centre (ARC) added to the outlandish nature of the major.
“I had no idea,” Membrey said on Channel 7. “(Tom) Jonas had me in a pretty good position, I thought he was going to get a big fist in. I don’t know why I did it, I just stuck my foot up there and he managed to punch it onto my foot and it went through.
“The goal umpire straight away indicated that it was a behind, I was setting up and I looked back and the field umpire’s running in and it went upstairs for the review, and it went my way.
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“I was pretty happy with it.”
It was the icing on the cake for the Saints in their barnstorming 29-point win over Port Adelaide.
The remarkable goal drew comparisons to Jack Higgins’ goal of the year winner in 2018, where he kept the ball in around the post and booted it over his head with a bicycle kick.
Hawthorn great Jordan Lewis said the degree of difficulty was greater than Jack Higgins’s spectacular goal.
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Originally published as St Kilda’s significant goal-kicking turnaround even has coach Brett Ratten looking for answers