St Kilda – 14.7 (91)

Geelong – 13.7 (85)

A record breaking crowd at Etihad Stadium for an AFL game in 54,444 people were in attendance for this game. The Saints had the first victory in winning the toss. It was time to see who the best in the competition was. The Saints had clearly come to play and kicked the first five goals of the game, but slowly the Cats clawed their way back into it. To summarise the game I will use the words of Ross Lyon and say it was an “armwrestle”. The game was not decided until the last minute of the game when scores were level and birthday boy Michael Gardiner marked in a pack and kicked his fourth of the day to put the Saints up by 6. The siren went not long after and the Saints had emerged as the “best team in the competition”. We can only hope that these teams meet again in the grand final so we can see a rematch.

The biggest game of the home and away season deserves a bigger review than we normally do. As such I have decided to write a quarter by quarter review of what played out. Please find this review below.

Big Moment

With just 1 minute and 30 seconds left on the clock the ball flew into the Saints goal square, a pack went up, the pack came down, and Michael Gardiner had taken a miraculous mark. Harry Taylor didn’t get up, a stretcher was called, and Gardiner lined up for his fourth to win the game. He slotted it and with a minute and five left on the clock if St Kilda got the ball in the middle it was all over.

Key Players for St Kilda

Michael Gardiner – On his 30^th birthday Gardiner played a stunner. He only had 13 possessions but he kicked 4 very important goals, including the match winner with 65 seconds to go in the game, to be the highest goal scorer in the game.

Lenny Hayes – Was fantastic all day and collected 32 disposals with a massive 11 clearances. He laid 8 tackles and was 78% effective when the ball was in his hands.

Sam Gilbert – Was solid in defence and often the reason that Geelong didn’t score or St Kilda got a run out of defence. 27 disposals, 6 tackles and 81% effectiveness for the day is a great effort.

Key Players for Geelong

Jimmy Bartel – Was fantastic all day and seemed to be everywhere. He collected 37 disposals, 6 tackles, 6 clearances, and 6 marks (2 very nice contested).

Joel Selwood – Collected 30 disposals of his own and was in the thick of it all day. 6 clearances and a goal were also instrumental in the Cats revival.

Paul Chapman – 40 possessions collected throughout the day. He was instrumental in getting the Cats back into the game with 5 clearances and a thumping goal late in the final term.

Musings from the match

· Steve Johnson was a late withdrawal, Simon Hogan was his replacement.

· The Saints defence was phenomenal in the first quarter ad this was highlighted by the Cats 12 inside 50s for just 2.2.

· Steven Baker copped a blow to the eye in the first and was bleeding down his face.

· Sam Fisher had 12 possessions in the first, while Jimmy Bartel had 11 for the Cats.

· Fisher was quieter in the second reaching just 16 by half time, while Bartel continued to be busy and made it to 21 at the main break.

· Andrew Mackie was fantastic in the third quarter.

· Geelong struggled to get a set shot inside 50 all day.

· Geelong didn’t lead all day; they leveled scores but never got in front.

Supercoach news

There were some big scores today.

For the Cats: Paul Chapman (139), Jimmy Bartel (149), Gary Ablett (148), Joel Selwood (111), Andrew Mackie (111), and Joel Corey (112) all made triple figures.

For the Saints: Lenny Hayes (174) top scored, Michael Gardiner (131), Nick Reiwoldt (107), Sam Gilbert (127) and Jason Blake (114) all scored triple figures also.

Very Detailed Match Review

First Quarter

Clinton Jones went straight to Gary Ablett, while Cameron Ling got the job on Nick Dal Santo. The first goal came inside the first 3 minutes of the game when Gary Ablett ran into trouble and handballed to Harley, who was then tackled by Milne and the ball fell out to Ablett’s man in Jones who kicked it through the big posts. Less than a minute later big Nick Reiwoldt took a fantastic contested mark running back with the flight of the ball and converted truly and the Saints were off the a flyer.

30 seconds later Kosi kicked from 50 meters out and the ball dropped on the line, replays showed it hit the post, and Gardiner collected the ball and kicked the Saints third and suddenly it was 18-0. A goal to Kosi and the Saints were 25 points without reply and Geelong looked rattled. The Cats first goal came at the 18 minute mark of the first quarter from a controversial 50 meter penalty to Gary Ablett against Clinton Jones, 33-8 was the score. Their second came from an unfortunate high contact call for Travis Varcoe with 45 seconds left on the clock and the Cats started somewhat of a comeback.

Second Quarter

The Saints got the first goal of the second through Reiwoldt again, and the margin was back to 25 points. The Cats wasted some opportunities early, and in the context of the quarter they were costly. The armwrestle had started and neither team was finding it particularly easy to score, but Andrew McQualter found space, Stephen Milne kicked it to him and McQualter kicked truly. Geelong suddenly executed their game perfectly and the ball was moved quickly forward and Darren Milburn marked inside 50 and goaled consequently. The score was 45-22 and the first quarter was starting to look definitive.

