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Saints Sink Swans at Docklands

28 Mar 2009

ST KILDA has overcome a first-quarter blitz by the Sydney Swans to record a 15-point victory at Docklands on Saturday night.

The Swans burst out of the blocks to lead by 27 points at the first break, but failed to score a goal in the second and third quarters where the Saints set up the 12.8 (80) to 9.11 (65) win.

Saints coach Ross Lyon will be pleased with the resilience shown by his charges to reel in the visotors, particularly given star skipper Nick Riewoldt had little influence thanks to the close checking of Craig Bolton.

Lyon won't be quite so pleased that his side led by 36 points early in the last quarter before conceding the last four goals of the match to the Swans.

Nick Dal Santo was the top possession winner for St Kilda with 27 touches with Luke Ball (25 possessions and nine tackles), Brendon Goddard (25 disposals) and ex-Bulldog Farren Ray (23) all prominent.

As expected, elevated rookie and former Hawk Zac Dawson was given the big job on Barry Hall and, while he had plenty of support, he can consider himself the victor of the duel after keeping the big forward to just one goal.

Aside from Bolton it was hard to find consistent winners for the Swans after quarter-time, but Craig Bird (26) and Brett Kirk (24) worked hard all night.

The Swans had a slightly different look about them in the first quarter, showing a greater willingness to handball and break through the lines, a tactic which appeared to catch the Saints off guard.

Hall snapped truly to get the ball rolling with his teammates then combining to slam through the next three to have St Kilda reeling at 24 points down midway through the term.

Michael Gardiner slotted his side's first major after a ruck infringement 30m out, but that was to be the Saints only goal for the quarter as Adam Goodes converted to put the Swans up by 27 points at the first change.

The pace of game slowed noticeably in the second as the Saints worked their way into the contest. After a Stephen Milne goal in first minute, scoring dried up for both sides, with the Swans failing to enter their attacking 50 until eight minutes in.

Forced to handle repeated St Kilda attacks, the visitors defended grimly, but finally broke down late in the term when goals to Justin Koschitzke and then Milne cut the deficit to just eight points at the main break.

After failing to touch the ball in the first quarter Koschitzke was a major contributor to the turnaround with eight possessions. His goal came from a wobbly set shot after he climbed over the top of Darren Jolly to mark, not long after the Swans ruckman had done the same to him.

The Saints took the lead for the first time when Goddard goaled six minutes into the third term and when Andrew McQualter showed a neat bit of footwork to bang through his only goal for the night, St Kilda was away.

Dal Santo sharked a Swans' tap to add his second with Koschitzke putting the margin out to four goals at three-quarter time.

The Swans desperately needed the first goal of the final term, but a fantastic Milne snap gave St Kilda the jump instead.

Attacking backman Jason Gram then converted after a 50m penalty and it took until the 14th minute for the Swans to split the big sticks through Martin Mattner, his side’s first major since Goodes’ goal late in the first term.

Further goals to Heath Grundy and Ryan O’Keefe gave some semblance of respectability to the visiting side’s total.

ST KILDA 1.1 4.4 9.6 12.8 (80)

SYDNEY SWANS 5.4 5.6 5.6 9.11 (65)

Goals

St Kilda: Stephen Milne 3, Brendon Goddard 2, Nick Dal Santo 2, Michael Gardiner 2, Justin Koschitzke, Andrew McQualter, Jason Gram

Sydney Swans: Barry Hall, Paul Bevan, Kieran Jack, Darren Jolly, Adam Goodes, Martin Mattner, Heath Grundy, Ryan O’Keefe

Best

St Kilda: Sam Gilbert, Nick Dal Santo, Luke Ball, Brendon Goddard, Farren Ray, Justin Koschitzke, Michael Gardiner

Sydney Swans: Craig Bolton, Darren Jolly, Brett Kirk, Jude Bolton, Adam Goodes, Craig Bird

Injuries

St Kilda: R Clarke (hamstring)

Sydney Swans: None

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Rosebury, Chamberlain, Kamolins

Official crowd: 32,442 at Docklands Stadium

Source: www.saints.com.au

Jason Blake gets a handball away in the tackle of Jarrad McVeigh at Docklands on Saturday night

More Information

Official AFL Website of the
St Kilda Football Club

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