AFL St Kilda v Brisbane: All the latest news and analysis from Friday night clash
St Kilda is open to changing its stance on Matthew Lloyd helping Max King after the goalkicking great pulled apart the young star’s set shout routine.
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St Kilda is open to Max King working with goalkicking legend Matthew Lloyd over the summer after the Bombers great said the misfiring Saint’s action need to be “broken down and restarted all over again”.
Lloyd on Sunday described St Kilda coach Brett Ratten’s claims King does not have many flaws in his goalkicking as “naive” after a horror 0-5 effort that cost his club a finals chance.
Challenging St Kilda to do more to find a solution for King’s goalkicking woes, the Essendon champion said the Saints’ forward needed someone working with him for six months over the off-season to correct his technical flaws and undo the “habits” he had developed in front of goal.
St Kilda confirmed to the Herald Sun on Sunday that the club is open to King exploring outside options over the summer, with the Saints’ program not close-minded to outside experts.
It is understood King was happy to keep his goalkicking in-house this season, with Jarryd Roughead and David Rath helping him to an acceptable 44.31 before 2.5 and 0.5 in two of his past three games for a total of 47.41.
But as he considers how to maximise his talent as a goalkicker, St Kilda and King will work on whether Lloyd or another external expert is the person best placed to help.
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Ratten said post-match on Friday night King did not need to consult goalkicking help from outside of the club, saying the Saints had the “people with the skillset” to work with him.
St Kilda considers that Ratten’s strong response on Friday night was more of a defence of his player and team than a refusal to consider Lloyd over summer.
It is a departure from St Kilda’s position last year when King called Lloyd and asked for help and the Saints refused the request when the pair asked for permission from the club.
Ratten defended King after the costly loss, saying the 22-year-old was doing a “power of work” at training and didn’t have “many flaws” in his technique.
But Lloyd said he had seen nothing change in King’s technique and the top-five draft pick needed to address several key areas with his goalkicking action.
“(That’s) a very naive comment from Brett because he has got flaws,” Lloyd said.
“Look how slow he is coming in, so the momentum falls back.
“I’m going to take a closer look at his leaning back position …. have a look at the position he is in, he is leaning back, like he is sitting on a chair, which is why he is struggling and then he pulls the ball trying to generate power.
“With the slow run-up, the spinning of the ball. Nothing is going to change.
“I think the starting point is to get more speed in his run, which will help his follow-through and his momentum.
“I don’t know who is working with him, but I haven’t seen anything change for him and his technique has been highlighted year after year that he is letting himself down.
“It is mental (as well), it’s a confidence game. No.1 it’s a technical flaw and then it’s mental.”
Lloyd said the Saints needed to do more to help King.
“I want to challenge St Kilda,” Lloyd said on the Sunday Footy Show.
“(Geelong coach) Chris Scott is coaching the lights out at the moment, so when they weren’t performing against Port Adelaide at three-quarter time, he came down with a laptop and he knelt down and he was showing his team what we’re doing wrong and what we’re doing to fix this.
“I didn’t see anyone get to Max King. Why wouldn’t you cut up the vision of the third-quarter and say ‘Max, look at what position you are in, this is what you can do better’.”
Asked if he would help for free, Lloyd said “of course” before adding King needed more than one or two sessions.
“He needs someone with him a lot more than someone walking in once or twice,” Lloyd said.
“It has got to be over an off-season of a six-month period working with him day after day after day because he has had habits now for 15 years, so it’s not as if you can suddenly change those habits overnight.
“He has got to be broken down and restart all over again.”
‘Worst case of the yips’: Legend’s scathing King take
St Kilda forward Max King is in the midst of “the worst case of the yips” AFL legend Leigh Matthews says he has ever seen as he encouraged the club to embrace external help for the young star.
As forward great Wayne Carey declared King’s issue is “between his ears”, there are calls for the Saints to be open to expert assistance for the No. 1 pick.
The Saints young gun kicked 0.5 in Friday night’s loss to Brisbane, in what was a must-win game in order to breathe life into the team’s slim finals hopes.
St Kilda coach Brett Ratten revealed after the game that King, 22, had spent 90 minutes at Marvel Stadium during the week practising his goalkicking.
But he was adamant that King – who was coached by Essendon great Matthew Lloyd as a junior – does not need an external goalkicking specialist to make any tweaks.
“He won’t be seeing anyone outside the club. He doesn’t need to,” Ratten said on Friday night.
“We’ve got people with the skillset to keep working there.
“It’s not just all about the technical aspect – there’s a mental aspect to it as well.”
The Herald Sun reported last year that King had sought assistance from Lloyd but that the club had expressed its preference to instead use club staff including former Hawk Jarryd Roughead.
