Fremantle vs. St Kilda: All the news and updates from the Dockers’ win over the Saints
Ross Lyon has revealed why he didn’t send Marcus Windhager in the Saints’ loss to Fremantle on Sunday, but he doesn’t consider it the reason why they lost.
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St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says the ‘circadian rhythm’ of Fremantle and St Kilda’s midfield was behind why he didn’t send Marcus Windhager to Caleb Serong or Andrew Brayshaw.
Despite no tag, the Saints’ collective midfield was able to keep the Docker duo quiet for much of the game.
That pair had just seven possessions between them in the first term.
Serong had only 10 in the first three quarters, before adding another eight and four clearances in an important fourth-quarter performance.
Lyon said he didn’t use a tag, not even in the final term when the Dockers fought back from 14 points down.
“There weren’t any lockdowns,” he said.
“Jack Steele just went and played, and (James) Macrae went and played, and Windhager played on the wing.
“The one that got tightest attention was (Shai) Bolton when he went forward with (Liam) Stocker. So yeah, no, no lockdowns.
“We didn’t even lock down in the last quarter.
“Maybe it’s just sometimes you match up with pretty well. Maybe it’s just the circadian rhythm of Saints versus Dockers.”
Lyon also said he has no issue with the umpires stopping play to check on the welfare of injured players.
The umpires called halt to the game checked on players twice during the Saints 12-point loss to Fremantle at Optus Stadium on Sunday night.
But both were in very different circumstance.
They stopped it once in the second quarter to check on Fremantle forward Josh Treacy, who copped a knee to the ribs from Saints youngster Alix Tauru.
The Saints had the ball and were running forward, and Treacy stayed on the ground.
The ball was bounced.
In the third quarter, they waited until a stop in play, when a behind was scored, before checking on St Kilda’s Marcus Windhager and sent him for a HIA.
Windhager had no interest leaving the ground and was back amongst the action within a couple of minutes.
But Ross didn’t seem too concerned.
“I can find trouble with the best of them, right?” he said.
“I’m a bit uninformed by the whole situation, so it’s very difficult.
“Player welfare has got to be absolute number one.
“And I think if that’s the principle and that was adhered to, well then, it’s the right call.”
RUCK DUO OVERCOMES ROSS LYON MASTERCLASS
Ross Lyon came so close to orchestrating a win in his return to Optus Stadium on Sunday to play Fremantle for the first time since parting ways with the Dockers at the end of 2019.
The Saints had a huge crack, leading by 14 points early in the final term.
But Fremantle kicked five of the last five goals of the game, including Luke Jackson’s after the siren, to win by 12 points.
The 11.15 (81) to 9.15 (69) victory, which amazingly included the goal posts being hit nine times, was the Dockers sixth in a row, the first time they’ve managed that since 2022.
That year, they went deep in the season, losing to Collingwood in a Semi-final.
Fremantle’s inability to produce big wins is starting to hurt them though.
They’re now sixth on the ladder, with 10 wins, the same as third-placed Adelaide Crows.
But the Crows, Geelong and Hawthorn all have 10 wins also, but all have better percentages.
A week ago, the Dockers were 37 points up against Essendon at three-quarter-time and couldn’t run on with it, winning by 41.
They beat North Melbourne by just six points a week earlier.
Nearly all sides in top eight have now played 15 games, with the exception of the Gold Coast, on 14.
The seventh placed Suns are only one win further adrift and Fremantle, and them, plus the seventh-placed Western Bulldogs, have better percentages than the Dockers.
After winning three of their first four games, the Saints have managed a 2-9 record since.
RECIPE IS RIGHT
St Kilda trailed by three points at quarter-time, despite having had two more scoring shots.
The Saints were inaccurate though, their 1.5 was costly.
But it was a similar game to the round 8 clash at Marvel Stadium which the Saints won by 61-points.
That day, Lyon’s team dominated clearances and contested possession.
We’re talking 28 more clearances and 48 more contested possessions.
At quarter-time on Sunday, the Saints led clearances 14-6, despite Luke Jackson and Sean Darcy giving the Dockers a 20-3 advantage in hit outs. They also led the contested possession count.
Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw had just 18 and 15 disposals respectively the last time these sides met.
At quarter-time on Sunday, the classy pair was restricted to just seven disposals between them.
By the end of the game though, they’d combined for 43.
LEAP OF FAITH
You have to feel for young Saints defender Alix Tauru.
Midway through the last term, when trailing by just four points, his turnover in defence resulted in Dockers forward Isiah Dudley kicking a goal. The margin went to 10 points and the Saints never regained the lead.
Before then, Tauru, in just his AFL second game, had done little wrong.
His courage at contests was as good as any on the ground and his spoiling elite. He finished with 14.
He’s just the type of player coach Lyon would love.
MOMENT OF GENIUS
Saints ruck Rowan Marshall hands his hands full with Darcy and Jackson.
The hit outs all went Fremantle’s way, 52-26. The clearances went with the Saints, 46-31.
Marshall’s tactic of dragging one of the Dockers talls forward might have landed him a goal-of-the-year contender.
Late in the second term, he kicked an opportunists goal from a stoppages in the Saints goal square.
Instead of trying to win the hit out against Darcy, he kicked the ball out of the air straight through the goals, to give the Saints a two-point lead.
Originally published as Fremantle vs. St Kilda: All the news and updates from the Dockers’ win over the Saints
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