When it takes me

Brisbane Lions 1.5, 4.8, 7.8, 8.15 (63)
St Kilda 1.3, 6.6, 9.9, 14.11 (95)
Crowd: 9,075 at Metricon Stadium, Saturday, July 10th at 7.25pm

Footy moves fast. Within games, weeks, seasons, rebuilds. I said it the other week on this (not that I’m the first, nor the only one to say it.) As we ticked past the halfway point of the second quarter in Cairns, a 5.6 to 0.0 lead over the Crows following a horribly frustrating but encouraging loss to Sydney suggested our mojo was back -never mind the 111-point loss that broke up the similarly frustrating/encouraging Geelong defeat, and a nondescript win over North (which quietly had its own late fade).

Just a couple of hours later on that Saturday night, St Kilda was again decidedly a club looking silly and lost, all over again. We had a whole two weeks to think about it and hate it all, while the president’s letter to members that was intended to calm instead raised anxieties, was slammed as revisionism. That mid-season break was spent pre-empting, and if not, lamenting another failed rebuild.

Seven excellent quarters at the MCG in cold and wet conditions suggested that perhaps we’d established some sort of definable brand of dour footy. For six quarters, 30 minutes and 31 seconds, we’d conceded 4.17 before a dire last term tainted the lot.

***

Only 24 hours before Saturday night, we were given a showcase of the difference between St Kilda’s lack of killer instinct and teams that have earned the praise of the wider footy world. For the second time in 2021, Adelaide went goalless until the second half of the second quarter – they beat the Saints the first time, while on Friday night Essendon went on with it to win by 63 (the 11.18 prevented it from being any more). I know we kept the Tigers to 2.10, but that was the exception in a season of fading finishes, wayward what-ifs, and outright smashings.

Some of these wrongs accumulated over the season were righted, if only for one night. A thundering passage proved the breaking point. Ben Long leapt into the air from a high Wilkie kick and brought that thunder (and the footy) down with him (I love watching on the replay the St Kilda bay going off after the mark). A blatant hold in two acts on Max King’s jumper was not seen (in the same way Daniel Rich’s throw in front of our goal in the second quarter was simply not seen), but Butler was at the fall and spun his way to Billings, who casually roamed the space and found D-Mac, who couldn’t have been a better person to finish off a play that was equal parts thrilling, representative, and novelty. Get the royal fuck out of here.

Max King tore the game apart with three goals in the second quarter. Two of them came from towering marks as he had to deal with All Australian Harris Andrews, and the conversions dismissed any nerves or doubts that might have quickly grown in his head after an early shot from an angle strayed wide. Bringing him higher up the ground kept him active and in the game, and he held his marks – 10 of them – in another big stride.

Play as well as you want, you (we) still need to kick straight. A start of 1.5 reflected the ongoing yips as well as a number of shots having to be taken from out wide. From that point we kicked 13.6, but until the last quarter storm we were again anticipating a side going into preservation mode. Kent and Billings missed set shots on the eve of three-quarter time; Brisbane had made a fast start to the second half, and while their forward set-up had suffered after Hipwood went down and we’d held off their flourish, those shots felt like the last best chances we’d get.

All players taking responsibility was a big theme of the night. D-Mac continued his rise, running hard along the wings and providing a presence at more extremes of the ground. He has added goals to his game, and played provider with a neat hit-up to Membrey in the third. Connolly kicked his late third-quarter goal after running off half-back earlier in the chain. Long shook off his 1.7 record to deliver a massive blow in the final term before touching the Gold Coast sky.

Despite three misses last week, Long has found himself again as a forward after the break. It’s probably where he should have been playing (opening the spot for Nick Hind to play where he should have been played, too, but I digress), although it might have something to say for learning about the game in the back half. Either way, he appears much more likely to make a physical impact on a contest, it seems – his accidental hit on Payne in the last quarter that created Steele’s goal wouldn’t have happened with anyone else – and he’s had eight shots at goal since the bye.

Meanwhile, the Brisbane forward line became Tom Highmore Country. It’s widely known he was picked up as a mature-age recruit from South Adelaide; just two years ago he was playing for the Canberra Demons. Now, he’s joined Callum Wilkie as a no-fuss inclusion into a backline that all of a sudden looks a lot more difficult to navigate. By game’s end he’d moved into “Guess who?” Territory on-sight from the commentators (thankfully Jason Bennett is on greater duty), as well as Post-Match Interview Guy Territory. Combined with Wilkie and Howard, the aerial presence allows for more considered rebounds. Hill can time his runs, Sinclair is there to mop up, and if there’s a mark taken there’s also the chance to take a more measured approach. He’s calm with the ball too. Leave the hot stuff to Dougal.

While Long and D-Mac and Hill and Sinclair have changed and added to their games, Dunstan continued his higher-profile resurgence while adding “annoying campaigner” to his repertoire. He got some back in the last quarter too, and it’s fun to see a Saints player getting their hands really dirty. Some more big numbers, and by the time we woke up on Sunday morning he was SEN news trade talk fodder.

And yes, the inclusion of Zak Jones immediately made the midfield look more complete, bringing a helter-skelter approach to moving through traffic and away from stoppages to go with the grunt of Crouch and Dunstan, while Steele added another dynamic performance to his resume. It wasn’t entirely a four-quarter performance, but that’s what made it more notable. The game needed a St Kilda midfielder to lift after a quieter third term, not just for the immediacy of winning stoppages but also to bring his teammates with him when surely there would be doubts again about finishing off a game. Fifteen touches, a set shot goal to extend the lead early in the last and then a running snap across the body to seal it. While we watch Bontempelli and Petracca and Parish become the in-form mids in the competition, for the moment we have Steele and a midfield that looked that little bit more complete.

***

Hipwood’s injury could be calamitous for Brisbane’s premiership hopes. They’d won 10 out of 11 coming into this, and despite Zorko’s efforts their forward line couldn’t adapt in-game. There’s no positivity in that happening, even if when saying “sometimes it’s just your night” (evidently it was). And yet, at the same time, St Kilda got the fundamentals down. Pressure up, running in support off half-back when the ball was in play and in our hands, working hard to provide options laterally when we had control. Ross, Byrnes and D-Mac all hit leading targets with no fuss. Neat and tidy.

As per last year, Membrey was rewarded by his teammates (mostly D-Mac’s hit-up) and the result more broadly for another Herculean performance interstate. A pair of goals in the third (including one from tight in the pocket where several others had failed) helped weather the Brisbane fightback, and he took 14 marks. They were at both ends as he quietly builds his leadership presence.

That can all add up and give way. The rush of an interstate team that shouldn’t be winning, yet has forced its way in front has all the running, is irresistible. There is no other context in which the ball is turned over by Ross and Marshall, Long takes that mark, and the ball ends up a King fly, the manic Butler and casual Billings combination, and D-Mac snapping the goal. Also, did the umpire give Dougal a pass for the deliberate out of bounds because it was just so obviously a brain fade?

***

With the return of a proper season (for as long as that will last), the year is again framed by the footy season. I woke up on Sunday morning and walked up to get a coffee from John Gorilla, past the trees and dogs of Gilpin Park. The sun was higher, the lighting just that little bit warmer. It tells me we’re already heading into the final part of the season, and – whoever may be playing – that finals are on their way. Footy moves fast.