St Kilda v Geelong: Brett Ratten hits out over missed holding the ball calls
An exasperated Brett Ratten has hit out at the umpiring during St Kilda’s clash with Geelong, saying he ‘feels for his players’ after a frustrating night.
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A dumbfounded and frustrated Brett Ratten has queried the merits of instructing his players to tackle their opponents after some officiating from the field umpires on Friday night left him seething post-match.
The Saints racked up 87 tackles against Geelong at Marvel Stadium, yet were only rewarded with three holding-the-ball free kicks for their efforts.
“To think you have 85 (sic) tackles and you get three free kicks for the day – 85,” an exasperated Ratten said post-match.
“I don’t know if it’s worth tackling – just set up behind the ball and flood back. I didn’t think we got the reward for our effort around the tackling component of the game, that was slightly disappointing.
“I feel for the players ... it’ll be interesting to have a look at how those balls got distributed, too.”
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When further pressed about players seemingly not being penalised for throwing and/or dropping the ball, Ratten replied: “You said it, I didn’t say it. It must be frustrating you ... if that’s a handball then jeepers.”
Compounding things for the Saints was another foot injury to influential big man Rowan Marshall, who needed to be subbed out of the game.
Ratten admitted the club was unsure as to the exact nature of the injury, but it seemed as though it was a recurrence of his plantar fasciitis and he was hopeful Marshall had not aggravated a separate foot injury suffered in the pre-season.
Marshall will have scans to ascertain the extent of his latest foot complaint and Ratten conceded the complexion of the game changed when the ruckman was subbed out.
“We didn’t get to have our momentum around the footy and things like that and the long-down-the-line plays between the arcs,” Ratten said.
“You can see from our performances when him and (Paddy) Ryder came back into the team, it just changed dramatically and they’re quality players.
“We need Ryder and Marshall playing and that gives us a lot of confidence to use the footy, especially around the stoppages when you can get some really good field position and territory.”
Brad Crouch also spent time off the field with a “knock to the face” and he’ll get scans, too, to determine whether or not he suffered a minor fracture.
Above all else, the Saints were let down terribly by their goalkicking, kicking themselves out of the contest with a woeful 5.17.
“Probably for a couple of weeks we haven’t finished our work, even last week we kicked 15 points as well (against Gold Coast),” Ratten said.
“Tonight we got some really good looks but couldn’t do it.
“When you look at the numbers, and the form they (Geelong) have been in, we’re trying to build momentum as a team, and that performance tonight around the ball and our tackle numbers and inside 50s, they were very good ... we just didn’t quite do what we want to do and that was put it through the sticks.”
Young forward Max King was the chief culprit with a concerning 1.5 but Ratten maintained the faith that he would fulfil his potential as a top-10 draft pick.
“Max is a terrific young player, second-year player,” Ratten said.
“The real pleasing aspect is he played against some really good defenders and he put himself right in the picture and he got to great spots and he is just going to keep learning.
“For him to have six shots on goal, gave a couple off – he’s going to put it together, whether it’s next week or in a month I’m not sure, but ... he’s not far off it.
“You have a chat about it. Footy clubs can be interesting, you’ve got a lot of people there and everybody can jump on one person and you get too much information, so we’ll just keep going through the process that we are (putting in place) ... he doesn’t need too many voices.”
Bad kicking is bad footy
The Saints lived up to their reputation as the worst set-shot team in the competition in the first half, with their three key forwards Max King (twice), Tim Membrey (twice) and Rowan Marshall all missing easy set shots for goal, with three of them occurring inside the opening eight minutes.
King’s most costly of his misses – a set shot from directly in front late in the final quarter – could have cut the deficit to 11 points, but instead hit the post.
Instead of taking an early 18-point lead and shooting out of the blocks, St Kilda only led by three, and despite their superior pressure and territory dominance in the first half, it ultimately counted for nought as they failed to translate it onto the scoreboard.
King’s performance prompted former Victorian cricket captain Darren Berry to call for the young gun to be dropped.
“Yeah yeah I know he’s a kid but I’m sick of this,” Berry tweeted.
“No more please. Time for a rest in the twos. No more gifted games on potential.”
Yeah yeah I know he’s a kid but I’m sick of this. Seriously how many missed marks And missed kicks on goal can we accept. That was pathetic 40 metres in the clear - Giraffe on ice. And then another shithouse miss from the angle #frustrating #costly
— Darren Berry (@ChuckBerry1969) May 14, 2021
St Kilda’s first nine scoring shots were all behinds and they finished up with a woeful 5.17. After falling eight points behind late in the second quarter and absorbing all of the Saints’ best shots, the Cats hit back hard like top teams do, making the Saints pay the price for their inaccuracy by kicking six of the next seven goals to take a 23-point lead early in the final term.
Cameron Guthrie was the main reason why the Cats were still in the contest during the St Kilda onslaught, continuing his spectacular season with another best-on-ground performance which saw him register 36 disposals (11 contested), six marks, seven tackles, four clearances, a goal, six score involvements and a goal assist to help ensure the Cats stayed in the top four this round.
