Gary Ablett’s forward move helps inspire Geelong to victory over gallant St Kilda
St Kilda coach Alan Richardson hasn’t given his own job security any thought, preferring to focus on how his side can finish the season positively after its loss to Geelong.
Geelong
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Embattled St Kilda coach Alan Richardson is refusing to let speculation about his future impact on the way he coaches for the rest of the season.
After a gutsy performance against ladder leader Geelong, the Saints coach said he wasn’t giving his job security any thought.
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“I don’t even think about it,” Richardson said.
“My focus is all about how we can get better … we have got to make sure we continue to drive to the end of the year.
“It’s looking less likely we’re going to play finals so we can either completely fall away and be sorry for ourselves or understand we represent a lot of people and the club means a lot to so many people.
“We are all in this together.”
Richardson was heartened by his team’s performance in the 27-point loss with young ruckman Rowan Marshall again leading the way.
“They were incredibly disappointed post game, they knew they had given themselves a chance to win,” he said.
“We all know how difficult it is to win down here and with Geelong on the rebound.
“There was a lot that I liked about the way the guys went about it.”
Richardson was disappointed with the 26-14 free kick count in Geelong favour saying the umpiring had been “pretty inconsistent”.
CATS COACH THRILLED WITH BIG GUNS’ RESPONSE
Geelong coach Chris Scott knows his team might not be at its best but he isn’t too worried just yet, saying firing at the right time was his club’s main goal as it tries to plot a course for another AFL premiership.
The Cats did enough to beat a gritty St Kilda by 27 points at GMHBA Stadium, but the win did come with its concerns as the Saints served it right up to the ladder leaders for more than a half.
Scott, however, wasn’t too concerned despite his team falling 10 points behind at one stage as Alan Richardson’s team booted four straight goals to stun the locals.
But Scott, whose team jumped two games plus percentage clear on top of the ladder, knows the evenness of today’s competition will make every week tough.
“You won’t find me saying anything disrespectful to the quality that St Kilda can bring,” he said.
“If you go in with an expectation that the ladder’s going to be a great reflection of the way the game’s going to get played, you’re in trouble.”
He said 2019 was proving “really hard to assess” as teams struck form at different stages.
“It’s really hard to assess,” Scott said.
“I’m starting to bore everyone but I’ve said it’s not who you play but when you play them. We played West Coast in round five (six) and they weren’t going very well.
“That (58-point) win at the time probably looked a lot better than it was. If we were to play them now I think it would be played in a different manner.
“I think you’ve also got to come back to relativity. I’m not saying we are but if we were really disappointed with the position that we’re in, gee we’d be really hard to please.
“So there are some specific things we’d like to improve on, but that was the same in round three, four, five, six as well.”
Scott said it was tough to get a feel for the competition and recent history showed peaking at the right time was the key.
“We are in the ‘any given Sunday’ era (where any team can beat another),” he said.
“The teams that can take the big moments within games are probably going to win … I don’t think anyone saw the Bulldogs coming (in 2016) until really, really late. I don’t think Richmond were the best team for the whole year when they won it and I don’t think West Coast were last year, either.
“So if you could have one thing it would be to really hit your straps when it counts. Easy to say, harder to do.”
Scott praised his men for their ability to shake the dogged Saints, his team managing to get on top around the ball in the second half.
“At three-quarter time the game was on the line,” he said.
“I think I frequently talk about how much admiration I have for the players that can embrace those moments … I think that was the biggest positive — our guys did that.”
Among the stars to shine brightly when it mattered was Gary Ablett.
A knock to the hip in the second term cast doubt over his ability to return. But the old champ did, and two final-quarter goals not only awakened a crowd starved of highlights but ensured win no. 13 for the Cats.
“He was hobbling, so he played a little bit deeper in the forward line,” Scott said.
“I thought he was pretty important in the last quarter. He won some contests even though he wasn’t 100 per cent healthy.”
