St Kilda has secured a shock win over Richmond, holding an unusually toothless Tigers side to their lowest score at the MCG since the 1961 season.
The Saints came out of the gates on fire, kicking the first four goals of the match and Richmond was unable to recover with Brett Ratten's side securing an easy 9. 8. (62) to 2. 10. (22) win in the first match at the MCG since Round 11.
Richmond managed just one goal in each half, with the score its lowest at the MCG since kicking a score of 0. 8. (8) against St Kilda back in Round 16, 1961. It was their sixth-worst score in VFL/AFL history.
It was a phenomenal turnaround from the last time the two teams met where Richmond dispatched St Kilda by 86 points in Round 5 this season.
St Kilda captain Jack Steele was excellent once again with 25 disposals and nine tackles and praised his side's response after a disappointing loss prior to the bye.
"We were under the pump quite a lot over the last couple of weeks and it's definitely nice to be able to come out and beat the Tigers on the MCG," Steele told Seven.
"I'm glad the boys responded. We were just really connected. Probably something we haven't done all year is play out four quarters, so each quarter we broke it down and took it quarter by quarter and we were able to keep them to a low score, which is pleasing, but also able to kick a nice score ourselves, which is pleasing.
"It was definitely a focus, when we were going in at half-time well and truly up, to not allow them to come back into the game."
Luke Dunstan was also brilliant for St Kilda, finishing with a game-high 32 disposals, while Max King and Daniel McKenzie were the team's two multiple goal-kickers.
Richmond's score of 22 was also the lowest score St Kilda has conceded since Round 12, 1971.
To make matters worse for Damien Hardwick's men, the team came away with a pair of injuries to defensive duo Nick Vlastuin and Noah Balta.
Vlastuin came off the ground with a right leg injury after an awkward landing in the fourth quarter, while Balta suffered a knee injury in the third quarter and was substituted off for Rhyan Mansell.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.