If you asked me where the Suns won this game, and where the Saints lost it, I reckon I could give you the answers, and they’d both be at completely different points of the game.
The Suns bounded out of the gates and kicked nine goals in the first half, dominating the centre bounce, and leaning on their ball winners, stingy defence, and soon-to-be All-Australian forward, Ben Long.
That’s where they won it. At the main break, they held a handy 29-point lead, and were expected to go on with it.
But a funny thing happened in the third quarter. The Saints decided to play footy.
And that’s where they lost it.
Make no mistake, the Saints were in this game up to their eyeballs, but with 1.6 the result of a quarter that saw them own the footy, and territory, they basically shot themselves in the foot.
For all their work, they were able to reduce the margin to just 19 points.
But the Saints had expended too much energy to get back into the game, and didn’t get anywhere near enough scoreboard impact. They were ripe for the picking, and the Suns took advantage.
After Cooper Sharman opened the scoring in the last to give the Saints some hope, Ben King and Joel Jeffrey combined for the next three, and the game was all but over.
It was a scrappy affair, but with a win on the road, particularly at Marvel Stadium, the Suns continued to position themselves for a September run. Sadly, for Saints fans, this just about shuts the gate on their 2025 hopes.
Let’s jump into The Mongrel’s Talking Points from this one.
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