Scott said the fact Ablett was able to come back to the field and have an impact was a positive sign ahead of next week’s clash with Hawthorn, while the coach was also buoyed by Esava Ratugolea’s return from a hamstring injury.
CATS FANS GET WHAT THEY WANT
It took a groin strain to get Geelong fans what they've been craving since Gary Ablett Jnr walked back through the doors.
The romantic dream about Ablett's return had him emulating his famous father by moving to the goalsquare in his final days and kicking bags of goals.
On Saturday night he started in what has become his traditional role this year as a high half-forward but things went astray early in the third quarter.
Ablett came from the ground limping with a groin injury. After an extended time on the bench he eventually returned but it was at the start of the final quarter where the fans got what they wanted.
The two-time Brownlow Medallist hobbled down to the goalsquare and took up occupancy.
As they'd done all night St Kilda continued to hang around and when Blake Acres snapped truly midway through the term the Cats lead was back to just 13 points.
Enter Ablett the full-forward.
A brilliant tackle on Jack Newnes got Ablett a free-kick deep in the forward pocket on the boundary. Naturally the degree of difficult wasn't an issue and he kicked the around-the-shoulder snap from 35m easily.
From the next centre bounce, Geelong ruckman Rhys Stanley dashed away from the middle of the ground and went long to the goalsquare.
Bodies flew in everywhere with the ball seeming to disappear for a few seconds until Ablett emerged with it and with two opponents hanging off him, he calmly kicked the goal back over his shoulder.
Two goals in two minutes. Game over.
For the romantics in the crowd, it was a moment to saviour as they'd seen another Gary Ablett do that plenty of times from full-forward back in the good old days.
MIXED MESSAGES
This wasn't the result a lot people wanted for a variety of different reasons.
For Geelong it certainly wasn't the return to the form of the first half of the season after an indifferent month which its fans were craving.
A 27-point victory at home against the 15th placed team isn't what you'd call a form resurrection.
After an ordinary first half which had St Kilda leading by two points at halftime, the Cats ground out the victory by kicking seven goals to two in the second half.
The win means they again kick two games clear at the top of the ladder but there are plenty of areas which require tinkering before September.
As for the Saints, if you believe the whispers in the lead-up this game had a lot more riding on it for St Kilda coach Alan Richardson.
There has been a whiff of blood in the air about his position over the past month with some even suggesting a flogging by Geelong might accelerate the decision to sack the coach.
Instead the Saints were spirited and showed a lot of fight, particularly in the second quarter when they made the Cats look second-rate.
This wasn't a performance of a team that had lost faith in the coach and once again the shining light was Rowan Marshall, the big man who Richardson has turned into one of the best ruckmen in the competition.
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BYE BYE TOMAHAWK
A lot has been made about Geelong's issues with the mid-season bye but if you narrow it down the man who suffers most is spearhead Tom Hawkins.
The Tomahawk was the best forward in the game in the opening 12 games, kicking 35 goals which included five consecutive bags of four goals leading into the bye.
Since the Round 13 holiday, the Cats full-forward has kicked just five goals in four games.
Last night St Kilda veteran Nathan Brown kept Hawkins in check with his only goal coming in the dying minutes of the game.
His sidekick Gary Rohan is also in a slump but his actually started before the bye.
The ex-Swan kicked 20 goals in the opening nine games but has just two goals from his next six outings.
Rohan had just nine possessions last night and failed to hit the scoreboard again.
RECORD BOOKS PLEASE
When St Kilda kicked its fourth consecutive goal midway through the second quarter, the call was made for the record books.
The Saints lead was 10 points and the whiff of an upset was circling GMHBA Stadium.
It had certainly been a long time since that had happened with records showing the last time the Saints prevailed in Geelong was actually in a different century.
The team was coached by Tim Watson and won by 10 points in Round 10, 1999, with Barry Hall kicking four goals.
Since then the Saints had made the trip down the highway eight more times for zero wins.
Unfortunately the record books were put away at three-quarter time after the visitors only managed four points for the term as Geelong finally gaining control of the contest.
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