AFL round 22: Can St Kilda take down their bogey team in Saturday night’s clash against Geelong?
Ross Lyon’s men are one win away from finals, yet this week they face a foe who has had their number of recent times in Geelong, so how do they conquer the Cats?
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Ross Lyon sat on a plastic chair next to the Geelong players’ race peeling a banana as the Cats ran out on to Kardinia Park.
It was hours before Fremantle’s 2013 qualifying final win over the Cats, and for all the talk about the Geelong fortress, Lyon chomped away on his fruit on the boundary line in a bid to project calmness and confidence.
It was true he copped a couple of off looks from the Cats greats as they warmed up.
But the message was clear. We are not scared coming down here, the then Dockers’ coach was saying.
Ten years on from that famous win, Lyon again confronts Geelong on Saturday night plotting an upset win over Chris Scott’s men this time under the roof at Marvel Stadium.
And the stakes are enormous.
A victory in this one would guarantee St Kilda a finals berth in Lyon’s first year in charge, despite a tough run with injuries this year.
But the Saints have been the Cats bunnies in recent times, to put it kindly.
In fact, the two clubs share one of the most lopsided head-to-head records in football.
From the past 15 encounters, St Kilda has beaten Geelong only once dating back to the 2010 qualifying final at the MCG which was, again, under Lyon in his first stint in charge at Moorabbin.
With the Cats trying to hang on to the eight with two games left, Saturday night’s clash could signal a potential changing of the guard between the two sides.
In St Kilda’s comfortable 36-point win over Richmond on Sunday at Marvel, “super brave” spearhead Max King slotted a bag of six goals in combination with Tim Membrey for the first time this season, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera showed his class again, and Jack Sinclair ran riot as the loose man at the back of the stoppage to put this one out of reach of the Tigers early.
The Saints might have been hammered in the clearances in the second-half in the loss to Carlton last week.
But there was no let-down against the Tigers on Sunday as the Saints shaded Richmond in the middle, scored heavily from the back half and kept Jack Riewoldt’s side to only 57 points in one of the Saints’ best defensive performances of the season.
Indeed, the Tigers looked like a footy team on Sunday which had checked-out on 2023. Perhaps a tough year has finally caught with them. Time to plan the footy trip.
But the Saints remain locked in.
Now the equations are clear for the red, white and black.
Lyon’s men need to win one of their last two games of the season against the Cats and the Lions (at the Gabba) to make finals.
And to overcome Geelong, Callum Wilkie needs to shut down Friday night’s seven-goal star Jeremy Cameron and Jack Steele has to put Patrick Dangerfield to sleep, and Lyon will back the rest of the team to knock off the reigning premier.
Lyon knows the challenge is enormous, but he is confident the Saints have the weapons to continue the march.
Their first half against Carlton last week was excellent and they had Richmond’s measure easily on Sunday after another impressive five-goal opening.
“We don’t think we don’t stack up,” Lyon said.
“We have been a bit inconsistent within games. Were we off the rails (midseason)?
“We haven’t been out of the eight all year.
“In saying that we were brave when the season was up for grabs. It gives you leeway when the seas get a bit rough.
“We believe our best is very good. And I think when you dive into the (statistical) indicators you will see that.
“But talking about it and doing it for four quarters, this is where we need to get to.
“And we have been young. We have been very young.”
For all of the talk about Mitch Owens and Mattaes Phillipou’s year, it’s Wanganeen-Milera who has flown somewhat under the radar as a smooth-moving half-back, gathering 27 touches to help provide some of the polish the Saints miss.
Improving that connection piece is one of the next big steps as St Kilda look to climb the ladder further in coming years.
But after fashioning a makeshift forward line for the bulk of the year around first-year key forward Anthony Caminiti, who had planned to spend 2023 studying and waiting tables before the Saints picked him in the pre-season, the Saints finally have some big guns back in attack.
King torched Noah Balta as part of one of Richmond’s worst defensive performances of the season.
The spearhead looked gone for the season when he hurt his shoulder for a second time this year, but King has courageously worked back and led the Saints to a crucial win on Sunday. Now they’re in reach of the finals.
But in between stands the blue-and-white bogey team.
Membrey said King was in control on Sunday.
“That was our first game this year together, but we have played a lot of footy together over the past four or so years,” Membrey said.
“We certainly know what each other are like and today I think I was just trying to get out of the way of the big fella so he could just go back and slot them through.
“It is great to see him up and going after what he has been through off the shoulder, and to be able to come back out and perform the way he has is just super brave.
“We know he gets swamped. He is often coming up against two or three of them (defenders) and if he is not marking it he is bringing it to ground and bringing our smalls into play.”
