With both teams coming into this week with everything to prove, this match offered fans a glimpse into whether 2024 was going to be considered an overall win or a loss. While the Saints were expected to take the points, many Eagles fans were hoping to see their side show a new brand of football now that they had put their old coach out to pasture, and freed the team up to play their own way.
Instead, what we saw was a St Kilda side that ruthlessly exploited the low morale in the Eagles camp, putting into question their will to do the hard, unglamorous work of running, chasing and tackling. Let’s not mince words here, the Eagles were found wanting, and for all the criticism that can be laid at the feet of Ross Lyons, he is nothing if not ruthless when he spots a vulnerable opponent.
Ins and Outs
With Phillipou on the sidelines after injuring his hip against Adelaide, the Saints were always going to need to make some changes. With only a handful of rounds left, I’d be surprised if we see him again in 2024. Windhager is an exciting player, so it’d make sense to put him on ice for the rest of the season and turn his eyes on next year. Ben Paton and Arie Schoenmaker were also given a rest, which is expected of both players, with Paton having a bit of trouble having an impact in his four games this year, and Schoenmaker being a young lad in need of workload management.
Coming into the squad were Liam Stocker, Hugo Garcia, and Brad Hill for his 250th game. The added run and X-factor of Hill would always be welcome in the side, but Stocker’s ability to work in the back line structure was expected to help fortify the defence that the Adelaide exploited last week.
West Coast’s horror run with injury continued onwards for the season, with Liam Duggan (concussion), Jake Waterman (knee), and Tyler Brockman (ankle) all in the hands of the medicos. Elliot Yeo was also left in Perth for the match, though no injury-related news has come out as the reason for his benching, though word is that it’s related to the passing of his father with the funeral being held on Monday. If so, sympathies go out to the bloke, and I hope he can see off the old man in the way that he wants.
With McGovern still nursing busted ribs as well as the other outs, this was a game where West Coast’s defence was always going to be vulnerable to the sort of structured ball movement that St Kilda have made a core part of their gameplan.
The Start
The Saints started strong with heavy forward pressure creating scoring opportunities. After last week’s effort, there seemed to be a heavy instruction to focus on tackling and pressure acts. While the whole game was one where the Saints were constantly putting a body on an opponent, the lead-up to their second goal really set the standard.
After a contested entry into their forward 50, the ball was taken by West Coast and as Kelly and Hunt looked for a way to move the ball out of defence, they found Edwards in a little bit of space. He was rapidly shut down as St Kilda forwards Higgins and Wilson mobbed him like he was a teen heartthrob at a shopping centre concert.
A goal on the run to Mitch Owens, and it looked like West Coast were in trouble, but to their credit, they managed to play some great fastbreak football to give Maric a shot at goal that he converted, which was followed shortly afterwards by a similar set up that gave Oscar Allen a shot from very tight in the pocket that he managed to slot through nicely.
Though the scoreboard only showed a nine-point game in the Saint’s favour, they really should have been much further ahead, dominating the time in possession and inside 50s stats, but some poor forward entries that resulted in contests caused them to be far less effective in their scoring shots than they would have liked.
The Turning Point
The second and third quarters reflected the first—St Kilda had most of the ball and spent a lot of time in attack, but the safe possession game also gave West Coast time to flood into their defence and create contests at times when quick movement may have given the St Kilda forward line a better run at the ball. Still, their cautious approach allowed them to look up the ground and find teammates most of the time, which helped them to a 34-point lead at three-quarter time.
Then, with the game seemingly theirs to win, they decided that they should switch it up into a more attacking style of play, and chase some percentage. West Coast on the other hand, stopped what little defensive run they had, and instead seemed content to spend a lot of time walking with their hands on their hips while their opponents streamed goalward with stars in their eyes.
And look, I get it. West Coast are under-manned, playing a lot of inexperienced players, and playing some guys out of position. We can all accept that. But it’s the lack of hunger that fans always find hard to deal with.
If you lose by ten goals, but you see every player gut-running to put on a tackle or sprinting to draw their opponent with them and open up the forward 50, you can wear it. It just wasn’t your night.
But that’s not what happened here. The Saints showed hunger, dash and a selflessness that suggests they understand not just their structure, but their role, expectations and impact within it.
West Coast on the other hand seemed more concerned about moving forward at all costs, and ignoring the backwards run. They showed such a shocking lack of accountability that they may as well have been writing Laura Kane’s press releases.
After the game, Glen Jakovich challenged Oscar Allen about the lack of effort of the Eagles. It’s probably a bit unfair to make the lad the spokesman for the team here, but he’s the one that ended up having to face the question (you can see it here https://x.com/6pr/status/1814576255804568028?s=46).
Jakovich mentioned that the team didn’t seem to be hurting, which Allen acknowledged while still playing down the line to avoid potting any particular teammate or group of players, but when Jakovich mentioned that St Kilda had put on 23 tackles in their forward 50 to West Coast’s zero, you could just about see Allen realise that he’s got nothing to come back at that with.
It’s a damning stat. It cost West Coast so much effort to move the ball into their forward line, only for the forwards to let it out so easily.
Now, some of the credit has to go to the Saints for their hunger to run and chase the player driving the ball into attack. By putting them under pressure, they ensured that they couldn’t find the best option, just the most immediate one.
But not a single forward 50 tackle?
They would be filthy with themselves at the (lack of) effort.
And rightly so.
And that’s why the Saints, who were so full of run and effort, were able to cruise to a 12-goal victory.
The ruck battle
Rowan Marshall took duties for the Saints, and contended with Bailey Williams for most of the game.
Williams is a promising younger ruck, and he’s claimed some decent scalps this year, but except for the first few minutes, this was not one for his highlight reel.
