By Ashley Browne
St Kilda is on the board for 2012 and Scott Watters has his first win as coach after a 92-point win over Gold Coast SUNS at Etihad Stadium on Sunday evening.
Despite the whopping margin, St Kilda's effort could best be regarded as workmanlike, thanks to the Saints' bigger bodies, better skills, smarter decision-making and abundance of scoring options.
The final score was 21.13 (139) to 7.5 (47) and was greeted with relief from Watters.
"It feels good but more so for the players who have worked very hard over the pre-season and they stuck at some things we talked about, so it was a pleasing win because they've trained exceptionally well," Watters said.
The win came despite another wonderful performance from SUNS skipper Gary Ablett, who with 40 touches (20 of them contested) two goals and a mark of the week contender, mounted a strong case to be voted best afield.
It used to be the case that the best player on the ground almost never played for the losing team. Then Ablett joined the SUNS and turned that theory on its head.
Sadly for the SUNS, Ablett was about their only clear winner and his brilliance made little difference to the result. Ablett aside, the SUNS were beaten at the contests 45-31.
As a contest, the game was as good as done by quarter-time, by which time the Saints led by five goals.
Saints skipper Nick Riewoldt got hold of the SUNS early with two first-quarter goals, although the scene was set within 30 seconds when forward flanker Terry Milera, in just his second game, gathered cleanly under pressure and snapped superbly from 40m out. In Milera, formerly of the Port Adelaide Magpies, the Saints might have found themselves a player.
The Saints kicked three goals in the first five minutes, displaying a great brand of attacking football. Throughout the match, whenever they moved the footy quickly with precision and intent, they kept the scoreboard ticking and looked dangerous.
"We were startled, shocked and certainly looked bewildered out there," said SUNS coach Guy McKenna of the first few minutes when the Saints took hold.
"And from there it was catch-up footy. They controlled the game and the tempo."
In Riewoldt (four goals), Justin Koschitzke (two goals) and Rhys Stanley (two goals), St Kilda had tall forwards capable of taking the game apart. Ten other Saints also got among the goals, the sort of even spread most coaches dream of but rarely get to enjoy.
Only when the Saints lapsed back into slow and indirect footy, mainly in the second term, they looked pedestrian and the SUNS, for brief periods, were able to look dangerous running the ball through the middle.
Brendon Goddard (33 possessions), Lenny Hayes (27) and David Armitage (22) found plenty of the ball for the Saints, while David Swallow, Brandon Matera and Dion Prestia presented well for the SUNS. Swallow, with 28 possessions, continues tracking towards stardom, albeit for a team that for the time being, is really battling.
ST KILDA 5.2 8.7 15.10 21.13 (139)
GOLD COAST SUNS 0.2 2.2 6.4 7.5 (47)
GOALS
St Kilda: Riewoldt 4, Stanley 2, Koschitzke 2, Armitage 2, Milne 2, Milera 2, Steven, Gilbert, Geary, Cripps, Goddard, Jones, McEvoy
Gold Coast SUNS: Brown 2, Ablett 2, Matera, Russell, Hickey
BEST
St Kilda: Goddard, Steven, Hayes, Riewoldt, Milera, Armitage, McEvoy
Gold Coast SUNS: Ablett, Swallow, Lynch, Matera, Harbrow
INJURIES
St Kilda: Nil
Gold Coast: Brown (groin)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Kamolins, Wenn, Foot
Official crowd: 21,032 at Etihad Stadium
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