That includes Jade Gresham who had his best game of the season nailing three goals from 22 touches and six tackles, helping bolster his claims for a contract extension or bolstered offer from a rival.
‘SUBSTANDARD’: MCQUALTER’S BLUNT MESSAGE FOR TAME TIGERS
- Ronny Lerner
Caretaker Richmond coach Andrew McQualter could not hide his disappointment in his team’s performance against St Kilda on Sunday at Marvel Stadium, slamming it as “substandard”.
The Tigers were playing to keep their faint finals hopes alive, but looked anything like a team desperate to be part of the September action as the Saints dominated the match from start to finish in a comprehensive 36-point win.
“We didn’t play the way we wanted to tonight, mostly on defence,” McQualter said post-match.
“I thought our defence was substandard tonight, which is disappointing because that was our aim coming into tonight to take away St Kilda’s uncontested marks, and they got 120 of them so we didn’t get it done.”
A glaring aspect of Richmond’s defensive display was Noah Balta’s job on Max King. The St Kilda spearhead kicked an equal career-high six goals as the naturally attacking Balta played too loose on him too often.
“Noah’s job first and foremost is to absolutely defend his player first,” McQualter said.
“All of the players that play in defence, that’s their first job, and then if you can intercept the ball, great.
“That’s not his intention. That’s not his instruction. And some of the turnovers tonight were pretty difficult for Noah to defend at times as well.”
Richmond’s latest performance continued a concerning trend that carried over from their heavy defeat to the Western Bulldogs last week.
On that occasion, the Dogs smashed the Tigers for tackles 76-56, while also comfortably winning the disposals 409-301, and nine days later, the Saints did a similar number on Richmond, coming out on top in tackles 67-51 as well as disposals 394-353.
When asked why Richmond’s trademark effort hasn’t been present in the past fortnight with their season on the line, McQualter replied: “It’s not a nice way to be described is it? If that’s your observation, it’s true, and that’s disappointing.
“We haven’t played the way we wanted to. The pressure hasn’t been at the level we need it to (be). Again tonight it was low. Not the easiest thing to put your finger on to be honest.”
It will take a miracle for the Tigers to make the top eight now, and McQualter likened season 2023 to “riding a rollercoaster”.
“It has been up and down,” he said.
“The reality is we’ve been fighting against the eight-ball trying to find our way back up the ladder, and it’s probably just taking its toll a bit.”
Something that McQualter hopes will lift the Tigers’ intensity over the final two weeks is the potential return of retiring champion Trent Cotchin.
Cotchin has missed the last two games due to soreness, but McQualter was optimistic that he would return against North Melbourne next week.
“That’s the aim,” he said.
And McQualter will “absolutely” use the extra emotion surrounding the end of the triple premiership captain’s career to fire up his underperforming team.
“Not just me using it (emotion), it’s the fact that Trent’s been such a long servant of our footy club and so important to us,” he said.
“And the reality is it’s now his last two games, so I would hope that the players hope to play in a way that represents Trent and what he’s done for us.”
It’s unclear whether fellow club champion Jack Riewoldt, who will be 35 in October, will follow Cotchin into retirement, but McQualter was adamant that the superstar forward had earned the right to decide whether or not he plays on in 2024.
Daniel Rioli hurt his ankle against the Saints, but was able to play out the game and should line up against the Kangaroos.
SAINTS 5.0, 10.2, 13.6, 14.9 (93)
TIGERS 2.1, 5.3, 6.5, 8.9 (57)
LERNER’S BEST Saints: King, Gresham, Marshall, Sinclair, Wanganeen-Milera, Ross, Wilkie. Tigers: Taranto, Martin, Short, Young, Broad, Dow, Vlastuin.
GOALS Saints: King 6, Gresham 3, Phillipou, Marshall, Sharman, Owens, Higgins. Tigers: Baker 2, Bauer 2, Riewoldt, Bolton, Taranto, Broad.
UMPIRES Howorth, Whetton, Gianfagna, O’Gorman
VENUE Marvel Stadium
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
LERNER’S VOTES
3 Max King (StK)
2 Jade Gresham (StK)
1 Rowan Marshall (StK)
More Coverage
Originally published as AFL round 22: Can St Kilda take down their bogey team in Saturday night’s clash against Geelong?
‘Loyal person’: Tigers star defies mass exodus
With several of his star teammates heading for the exit door a Richmond big man has done the opposite and signed a mammoth new contract.
Trade live: Tiger triumph as star swingman inks monster contract
The Tigers have had plenty of players walk or ask to walk out the door, but there’s one key piece not going anywhere, inking one of the longest deals in AFL history. FOLLOW LIVE