Round 7 – St Kilda Vs Melbourne – Saints Marched Off The Field

by Liam Chambers – our correspondent in Coffs Harbour

Back to back wins for the Dees. How sweet it is. Even though St Kilda have only registered one win this season, they’ve looked dangerous at times and certainly gave GWS a scare.

The Saints opened aggressively and for the second week the Dees again seemed content to let the opposition come to them, judging their tactics. The first goal went to the Saints’ Jake Gresham before rising star Charlie Spargo opened the scoring for Melbourne. Each side traded points before Big Max Gawn marked and scored, this time in front of goal. Gawn has missed several, what must be considered easy chances, this season. He made no mistake this time however, when he slotted home the Dee’s second of the quarter.

Next up Jesse Hogan snapped a tidy goal to make it three for the Demons. Five minutes later Christian “the dog separator” Petracca scored his comeback goal at the end of a beautiful run of play from the Demons which started in their defensive 50. Great team effort! Unfortunately, Armitage scored for the Saints one minute later. Despite that effort, Melbourne were definitely dominating play with Neville Jetta and Angus Brayshaw showing how consistent their game has become. Also showing some consistency was Jesse Hogan who kicked his second to give the Demons a 14-point lead 17-31 at the end of the quarter.

The Dees started the second quarter looking confident. It seemed like captain Nathan Jones had kicked a beautiful goal on the run in the fifth minute but sadly it went wide for a behind. It wasn’t until the eleventh minute that the mighty Tom McDonald, who had been playing and marking superbly, got the first goal of the quarter. Then three minutes later Nathan Jones finally kicked the goal he deserved to put the Dees 25 points ahead. Alex Neal-Bullen, who looked promising in both quarters and made some good plays that didn’t quite succeed, then kicked a behind from a good position. A goal from the Saints’ Tim Membrey was sandwiched by another behind from Neal-Bullen. Finally, Melbourne added to their goal tally when Dom Tyson kicked what was to be the last six pointer of the quarter. Half time score was 26-54.

The Saints started the third quarter positively with two goals from Ben Long and Tim Membrey in the first five minutes. However, Hogan stepped up to steady the ship with his third goal. Then it seemed like every Melbourne player wanted to add their name to the score sheet. James Harmes put one away then Tom McDonald added a second for the day before Brayshaw got a richly deserved first goal. The Saint’s replied with a Luke Dunstan score. Sam Weideman increased the Dee’s margin before St Kilda’s Tom Hickey got the last goal of the quarter. Melbourne had stretched their lead to 36 points with the scores at 52-88.

At the start of the fourth, Melbourne looked determined to make the most of their win and increase their percentage on the ladder. Two goals from Weideman and Clayton Oliver (36 disposals for the game) in the first five minutes pushed Melbourne’s total to 100. When Alex Neal-Bullen scored in the twenty third minute it looked like a 50 plus winning margin for the Dees. Unfortunately our celebrations were premature as the Saints kicked two unanswered goals in the last five minutes to pull the scores back to 67-106.

Melbourne has continued to build on their good form of the last three rounds. The fact that Richmond is playing so well makes our effort in Round 5 all the more impressive. We will need to bring our best game to the Gabba next Saturday when we play Gold Coast. Take nothing for granted. The good news is the temperature will be milder than when we played the Lions. This should help us to keep a cool head under the Sun’s glare.

ST KILDA 2.5 – 3.8 – 7.10 – 9.13 (67)
MELBOURNE 5.1 – 8.6 – 13.10 – 16.10 (106)
GOALS
St Kilda: Membrey 2, Long 2, Armitage 2, Gresham, Dunstan, Hickey
Melbourne: Hogan 3, T. McDonald 2, Weideman 2, Spargo, Gawn, Petracca, Jones, Tyson, Harmes, Brayshaw, Oliver, Neal-Bullen