Round 3 – St Kilda Vs Melbourne

Despite a valiant effort, the Dees were unable to emulate their terrific Round 2 performance. Pre season Commentators had modest expectations of Melbourne but their strong showing last week put them firmly in the ones to watch category. Unfortunately St Kilda had other ideas and their standout player of the night Caitlin Greiser delivered the winning goal in spectacular fashion.

The Dees dominated early in the first quarter and made the Saints work in defence. No matter how hard Melbourne tried though, St Kilda managed to keep them at bay. The Dees play was less fluid this week and they missed opportunities to take advantage of the breeze which favoured their goal in the first term.

Tellingly, the first chance the Saints had to get the ball to Melbourne’s inside 50, St Kilda’s Kate McCarthy was able to kick the ball to Greiser who marked it close to goal. Greiser converted to put the Saints in front. Luckily, one of the Dees’ star players, Shelley Scott got one back just before the siren to put Melbourne in front going into the break.

The start of Q2 added to Melbourne’s woes as promising new recruit Sinead Goldrick was taken off due to the concussion rule and sat out the remainder of the game on the benches. In addition, Maddie Guerin hobbled off with a suspected ACL injury. Aliesha Newman had a chance to replicate her goal of the year from a couple of seasons ago but was only able to score the single point.

St Kilda looked a lot more confident as they started to take the game to Melbourne in a low scoring quarter. Then Greiser showed her influence when she got the ball to Darcy Guttridge in front of goal, who tapped it through for the Saints’ second.

In the second half, St Kilda continue to look increasingly assured. The Dees were going to have to dig deeper to break through. Another minor score from Zanker left the girls frustrated at their lack of points on the board. The longer the scores remained level the more the Saints seemed to be taking control of the game. The Dees defence was were being tested more regularly.

Melbourne did have some serious surges later in the quarter but St Kilda remained calm in defence. Some great opportunities to stretch the lead went begging as the Saints were able to thwart Melbourne’s best efforts. The Dees were clearly dominating the inside 50 tackles, leading by 19 to zero but their kicking kept letting them down. Karen Paxman in particular was ferocious but to no avail. A great mark by Tegan Cunningham failed to make the distance when converted and seemed to sum up the Dee’s night.

St Kilda started Q4 with a belief that their first win was in sight. Greiser almost put the Saints in front with a brilliant kick that just landed wide. Then the combination of the Saint’s McCarthy and Greiser again saw Greiser mark the ball on the inside 50 edge. With a superb kick she secured her second and the St Kilda’s third goal.

Melbourne were now struggling to contain the Saints. As the quarter continued St Kilda looked like the team to beat, despite the best efforts of Paxman to drive the troops forward. Unfortunately it proved too difficult for Melbourne regain the lead and the Saints got their first win.

Melbourne will certainly have learned some harsh lessons. They’ll need to use the loss to their advantage when the take on Collingwood at Marvel Stadium on Friday night. The match will be a double header with Victoria Vs All Stars in the bush fire relief game. There will be a full house and an electric atmosphere so I’m sure there will be more than a few nervous players.

We need to win that game to have a chance of finishing in the top two of the very competitive Conference B. Round 3 will have shaken the Dees a little but I’m confident they have the character to put the loss behind them and come out swinging against the Pies.

Go the Awesome Dees!!!