Now, let’s get this out in the open early. These reviews are meant to be balanced, and I will do my best, but I’m a Cats fan (and a parochial one at that, just ask the Mongrel himself HB) so there’s going to be a some bias in this, but I will do my best to ensure both sides get a fair go. 

Let’s start off with a good old cliché. A week is a long time in football.

This game perfectly personified that. The Cats couldn’t have been riding higher. Crushing a Fremantle team at home in round one that many think will be a big riser and important team in September. The Saints were humbled by the Crows at Adelaide Oval who are looking like the surprise team of the early part of the season.

It’s that time of year again. For St Kilda to get right up to play Geelong at Marvel Stadium. I don’t know if it’s just me, but i always get the sense the Saints fans love this game and look forward to it. For the Cats it is viewed as just another game, but maybe they should change their perspective a little it might help with the intensity.

The Cats lost Bailey Smith in their final training session (maybe he could’ve had that injury since last week and not told anyone. Who knows? I trust Geelong’s injury reporting about as much as I trust the umpires to figure out how far 15 metres is).

Wow, what a start by the Saints. It looked like they brought their own football to Marvel Stadium. Or maybe they just had magnets in their pockets? Either way, Geelong found it hard to get a sniff. The Saints were driving hard into the contest and meeting the Cats’ intensity inside, but then they just burnt them on the way out. Guys like Wilson, Windhager and Byrnes looked like dynamos whenever they got the ball. 

And it was all started by big Marshall in the ruck. He was towering so large that it looked like Sam De Koning needed to fly a jet into him in order to knock him down! (Is that a suspension worthy comparison? We might have to ask Toby McMullin, Cooper Hamilton & GWS about that).

The Saints were in complete control, 40 points up in the second quarter until the Cats snagged a couple late goals to bring the margin under 30, and give themselves hope of a comeback.

The third quarter was back and forth but largely a stalemate before Geelong made their charge late in the last quarter. The Cats threw everything at St Kilda, but the Saints stood tall when it mattered. Yes, there may have been some pushing, blocking, holding and throwing along the way, but the Saints got the job done, and Geelong was left to lament leaving things until it was too late. Credit to St Kilda – they were right up for the fight, and they scrapped their way to what will be a memorable win for the next six days. 

Let’s get into the stuff that mattered…

The Best Stuff:

Rowan Marshall

Just took control of the game from the centre bounce. Sam De Koning had the biggest of reality checks after a dream start as a full-time ruckman in Round One. Marshall had a point to prove after a poor showing (along with most of his teammates) against Adelaide.

He responded in the most emphatic way. He’s not known for his possession numbers, but he was like an extra midfielder at times. A giant brick wall of a midfielder.

Marshall cops some criticism for hacking the footy forward at times, but I thought when he got the ball in space, or with some sort of time, he was quite composed.

It stood out like a sore thumb when Marshall was out of the middle, as the Cats were able to make some headway in that space. It looked like Ross Lyon was going to have to just run Marshall into the ground to see the match out and hold on to the lead, but the big man just kept coming. 

That is the Rowan Marshall we know and love, and he’ll go a long way to brining these young Saints along as they develop.

 

Jack Henry

Teams need to make sure you are making Jack Henry accountable. That doesn’t mean just having someone stand next to him. It means making sure he has a quality player who is agile and demands the football. The way you get him is on the move and with kicks out in front.

Far too many times, the Saints kicked long to Henry in a contest matched up against a player like Keeler, and he just completely outplayed them. He genuinely kept Geelong in the contest in the second half of the game. The loss of Tom Stewart hurt the Cats, but Henry was the main player to step up. He had to have had four or five intercept marks in the last quarter alone. 

 

Bringing the Heat

The Saints were lambasted all week for how poor their intensity and pressure were against the Crows. (Thanks AFL Media). So sure enough, as any Ross Lyon coached team would, they came out and pressured the usually assured Cats into a fumbling mess. It was frustrating to watch at times, but I’m sure Saints fans take equal level of satisfaction out of the same vision. 

There were a few players with special efforts. Jack Higgins (that little sh*t) was solid up front and an absolute pest when Geelong defenders looked to try and gather the football and exit their defensive fifty. Jimmy Webster also had a special effort in the last quarter, with a spoil and a follow up smother in defence. Iconic stuff. 

 

Jack Steele Vs Tom Atkins

This is the sort of match-up I go to the footy to watch. Just two tough inside midfielders who are going to go to war with each other for two hours and then shake hands after. They don’t have to be standing next to each other at the contest, but every team knows who the bull is and with no Dangerfield in the Cats midfield anymore, Atkins is going to be the number one contested player in there until the likes of Knevitt develop into the role. But back to the contest. 

Steele gets the points. His team and midfield group were superior. But when the Cats were scratching and scraping their way back into the contest in the second half it was Atkins leading the way. It’s what makes me think he could be Geelong’s next captain. When Geelong lifts, Atkins is usually the one lifting them up, from underneath the pack. 

Steele is the same. Just crunching the opposition and making his teammates walk taller. Never saying die and his desperation against all odds in the contest. How could you not follow this guy through literal fire and brimstone? 

And when they meet on the field I shift a little in my seat. I get put on edge. Everyone loves high marks and running goals. Mongrels love the contest, and that’s what these two blokes live for.