Marshall gave him a bit of a bath, winning more taps, finding his teammates more often, and besides the pure ruck work, killed Williams around the ground.
Marshall had 26 touches five marks, and 447 metres gained to Williams’ 10, 2, and 84. The only meaningful stats Williams won were tackles (4-3) and Intercept Possessions (2-1).
That’s a smashing by any measure.
Watching the match though, it looked like it was through pure ruck craft. Marshall knew when to run and leap, and when to protect his space. The bouncing efforts from the umpires left a lot to be desired, often spearing away in a random direction. Williams seemed better when the ball was thrown up, but the unpredictability suited the more experienced ruck, and he made his younger opponent pay the price.
Can Reid Shoulder the Burden
There has already been many column kilometres (most from the West Australian) spruiking the talents of Harley Reid, so I won’t dwell too much on him here, except to say that he is playing well beyond his years.
From bounce to siren, he constantly looked for ways to take the game on. He just couldn’t quite pull it off all the time.
He was also a bit unlucky. That run from the back line that saw him give and get with Ryan, then burn off two players to deliver the ball into a very open forward line looked amazing, but the ump called him for running too far.
He was probably caught out from the fact that he takes the ball exactly on the half back line of the centre square, then runs to the centre circle without a bounce. Umpires have a lot to think about, so estimating distance of a run can be hard to do on the fly, but when they know that it’s 25 metres from point A to point B, and no bounce in between, it makes it an easy call to make, even if I could only count 15 steps.
But the encouraging part is that he was willing and able to make that play, and senior players like Ryan helped him make his move.
Everyone knows he has the raw talent, but it’s encouraging to see that he also has the hunger that West Coast seem in short supply of in this match.
Tim Membrey
This haul could not have come at a better time for Membrey. Tim is 30 years old, still unsigned for 2025, and has been dropped by Lyon a couple of times this year.
He would be feeling a ton of pressure about his future at the club once Max King can come back into the side and Caminiti continues his development, not to mention Mason Wood being more than capable of spending time in the CHF role if his team needs it (though for my money, his best footy has been on the wing).
So it must be a relief to kick a bag of five and have something he can point to in contract negotiations.
Yes, it was against an under-manned West Coast, but a goal is still a goal, and it moves his yearly tally from 16 to 21, bringing him into the top 50 goalkickers for the season. That’s not a great result from his 14 games, but it’s not that bad either, considering Lyon has been very experimental with his forward lineup.
He managed to achieve career-best stats in disposals (23), and kicks (18) and almost managed to do so with tackles (7) and marks (10) as well. He wasn’t selfish though, managing 10 score involvements, as well as six tackles in the Saints attacking 50.
It was a solid performance, and if he can back it up again before the season ends, he should find himself with another go around.
Darcy Wilson
The stats sheet will say that this was one of Wilson’s lesser games, but I saw a lot to suggest he’s improving every time he gets the ball.
His run is unrelenting. His movement around the ground was exceptional in this match, but also his ability to pick the right option out of traffic.
It looked like he was going into contests with a plan already in his head. Take his run on the wing at the 15-minute mark of the last quarter. He starts at the back pocket bestie Battle, who hits Rowan Marshall up the ground along the boundary. Wilson keeps running for the handoff, but Marshall pokes a kick along the line to Wood, but it falls short. Wood collects the ball while sliding, and Wilson is right there, timing his run to cut across Wood just as he’s getting pressure from an opponent. He collects, holds the ball out to wrong-foot the opposition, and kicks the ball into the centre of the ground to an open Wanganeen-Milera. A long kick to Membrey one-out and Timmy’s kicked his fifth.
The willingness to run so late in the match, the game sense to track his options, the evasive running and the timing of his run were all perfect and shows he’s far more suited to the pace and style of AFL footy than his 18 years would suggest.
He’ll be in the picture for the Rising Star award, though it might be hard to beat Wardlaw or Dempsey.
Up next
The Saints host the mercurial Essendon at Marvel next week, in a game where players from both sides will be desperate to show what they’re made of.
For the Saints, this year has probably underachieved based on early expectations, so they will likely need to add five or six new players through trades and drafting. Anyone wanting to stay a saint will need to step up and show that they’re willing to take on a top eight side that is fighting for their finals berth.
And that’s exactly what Essendon are doing. Their run home includes matches against Fremantle and the Swans, both sitting in the top four at the moment. With their draw, Essendon will need to win their games against the Saints and the Suns to have a solid chance at playing finals without sweating on other results. Make no mistake, Essendon are desperate to break the streak of 7,000+ days since they last won a final, and making the finals is a pretty important part of that.
That’s why I’m tipping the Bombers. The Saints were great against West Coast, but I think the Bombers just want it more, and have a desperation that the Saints will find hard to match for the full four quarters.
Though I do expect them to give Essendon a good scare, and put their courage to the test.
Essendon by 11 points.
West Coast play in the local derby against a rampant Fremantle.
On paper, it should be an easy win for the Dockers, but the derbys hit different. There is always a sort of finals desperation about these matches, and you can expect West Coast to give it everything they’ve got, especially in light of the criticism that will be levelled at them during the week.
But… I just don’t think they have enough fit A-graders on the park at the moment. Too many niggles, too many players looking like they’re already planning their end-of-season trip, and a coach that knows he’s the interim choice.
West Coast also know that they have winnable games ahead when they host the Suns and then head to Tasmania to face the Kangaroos, so I can see some players keeping their powder dry for those matches (though they should get a bollocking from the coaches if they do).
I’ve got Freo by 34 here. With third and seventh covered off by two points and percentage, they need to cover off GWS, Geelong and Port to hold on to their top-four spot, and I think that desperation will see off a spirited Eagles team.
