AFL round 8: Chris Cavanagh analyses St Kilda’s win over Fremantle

Hugo Garcia was subbed out and given an all-time spray by Ross Lyon last week. But the young Saint responded in the best way possible. He opens up to Chris Cavanagh on the whole saga.

St Kilda midfielder Hugo Garcia has admitted he “deserved” the controversial spray he copped from coach Ross Lyon, saying players still “need a whack” at times.

Lyon was widely criticised for delivering what was labelled an “all-time” spray to Garcia on the bench during the side’s round 7 loss to the Brisbane Lions, with the 19-year-old subsequently being subbed out during the second quarter.

However, Lyon backed in the second-year star against Fremantle on Friday night and Garcia responded to aplomb.

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In just his 17th AFL game, the No. 50 draft pick from 2023 started at the first centre bounce and played a key role in demolishing a much-heralded Dockers midfield.

“Sometimes you need that whack and last week I deserved it,” Garcia told the Herald Sun.

“You need that whack just to get you going and really put you back in line, which I love. He (Lyon) is an awesome coach.

“It’s just that next moment mentality for me and that bounce back and I had good support this week from all the senior players.

“Stuff like that’s going to happen and you’ve just got to bounce back and learn from it and get to the coaches, get to the senior players that know better and just continue to grow. I’m only a young player.”

Lyon was full of praise for the young Saint post game.

“He’s a ripping kid. He said to me, ‘I’m not going to be a victim. I grew up not being a victim’,” Lyon said.

“There’s plenty of people who choose to be victims that don’t need to be.”

Garcia gathered 19 disposals, five clearances, laid 10 tackles and kicked one goal against the Dockers, in one of the best games of his short career.

He racked up the footy while keeping some highly-rated Fremantle opponents quiet, including match-ups against Caleb Serong, Andrew Brayshaw and Hayden Young.

“I thought this week I went in with more of a mentality to get my role done and be relentless in the contest, which I felt like last week obviously wasn’t there,” Garcia said.

Garcia enjoys his work. Picture: Michael Klein

It was a stark contrast to last week. Picture: Michael Klein

“We knew they were going to be a good midfield going in but our fight was really good.

“We were poor the last two weeks, so I think our mindset going in was just to really fight with that aggressive bodywork on good players in the competition like Serong and Brayshaw. We just needed good stoppage compliance and good communication around the stoppage and then that hunt and relentless action.”

Lyon gave Garcia a smaller barb in a drive-by on Friday night, cheekily telling him, “You always cramp”.

“Yeah, I cramp every week,” Garcia conceded.

“I don’t know what it is. I try and do as much as possible during the week to minimise it, but I cramped late in the last quarter.”

If that was the worst whack from his performance against the Dockers, he’ll take it.

‘LIKE A DEAD RUBBER’: UGLY TRUTH ABOUT SAINTS-DOCKERS SNOOZEFEST

It had all the hallmarks of a round 23 dead rubber.

An unfortunately scheduled Friday night fixture between two bottom-10 teams, one side having a crack heading into a big pre-season and the other side having long checked out of their campaign.

Only, this was a round 8 match between a Fremantle side widely expected to play finals and a struggling St Kilda.

And it was the Saints who put the sleeper-hold on their more fancied opponents – not for the first time.

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir accused his side of being “pretty vanilla” during a pre-season match earlier this year.

Vanilla was too flavourful a way to describe their performance at Marvel Stadium, where they were about as bland as cauliflower.

There was no run, no flare, no direction going forward and no desire to be first to the footy around the contest.

The Gold Coast Suns were whacked for not coping without their own pillows on the road last year, but the Dockers have been similarly poor outside of Perth this year.

At home, they are 3-1.

Hayden Young is injured while tackling Liam O’Connell.

The Saints gave Fremantle’s stars no room to move.

On the road — excluding Gather Round — they’ve lost games to Geelong (78 points), a previously winless Melbourne (10 points) and now St Kilda (61 points).

At halftime, Fremantle had registered 1.1 (7) — its second-lowest score at the main break since 1999, excluding the shortened COVID season in 2020.

Longmuir openly questioned his team’s resilience.

“I’m concerned about our consistency. Absolutely,” Longmuir said.

“When we get challenged early in games, I’m not sure we’re up for the fight. You can’t be that team.

“The main message after the game to the players is: are we up for the challenge that an AFL season confronts us with?

“We can’t be that team that has the high highs and the low lows.

“We want to be a really consistent team ... and the results would show we’re not at the moment.”

It was deplorable football from a supposed finals contender, but the Saints deserve some credit.

Hayden Young injured

It’s a simple game at times and St Kilda coach Ross Lyon put his side’s three keys to success on the table during a pre-game interview on Fox Footy.

“We need territory, we need contest and we need pressure,” Lyon said.

“I think the rest just unfolds naturally.”

The Saints brought those elements in spades and by half-time they were +17 in clearances, +23 in contested possessions and +8 in inside-50s.

By full-time, St Kilda was +28 in clearances (50-22), +48 in contested possessions (151-103) and +27 in inside-50s (61-34).

It was a genuine shellacking from a Saints team long accused of being poor onball.

St Kilda scored 8.5 (53) from stoppages – their best return this year.

After handing out sprays in the loss to the Brisbane Lions last week, Lyon was pleased his side was able to turn it around against the Dockers.

“We just try and dive into (the game against Brisbane) last week obviously a lot. We played a great team,” Lyon said.

“There were some really good learnings and Brisbane were great modelling on what you need to be as a clearance team so we went to school on that and just reminded our players.

“There are some absolute fundamentals in that area of the ground that you need to deliver on.

“You can’t be droll and (say), ‘Can you please go to the ball?’ Sometimes you need some intensity.

“We focus 90 per cent on ourselves during the week.

“You can know the opposition, pull them apart, but if you don’t get your own game right you’re in a bit of trouble.”

One of the recipients of an outburst last week – midfielder Hugo Garcia – responded with aplomb, shutting down Dockers prime movers through the midfield including Caleb Serong and Hayden Young.

Cooper Sharman goal

Debutant Hugh Boxshall was also impressive, setting the tone early with four tackles in the opening term while also playing a role in keeping Brayshaw quiet and finishing with 16 disposals of his own.

The forward line was sorely missing a key target like the injured Max King, who again watched on from the stands.

But some moments of magic from the high-flying Cooper Sharman – who also kicked a goal of the year contender – along with Jack Higgins and Mitch Owens helped keep the scoreboard ticking over, albeit it slowly.

Jye Amiss flies on a dirty night for the Dockers. /Picture: Michael Klein

Michael Frederick catches Jack Higgins high.

The Saints entered this year as the third-youngest playing list in the AFL, but hold a 4-4 record after eight games and have shown they are more than capable of causing upsets when they bring the heat.

There were dire consequences for the Dockers, though, who face games against ladder-leader Collingwood, Greater Western Sydney (away), Port Adelaide and Gold Coast Suns (away) over the next month.

They will likely be without star midfielder Young (hamstring) for at least the first three of those games as the pressure mounts on Longmuir.