 

The Good Stuff

Mason Wood

In one of the first games I covered for the Mongrel, I called Woods’ interest in the game and his commitment to a career in the AFL into question. Well, hasn’t he proven me wrong time and time again since his move to St. Kilda. I feel like it’s a direct FU every time he performs well against the Cats, which is becoming a little too common these days.

 

Jack Macrae 

This guy apparently wasn’t good enough to get regular midfield minutes at the Western Bulldogs? Fairly sure Footscray could’ve used someone just like him this week. Hell, any team could’ve done with this version of Jack Macrae in their side. 

Went close to a Quadruple Double, with 17 kicks, 18 handballs, 10 tackles, and eight marks. Vintage Jack Macrae.

 

Ted Clohesy

The kids got something. Subbed in after Tom Stewart was injured, Clohesy came in and showed some of his teammates what a bit of composure looks like under pressure. Was strong over the ball and took a couple moments that presented. Probably earned himself another go for the Cats, but in the starting team.

 

Marcus Windhager

Windhager matched up on Max Holmes. This was a juicy match-up. The numbers on paper look good and Windhager took the points. I didn’t think it really was a hard tag but just an accountable role. He matched up on him at stoppage and when the Cats had the ball, but he got forward and got busy in the first half. 

Holmes did find more of the football in the second half, but I thought that any sense of a tag had been largely removed and Windhager possibly had more freedom to match up on others and hunt the ball himself. 

It was another good contest in the midfield of this game, but when it was on, and the Saints were hot, Windhager made a big impact and kept Holmes largely out of it. 

 

The Not So Good Stuff

Injuries

Dang it. Every year it’s something. Injury or Suspension. Something takes Tom Stewart out of this Cats team. Looks like this year, it’s injury. 

The Saints had their own issues as well. Liam Stocker copped an unlucky hit when he tackled so furiously on a rundown chase that his head flipped back and hit the turf. He might not be a household name, but he was important in this game and his absence in the second half would’ve been part of the reason the Cats were able to get back into it.

 

Jack Bowes

Definitely not his best night. Bowes found it hard to find the football while St Kilda was raffling it for fun. There was one particular moment where Bowes gathered the ball in defence and then slipped over. Luckily for him the chasing St Kilda player had also slipped over and had tried to stop him. It looked like it was close to a trip, but if we’re being honest, Bowes just fell over, and the umpire spared him a major embarrassment and an easy Saints goal. It was tale of his night.

 

What is a rushed behind?

Wanganeen-Milera kicked that ball through the Geelong goals in the last quarter pretty deliberately. He first tapped the ball off the ground about 12 metres out from goal, instead of picking it up. Then pretty deliberately threw his foot at the ball and kicked it through for Geelong. Maybe the score being incorrectly paid as a goal anyway spared him? But when some players are getting the ball and slipping over, then being pinged for deliberate for rushing it while being tackled, it’s pretty egregious for the umpires to be letting this one stand as nothing to see here.

 

The Other Stuff

Great Moments

Kurt Russell said it. They’re moments born from great opportunity. Liam O’Connell was not sighted much for the entire match, but he had himself a great moment in the last quarter that will endear him to Saints fans. O’Connell camped himself under the high ball and took it between two charging Geelong players. On a weekend where vastly more experienced players have blinked under the high ball, O’Connell showed us what he’s made of. We just need to see more of it.

 

Jeremy Cameron

Just a weird game from Cameron. Spent the entire second half on the wing. But as noted multiple times already, the Saints owned the football, so it’s not like he was seeing a lot of it up there either. Will be interesting to see this one dissected during the week. Usually, Cameron drifts up and goes where he wants, but to be starting up there is a choice. He did have some good moments and impact the game slightly, but not to a great deal. As a Cats fan I would’ve preferred him closer to goals and causing chaos.

 

First Goals

Some first goal kickers for both teams tonight. For the Saints it was Collard and Keeler. For the Cats it was Clohesy. Always good to see the team get around the youngsters making their way. 

 

Some Good Signs

Cats fans would be happy with Knevitt and Clark in this game. Both are still young, but Clark was arguably Geelong’s best player in the first half, and Knevitt was riding shotgun with Atkins in the middle and fighting against the avalanche of Saints football.

 

The Wrap

St Kilda

How good is football?

Saints fans can return to the fold of loving football once again, just a week after most everyone else (sorry Blues fans). A surprise win over the Cats and you’re suddenly looking at possibly being 2-1 after playing Richmond next week, before a massive month of football. A fortnight in Adelaide with matches against Port Adelaide & GWS. This is followed by two games back under the lid at Marvel against the Western Bulldogs and Brisbane.  

Who knows, maybe pinch a couple of those, and there could start to be some belief around Moorabbin for 2025. 

 

Geelong Cats

Well, that was f*$king dreadful. A loss to a team we know we’re better than, an injury to one of our most important players, and the continuation of just about the only hoodoo currently going in the AFL. 

We’re at 1-1 and have a big month ahead, to put it mildly. Brisbane at the GABBA, The Demons on Friday night at KP. Then the Cats kick off Gather Round against the Crows on Thursday night, which is followed by what is looking like a massive Easter Monday clash. 

The next four games are exactly why you need to bank the wins against the teams you should.