It was a close game for most of the night, but a fourth-quarter surge saw the Crows take out the win in front of their home crowd. Wet conditions meant that this one was going to be a grind, but it made for a hard-fought and entertaining contest.
The Crows were the faster starters and kept the ball in their half for the first several minutes, kicking the first goal, before the Saints started pushing back. They won the contested ball and applied the pressure to drag the game onto their terms. Even a big fend by Taylor Walker couldn’t spark the Crows, as the Saints continued to own the ball in their forward half and kicked the next three goals. Just when it started looking like the Saints were on a roll, Lachlan Murphy popped up for a crumbing goal to break the Saints’ momentum come the end of the first term.
The Crows again started better and kicked the first goal of the second quarter, but once more St Kilda were able to grind the game back onto their terms. They were able to keep the ball away from the home team, and work their way into scoring chances but couldn’t make the most of them, adding just one goal to the scoreboard for all their dominance. By digging deep, the Crows swung momentum back their way through the ground ball gets and using the corridor more as the rain started falling harder. A Ben Keays soccer goal saw the Crows take the lead and go into half-time with a four-point advantage and all the momentum.
However, the ever-worsening conditions meant the ball was spending a lot of time bouncing between the arcs with neither side able to get much clean possession. The Crows had a few opportunities, but neither side was able to get a goal on the board until eventually the drought was broken by Mattaes Phillipou with a 50-metre kick from the boundary that bounced over the line. Not to be outdone, Lachlan Sholl ran from full-back to manage a great pick-up in the goal square and kicked the Crows a goal to keep a bit of breathing room going into the final break.
The rain finally started letting up in the fourth term, but the Crows sure didn’t. They continued throwing themselves at the ball to wear down the Saints as the constant forward 50 entries became too much to stop. The Saints could only manage a single point for the term, while the Crows piled on four goals to skip away with the gritty win by 32 points.
Wet weather footy deserves more love
It’s not a high-skill spectacle, but it’s still a good watch. In the wet, the thing that matters most is how bad you want the ball and that’s exactly what we saw. With game plans out the window, both teams threw themselves at the ball ferociously and you could see how much this game means to the players. They were also more willing to take chances, including some interesting soccer play (no doubt the players have been watching the Euros).
The pressure from both sides was great for the majority of the night with both sides breaking their season-highs in tackles for a quarter, the Saints with 28 in the first and the Crows with 30 in the third. In the end the Crows were simply better at getting the ground ball and worked harder at clearance.
It wouldn’t be great for every game to be in the wet, but the odd one here and there is a nice change.
Hard Workers
In a night where everyone had to work hard, there weren’t many who worked as hard as Ben Keays. He has become one of the Crows’ most reliable players and hit an interesting milestone this week, playing 100 consecutive games for the Crows and breaking the previous record held by Scott Thompson.
He collected the most ground ball gets for the night and set up in dangerous positions from stoppage to create plenty of goal opportunities, particularly in the second quarter, to help the Crows gain control over the game. It was only his goal accuracy letting him down, kicking 1.3. He finished the night with 24 disposals, 16 of those contested, along with eight tackles, six score involvements, and five clearances.
Lachlan Murphy was also important for the Crows early, and even though he didn’t rack up many stats he still worked hard to gain every possession with seven of his ten coming from contest. Like Keays, he put himself in dangerous positions to set up teammates and applied plenty of pressure with 8 tackles.
Then it was also the usual suspects with Rory Laird collecting the most disposals for the match with 31, Sam Berry applying plenty of pressure with eight tackles, and Jordan Dawson cleaning up down back.
For the Saints, Rowan Marshall did everything he could to give his teammates a boost. He was just beaten by Reilly O’Brien in hitouts (48 to 51) but had much more impact around the ground with 20 disposals, nine tackles, and five clearances. Mattaes Phillipou backed up his break-out game last week with another strong performance with 15 contested possessions, four score involvements and five clearances to go with his great goal in the third term.
Thilthorpe’s return
It was a risky call to bring in a tall as the sub in wet conditions, but it paid off. It’s been a long wait for Riley Thilthorpe to return after a pre-season injury, but it was worth it. The moment he stepped on the ground, he started having an impact, and his two final term goals sealed the game for the Crows.
And didn’t the big man love it.
He was all smiles all night, and didn’t seem to want to leave the ground as he lapped up the cheers from the Crows supporters. He’s been one of the heir apparents for Walker’s position as key forward, and tonight he showed he’s been putting in the work, having put on a decent amount of size during his time in rehab. Finals may be too far for the Crows now this year but could this man be the one who helps the them take that much anticipated step forward?
Finding new ways to make us all confused
With another game comes more umpiring decisions that make us all scratch our heads. It’s been an unwritten rule that in the wet the umpires become a bit more lenient, but in this one they went the opposite way on the deliberate out-of-bounds rule.
The first came midway through the second quarter when Brodie Smith kicked the ball long down the line to keep it alive rather than walking it out of play, but apparently the umpires didn’t see it that way and called insufficient intent. Unfortunately, it was a sign of what was to come.
In the third term when the rain was at its heaviest there were several calls that would have been harsh even in the dry before the worst of the night was paid when the wet ball skidded past a few players to go out. Come the fourth quarter, all the coaches could do was laugh.
As frustrating as it was though at least they were consistent, but I don’t think too many were happy with that interpretation of the rules.
But hey the umpiring is as good as it’s ever been right, Dillon?
Grumpy Ross
Ross’ game style might be boring, but the man himself is definitely not. His frustration got the better of him in the second quarter when he smashed the phone after a lapse in concentration lead to a Crows goal. With a sheepish grin tried to fix it and from then on he was a bit more gentle with it.
That was, of course, until the fourth quarter when he smashed the phone again, this time caring a lot less when it broke.
Maybe this will force an update for the old hardware.
The Crows will open Round 19 when they face Essendon at Marvel Stadium on Friday night. They have been on the up lately and will be catching Essendon after a disappointing loss to Melbourne, so this might be closer than may have been expected a few weeks ago. Still, the Dons should bounce back and get another win closer to a top 4 spot.
St Kilda will also be playing at Marvel when they travel back home to play the Eagles on Saturday afternoon. It’s hard to know what the Eagles will be like in this new Schofield era but it’s hard to see them being able to get wins on the road and the Saints should get the win in this one.