Matthews said “the proof is in the pudding” that what the Saints are doing is not working.
“Max (on Friday) night, I’ve never seen a worse case of the yips,” he said on 3AW.
“He missed one from 10m out and then progressively … these were sitters. Whoever is doing this at St Kilda behind the scenes currently, the proof is in the pudding.
“It doesn’t seem to be working too well. If a guy who’s going to have most of your shots has got some confidence in somebody, ie Matthew Lloyd, I’d be getting him.”
Carey said King “has to master his own mind” and that the club dismissing top names offering help is “bordering on stupidity”.
Matthews – who said he had brought in Peter McKenna to help with goalkicking at Collingwood in 1986 – said it was a specialist craft that needed expert advice.
“I’m surprised that they’re not prepared to get a little bit of external help,” he said.
Ex-Hawks goalkicker Dermott Brereton – who has worked with King and St Kilda in recent years – said King’s kicking had lacked “venom” and encouraged him to embrace his physicality as a forward.
Four-time premiership former Hawk Luke Hodge said King may be a victim of “overthinking” when it comes to big games.
Hodge highlighted King’s goalkicking statistics across each timeslot, where the Saint has kicked 5.15 on Friday night games, 17.12 on Saturdays and 15.6 on Sundays so far this season.
“Is that someone overthinking? Wants to play that well on the big Friday night, thinks about it all day and then gets to it and goes ‘I’ve overthought this, what if I miss’,” Hodge said on SEN.
“Once you miss the first one, that little man in your head starts talking.
“(Maybe it’s that) the more he thinks about it or the bigger occasion that he puts in his head, that he’s not handling the situation.”
MRO hands Crouch season-ending ban
St Kilda midfielder Brad Crouch’s season is over after being hit with a one-match ban for his bump on Brisbane’s Darcy Gardiner.
Crouch was cited for rough conduct by the match review officer, who graded the incident as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact.
It came just a day after Blue Patrick Cripps was let off by the AFL Appeals Board after a high hit on another Lion, Callum Ah Chee.
The Saints could also be without Jimmy Webster (hamstring) for next week’s clash with Sydney, while Dan Butler (foot) and Cooper Sharman (back) will be assessed by medicos in coming days.
Former Melbourne skipper Garry Lyon fumed on Fox Footy on Friday night that the current match review and tribunal process had become “the greatest raffle in sport right now” and “a farce”.
KING-SIZED FINALS HEADACHE FOR SAINTS
Ronny Lerner and Fergus Ellis
St Kilda will need a minor miracle to qualify for the finals after losing to the Cam Rayner-inspired Brisbane Lions by 15 points at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.
Brisbane opened up a 26-point buffer late in the second quarter, but for the third game in a row, they either gave up a sizeable lead, or had one eaten into significantly, as the Saints exploded in the third quarter to lead by five points, putting the Lions’ top-four ambitions in peril.
However, Brisbane’s pursuit of a double chance would’ve been severely impeded if Saints spearhead Max King kicked straight, but he could only muster five behinds, including four missed set shots from directly in front in the second half when the Saints enjoyed all the momentum.
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In response, Rayner stepped up to the plate, showing King how it’s done, booting three of Brisbane’s four final-quarter goals, to finish up with a team-high four majors, and prove to be the match winner.
The Saints will likely drop to 10th this weekend, meaning they will have to not only beat the Swans in Sydney in the final round next week, but will also need a raft of other results to go their way to make the finals.
Meanwhile, the 12.9 (81) to 9.12 (66) keeps Brisbane’s hopes for a top-two spot, and two home finals, alive as well.
Adding salt the Saints’ wound is the fact that star midfielder Brad Crouch could find himself in match review trouble for a late head-high hit on Darcy Gardiner in the second quarter which left the Brisbane defender dazed on the turf for many seconds.
St Kilda also lost defender Jimmy Webster in the first quarter due to a hamstring injury.
Rayner finished with 18 touches as well, while Hugh McCluggage (24 disposals and a goal) and ruckman Oscar McInerney, with 17 touches and 38 hitouts, also stood out for the Lions.
St Kilda were best served by Mason Wood (four goals), who played one of the games of his career, Marcus Windhager, who shut down Lachie Neale, and Seb Ross (32 touches) who found a lot of the ball.
LIONS SQUANDER EARLY DOMINANCE
Brisbane dominated the territory battle early, and helped themselves to 13 of the first 14 inside 50s on the back of convincing disposal and contest superiority.
But their goalkicking was appalling — of their first nine shots, five failed to score, and another two were behinds, as they let the Saints off the hook.