Costly Frawley clanger
James Frawley actually made a pretty good club debut for the Saints, keeping Tom Hawkins fairly quiet, but with the game in the balance early in the last quarter, he got too close to the man on mark deep in defence.
His kick was touched and ended up with Sam Menegola who kicked a ripping goal from 40m out on a sharp angle to put the Cats up by 11 points.
Another couple of goals to Brad Close and Gary Rohan in quick succession shortly after put the result beyond the Saints’ reach.
King can’t collect it
Late in the third quarter with St Kilda trailing by six points, King was all by himself in forward 50 but couldn’t gather the ball and Geelong’s Zach Tuohy pounced after the young Saint overran it to clear the danger for the Cats.
It was a golden opportunity to level the scores gone begging and those frustrations for the Saints were compounded seconds before three-quarter time when Membrey dropped a chest mark deep in attack, which denied his team the chance to take the lead.
Sharing is caring 🚂#AFLSaintsCatspic.twitter.com/nf9ZwNn8e9
— AFL (@AFL) May 14, 2021
G-Train chugs into the station
He was a cult hero during his 145-game stint at St Kilda, and Fraser Gehrig did no harm to that reputation with a cameo in the crowd.
Cameras cut to the two-time All-Australian sitting in the stands, where he appeared to be handing out pies to other footy fans.
“He’s giving away pies,” commentator Brian Taylor said.
“He’s enjoying that pie, I tell you what, two bites and it was gone,” added James Brayshaw.
Punters on social media lapped up Gehrig’s appearance at the footy, although some were shocked that the two-time Coleman Medallist chose not to eat his pie with sauce.
Tuohy brings back the barrel
In a throwback to yesteryear, Tuohy unleashed a massive torpedo punt from a kick-in early in the game which was so big that it went past the centre circle and almost hit the roof.
It ended up bouncing to the Cats’ half-forward line and actually set up a scoring opportunity for Quinton Narkle who missed to the left on the run.
Will veteran be offered a new deal?
St Kilda is keen to extend Paddy Ryder’s career into a 16th season as the club admitted he might have walked away from football if not granted early-season personal leave.
St Kilda’s mature approach to Ryder’s four-week leave period saw the club adamant that Ryder needed to be approved leave to work on “areas missing in his life”.
Now he has returned to put together some slashing form as the Saints attempt to push for finals on the back of the Ryder-Rowan Marshall ruck combination.
Ryder’s two-year deal expires this year after stints at Essendon and Port Adelaide.
But St Kilda chief operating officer Simon Lethlean said the club hoped Ryder, 34 in March next year, had more football left in him.
“This is the second year of his two-year deal and I think he intends to play on next year and we are keen to have him. We haven’t got to that conversation yet but if he wants to play on we want him. He has been one of the better tap ruckmen in the competition in the last decade or so, him and Nic (Naitanui) are up there, and he allows Rowan to lay alongside Max King in the forward line.
“We were always going to (grant him leave), but in your quiet moments it’s pretty difficult to accept because you are not going to pick your best team. But we knew his wellbeing and welfare were critical to him and us. If he wasn’t allowed to go, he might not have played again at all. The pay-off is he’s better and happier and he’s playing again. He’s in a really good space at the moment.”
Ryder was solid in his battle against twin talls Mark Blicavs and Esava Ratugolea after Marshall went down, winning the hit out count 35-21 and picking up 16 disposals
Lethlean said free agent Jack Billings had always timed his contract negotiations late in the season, with St Kilda confident he would stay.
“History shows with Jack that he hasn’t engaged with his contract until the end of the year and we don’t see it any differently this time. Jack is pretty settled at St Kilda.”
Fellow free agent Seb Ross is in contract talks that will see him re-sign.
“He is at the end of a three-year deal. But (list boss) James Gallagher has started conversations with his manager Alex McDonald about the future. He has been here a long time and we don’t expect he will be heading anywhere else,” Lethlean said.
SAINTS 0.7 3.11 4.13 5.17 (47)
CATS 2.1 4.2 6.6 10.8 (68)
LERNER’S BEST
Saints: Howard, Crouch, Steele, Frawley, Membrey, King.
Cats: C.Guthrie, Duncan, Henderson, Tuohy, Smith, Close.
GOALS
Saints:
Membrey 2, King, Butler, Steele.
Cats: Close 2, Rohan 2, Hawkins 2, Narkle, Cameron, C.Guthrie, Menegola.
INJURIES
Saints: Marshall (foot), Sinclair (cut cheek).
Cats: Nil.
LATE CHANGE Luke Dahlhaus (ribs/back) replaced in Geelong’s selected side by Jordan Clark.
UMPIRES Fisher, Power, Gavine
VENUE Marvel Stadium
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
LERNER’S VOTES
3 C.Guthrie (Geel)
2 M.Duncan (Geel)
1 D.Howard (StK)
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