AFL elimination final: GWS defeats St Kilda to earn semi-final against Port Adelaide or Brisbane Lions
A season full of promise for St Kilda ended in elimination final disappointment. As JOSH BARNES writes, what happens next will define the second coming of Ross Lyon.
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If Ross Lyon’s return year at St Kilda was all about building with the kids, the summer will be about what burns inside those kids.
Before the bounce, assistant coach Lenny Hayes – one of the few lifelong Sainters with a memorable finals record – talked up what he was hoping to see from Mitch Owens and Mattaes Phillipou.
Aside from a quick goal in the third, Owens provided very little and Phillipou laid an egg.
Brought in on Saturday morning for Tim Membrey, young tall Anthony Caminiti was so anonymous he was told not to run out after halftime and was subbed out.
Owens and Phillipou are the kids the Saints are hoping can take them somewhere and in a 24-point loss to GWS, they both missed the bus.
Even the greatest of players have had days to forget in September and those great ones used those days to drive them on.
That’s where this summer will burn for those youngsters.
Phillipou lives and breathes footy and is an ultimate professional, but he limped towards the end of the season, registering less than 10 disposals in three of his final five games.
He played every match this year and looked like a player needing a rest.
Capable of anything, Owens is so good the great Nathan Buckley gave him maximum votes in the rising star award.
He should have a say in a final at some point in his career, but not against the Giants.
On Saturday, as the Saints were crying out for winners forward of centre, they couldn’t find them.
The kids weren’t alone – Jack Higgins was invisible most of the day, Dan Butler only showed a few flashes and Max King was a disappointment outside of a five minute patch in the second term.
The Saints weren’t planning on these kids winning the game for them, yet this year is all about their growth.
And it wasn’t all let downs from the inexperienced boys as Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Cooper Sharman stood tall to be among the best for the losers.
Wanganeen-Milera is surely on track to be one of the game’s best back flankers, five months out from his 21st birthday.
Only Bradley Hill rivalled Wanganeen-Milera’s run for the Saints, while Sharman’s ability to present at all times kept his team in the game.
If you presented the Saints with a finals appearance before the season started, they would grabbed it with glee.
As Lyon famously said in April that 2023 was a “year of exploration” for St Kilda.
Lyon’s explorers didn’t find paradise but they aren’t lost in the wilderness either.
The building blocks are there.
The Saints will continue to use the draft to find that new talent and not take a big swing, quick fix.
“I can’t head to Woolworths on Glen Huntly Rd and buy one, I know that … they don’t have a half-price special … there are the mechanisms ... trade, draft, free agency,” Lyon said of desire to boost the Saints’ midfield.
“We’ll explore all those things … it was never going to be a one-year build, we’ve got to build it out over a period of time.”
There should be no shortage of ammunition for the pre-season that is ahead after Saturday’s loss.
The future is bright for those exploring Saints and now they have the road ahead of them to work to make it to the new world.
Lyon said St Kilda had “grown a lot” in his first season at the helm and he was eager to get stuck into the development of younger players, pointing to first-year forward Phillipou’s high ceiling.
“We’ll put more time into (the) connection piece, more time into stoppage work and body work … young Phillipou goes into the centre bounce and big Tom Green just pushes him over,” Lyon said.
“Because he’s like a puppy dog, sees the ball but the old, wily dogs know that, ‘you watch the ball son, I’m just going to push you out of the way’.
“He’s as hungry and dedicated as anyone, but you’ve got to keep building your craft, so they’re the things that we’ll identify.”
GIANTS PUT FINALS RIVALS ON NOTICE WITH MCG BLITZ
Ed Bourke
The Giants are back in a big, big way after shattering St Kilda’s finals dream with a slick 24-point win at the MCG.
GWS mentor Adam Kingsley won the battle of the coaches as his side shocked the Saints with eight unanswered first-half goals, moving the ball with an intimidating blend of speed and skill which will have next week’s opponents scrambling for a solution.
Stamping themselves as a genuine premiership threat with their 11th win in 14 games, the Giants twice extended their lead to seven goals during the second and third quarters, but St Kilda fought back fiercely each time to the roars of the lopsided home crowd and got within three goals early in the final term.
Max King came alive to spark the Saints before halftime, while Rowan Marshall and Jack Steele did all that could be asked of them in the middle.
But the Giants’ superior class was on show as Josh Kelly and Tom Green were highly damaging with their ball use all afternoon.
The Saints started brightly through a towering mark and goal to Cooper Sharman which settled early nerves, but their fleeting period of dominance came from reeling in the first five contested marks of the game, a trend which didn’t last after GWS adjusted its defence.
Toby Bedford’s speed and poise was on show as he booted two goals and had seven score involvements, underlining how important the successful tribunal appeal was for the Giants.
MADE FOR THE ‘G
It’s a shame Josh Kelly has only played 20-odd games at the MCG, because perhaps no player is better suited to its vast expanses than the silky left-footer.
On only his sixth visit to the ground since starring in the Giants’ 2019 preliminary final win, Kelly caused immense pain for the Saints on the inside and outside, booting two goals in the second term while he went to halftime with a game-high six clearances.
Lyon might review the footage and find his midfield did not treat the Giants star with enough respect in the first half, his second goal coming after almost a minute spent on his own on the far side of the ground.
KING ROUSES TROOPS
St Kilda looked dead and buried 20 minutes into the second term when GWS extended its lead to 42 points, but Max King stepped up and brought the crowd back into the game with an electric five-minute burst.
Cooper Sharman snapped the Giants’ eight-goal streak with his second before King roared to life, missing a straightforward checkside shot from close to goal but quickly following with two goals in two minutes, drawing a nervy free kick out of the usually unflappable Sam Taylor.
The star forward had the 70,000-strong Saints faithful in full voice ahead of the main break.
TOP TIER BRIGGS
Kieren Briggs’ trajectory may feel like a slow burn for Giants fans, but in just 24 games he has already established himself as one of the game’s premier ruckmen.
The 23-year-old broke through for his first game of the season in round 10 and hasn’t looked back, but if he needed any further proof he belonged at the level, his performance against Rowan Marshall will instil him with confidence.
Marshall was the Saints’ best once again with 31 disposals and a goal, but Briggs claimed the hit-outs 28-18 and combined beautifully with his midfield despite the absence of late withdrawal Stephen Coniglio.
SAINTS 2.3, 6.6, 9.8, 11.11 (77)
GIANTS 5.3, 10.5, 13.9, 15.11 (101)
BOURKE’S BEST Saints: Marshall, Steele, Hill, Sinclair, Sharman, Wanganeen-Milera. Giants: Kelly, Green, Bedford, Briggs, Himmelberg, Ash.
GOALS Saints: King 3, Sharman 2, Hill 2, Marshall, Owens, Wanganeen-Milera, Higgins. Giants: Riccardi 3, Hogan 2, Kelly 2, Brown 2, Bedford 2, Greene, Daniels, Lloyd, Callaghan.
UMPIRES Donlon, Foot, O’Gorman, Rosebury
INJURIES Saints: Wood (eye). Giants: nil.
CROWD 68,465 at the MCG
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