St Kilda couldn’t get their hands on the ball, but they held tough down back, and stayed in the game by being extremely efficient in attack as they registered three scores (2.1) from their first four forward entries and even hit the front in the shadows of quarter-time.
BRISBANE SHARPEN THEIR CLAWS
The second term began in similar fashion to the first, with the ball living in Brisbane’s forward half, and this time they made it count on the scoreboard. The game opened right up for the visitors as they kicked five goals in a row to shoot out to a 26-point lead and apply a firm stranglehold on the contest.
The Saints were totally bereft of attacking dare, boldness and risk-taking, as the Lions constricted them, forcing them to batten down the hatches in defence, from where they were barely able to exit.
SAINTS WAKE UP
But St Kilda came to life in the third quarter, and unlike the first half, they were full of run, while Mason Wood and Tim Membrey ran amok up forward, as the hosts kicked four goals in a row to lead at the final change.
The Saints ramped up the pressure and dominated possession as Brisbane completely lost their way, giving away a clutch of off-the-ball free kicks to the Saints whose tails were up and got under the frustrated Lions’ skin.
RAYNER QUASHES SAINTS’ RESISTANCE
However, Brisbane regathered their composure in the final term, with Rayner stepping up when his team needed him.
King’s fourth missed set shot could’ve cut the deficit to one point, but instead, it led directly to an end-to-end goal for the Lions from the kick-in, courtesy of Joe Daniher.
The Saints refused to give in and continued to pump the ball forward, registering 11 consecutive inside 50s at one stage, but King’s yips became contagious as Marcus Windhager and Membrey missed a pair of very gettable set shots.
Down the other end, Rayner converted a magnificent set snap shot from the boundary to put the result to bed.
SCOREBOARD
SAINTS 3.1, 4.2, 9.7, 9.12 (66)
LIONS 3.2, 7.6, 8.8, 12.9 (81)
LERNER’S BEST
Saints: Wood, Windhager, Ross, Marshall, Membrey, Paton, Crouch.
Lions: Rayner, McCluggage, McInerney, Rich, Zorko, Answerth, K.Coleman.
GOALS
Saints: Wood 4, Membrey 3, Higgins 2.
Lions: Rayner 4, Hipwood 2, Daniher 2, Cameron, McCluggage, McCarthy, McStay.
INJURIES
Saints: Webster (hamstring), Sharman (cork), Butler (foot).
Lions: Nil.
UMPIRES
Power, Gavine, Meredith
VENUE
Marvel Stadium
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
LERNER’S VOTES
3 Cam Rayner (BL)
2 Mason Wood (StK)
1 Marcus Windhager (StK)
Misguided aggression could end Saint’s season
After a week of intense focus on the bump, St Kilda’s Brad Crouch appears certain to face MRO scrutiny for a late hit on Brisbane’s Darcy Gardiner.
The Saints midfielder collected Gardiner high seconds after he kicked, appearing to make contact with the Brisbane defender’s head with his shoulder and upper arm.
Carlton captain Patrick Cripps was initially suspended for two weeks for a collision with
Brisbane’s Callum Ah Chee, but the penalty was overruled at the tribunal on Thursday night.
Brad Crouch gave away a free kick for this incident involving Darcy Gardiner. #AFLSaintsLionspic.twitter.com/i9e4UXXI9S
— AFL (@AFL) August 12, 2022
Offt that’s season over for Crouch.
— Nat Yoannidis (@NatYoannidis) August 12, 2022
Appeal, you’ll be sweet.
— David King (@davidking34) August 12, 2022
Less than 24 hours later, Crouch put himself in the crosshairs.
Gardiner was able to play on despite spending time prone on the ground.
St Kilda’s poor first half was marred by the loss of Jimmy Webster half way through the first quarter with a right hamstring complaint.
Favourite son returning to Moorabin?
– Mark Robinson
Lenny Hayes could be returning to Moorabbin.
One of the St Kilda’s favourite sons, Hayes shapes to be a strong candidate to replace assistant coach Ben McGlynn, who is leaving the club at the end of this season.
It’s understood the Saints are chasing Hayes and are expecting an answer from him in the coming weeks.
Hayes played 297 games from 1999-2014, after being drafted out of NSW at No. 11 in the 1998 national draft.
An inspiring player because of his willingness to win the hard ball and compete contest to contest, Hayes was a much loved figure during his playing days.
Post retirement, Hayes was an assistant coach at the Giants from 2016 until the end of the 2020 season.
“We’ve approached Lenny since he left GWS and tried to pursue him to St Kilda,” coach Brett Ratten told 3AW on Friday night.
“We have always kept a link to, kept in contact with Lenny if we wanted to come back.”
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