A fantastic chase down tackle by Varcoe lead to a turnover and an Ablett mark 15 meters out, he played on and goaled to close the margin but the quickest of replies from St Kilda through Adam Schneider extended it again. Darren Milburn rolled his ankle trying to stop the ball getting to Schneider and came off for treatment. Bartel ran back with the flight of the ball to take a great contested mark in St Kilda’s forward 50, kicked the ball quickly to Ling who then kicked to Joel Corey who, after dodging a tackle, snapped truly to once again close the gap. The ball spent the last minute and a half in St Kilda’s forward 50 and Luke Ball nearly snapped a goal with 6 seconds left on the clock but the ball went across the face and out of bounds on the full. The Saints going into the main break with a 17 point lead.

Third Quarter

The Cats came out firing after the break but only managed two points in the opening minutes, both from Paul Chapman kicks. The Saints punished the Cats when quick ball movement saw Reiwoldt kick into the 50 and Gardiner took a strong mark almost directly in front. A goal followed and the margin was back out to 21. The ball sailed through the big posts for the Cats finally when they executed their hand ball game brilliantly through the centre and Mackie ended up with a mark on the 50. The kick was true and the gap was back to 15. A quick clearance followed from the centre and big Cameron Mooney took the mark and kicked a thumping goal. The margin 9, game on.

The Cats went onto repeat and another quick clearance saw the ball go forward yet again and some slick handballing and a rolling kick from Selwood saw the ball go through again and the margin was just 3. The Saints sensing they needed to settle moved the ball from a throw in inside the Cats 50 right down to Kosi who marked inside 50. A must kick goal was sprayed to the left and before you knew it the ball was back down the other end of the field. A goal for the Cats didn’t follow but Hayes got pinged for holding the ball when he thought it had gone out of bounds and the Cats almost punished their opponents.

Gilbert marked in the goal square not long later and the ball moved to the other end only for Reiwoldt to miss a gettable goal. He didn’t miss twice though and when the ball came back to him he took a good contested mark outside 50, ran round around Harry Taylor and kicked the ball to the open goals square to put 6 points on the board for the Saints. It was an intense quarter that probably should have seen the Cats closer than the 10 point margin, possibly even in front.

Fourth Quarter

The Saints got the first goal of the last term through Kosi extending the margin to 16 points, and it was going to be a hard fight for the Cats to win it. A stray handball went into a Geelong’s teammate’s leg and it went out on the full at St Kilda’s end, Montagna got the free kick and it went straight to a lone Gardiner 10 meters out and he kicked his third. Suddenly the Saints were 23 points up again and Geelong looked out of it.

Shannon Byrnes had the opportunity to claw it back a little bit but sprayed the kick and didn’t even manage a behind. Some great pressure from the Cats just minutes later saw Max Rooke kick a snap goal and get one back and the Cats were not out of it just yet. Schneider had the opportunity to bury the Cats but sprayed the kicked out on the full. A tussle followed in the Saints forward 50 and the Cats cleared it. The ball came back but Bartel intercepted the ball and got a 50 meter penalty after he disposed of the ball. His handpass went to Chapman who booted it from 60 meters and by the time it had reached the goal square Gardiner had slipped over and it rolled through for a goal. A quick clearance went forward to Mooney who marked on 50 and kicked the quick goal the Cats needed. The margin back to just 5 points with eight and a half minutes left.

Milne got a quick reply after he marked a clever kick from Reiwoldt and kicked truly. It was just what the Cats didn’t need and suddenly the margin was back to 11. Another quick clearance, this time in favour of the Saints saw Dal Santo run into goal and shank the kick right. The resulting kickout eventually ended up in the hands of Milburn, from a beautiful Bartel kick, just 10 meters out. Margin back to a goal once he converted. A free kick to Chapman and with advantage being played the Cats moved the ball through the corridor and saw the ball into the hands of Cameron Stokes who steadied and kicked the leveler. 5 minutes left in the game and the scores were level at 85 apiece.

With just 1 minute and 30 seconds left on the clock the ball flew into the Saints goal square, a pack went up, the pack came down, and Gardiner had taken a miraculous mark. Harry Taylor didn’t get up, a stretcher was called, and Gardiner lined up for his fourth to win the game. He slotted it and with a minute and five left on the clock if St Kilda got the ball in the middle it was all over. A Dal Santo clearance went to Milne and he was pinged for holding the ball. The ball went to the other end and Mooney used his body illegally, the ball was kicked to Gardiner from the free kick and he marked. The siren went as he kicked the ball and the Saints were victorious by 6 points.

Tags: Jimmy Bartel, Joel Selwood, Lenny Hayes, Michael Gardiner, Paul Chapman, Sam Gilbert

Sunday, July 5th, 2009 at 3:01 am | Featured, Geelong, Match Reviews, Round 14 2009, St Kilda | Comments RSS