Found a way to get my thrill

Round 3, 2022
St Kilda 6.2, 8.4, 11.8, 18.9 (117)
Richmond 6.4, 10.5, 12.6, 13.6 (84)
Crowd: 31,933 at Docklands, Sunday, April 3rd at 3.20pm

St Kilda Messianism has just entered its newest phase.

I had written in my pre-match notes “Max and Higgins aren’t going to bail us out every week.” Well, well, well. (I’d also written, “Higgins this year is just as likely to kick four behinds as four goals”, so the reverse mozz didn’t quite fully work).

We’d all raved about Max and Snags last week, with Josh Battle thrown in for good measure, and Josh got the AFL.com.au feature treatment. Speaking of mozzes (reverse and otherwise), I know we need CONTENT ALL THE TIME and there’s a lot of features flying around these days, but I did immediately recall the Robert Walls’ glowing feature article in The Age about Brent Guerra following his seven goals in Round 9, 2004 and which effectively spelled the end of his better form for the Saints.

Maddie’s Match has been the only real “marquee” game we’ve had some ownership of. We did occupy the season opener in all of 2005, ‘06, and ‘07, and we all prefer to forget Good Friday 2018. (New Zealand was literally a whole different country altogether). We’ve had only the very occasional prime time game in recent years. As Rory noted, Maddie’s match 2017 remains probably the only real prime timer with something on the line that this generation of Saints has won (outside of Round 18, 2020 against the Giants and then the Elimination Final, and even then you could argue that was all off-Broadway). Sure, this was “only” a Sunday 3.20 game on Channel 7 (a look over the highlights reveals Matt Hill calling; the Saints would storm home from the turn to finish two lengths in front) but we needed to make up for our Live and Free Friday night debacle against the Pies in the season opener.

COVID unfortunately appears to have put an end to the purple jumpers. We went from what should have been the most spectacular version in 2020 – a purple hot cross bun – to now just purple socks (proudly pulled up by Paddy Ryder, who plays for St Kilda now. I don’t know if you know this.). The flourishes on the new scoreboards and lighting system at the Concrete Dome balanced out the lack of purple on the jumper, but it’s a shame that touch has gone.

***

Daylight Savings finished on Saturday night, meaning clocks turned back from 3am to 2am. Please also adjust your body clocks further for the day ending mid-afternoon when you walk into the Concrete Dome because the roof’s shut for no particular reason and we’re sitting in artificial lighting.

After Round 1 we were lamenting that nothing had been learned over the off-season. We were set for another year of the gap between our best and worst being as wide as the gap between the fence and the boundary at Waverley. Last week during the second quarter I wondered whether or not we were the worst-placed team in the competition; at 3.21pm on Sunday I uttered the words “Clarkson 2023” to Dad and Matt sitting next to me in Row S. Five handballs out of the middle and Tigers had a trademark goal on the board in 19 seconds, and then a handball and a long kick from Bolton out of the middle made it two goals from 34 seconds of play (and that’s including the time it took for the goal umpire to signal).

Never mind the discussion of whether we’d gone into this one too tall, or how much a freshly-injured Dan Hannebery had cost us over the past few years. We’d barely sat down and enjoyed the team running out to The Fable Singers when for the third time in three weeks our season was facing its mortality. It was really fortunate that we had reliable pressure forward and set shot goal kicker *checks notes* Callum Wilkie ready to pounce on a wayward kick across the face to steady things early. The first quarter then turned into a bruise-free football shoot-out. Six goals each and a quarter-time scoreline barely heard of since the 2000s. The Richmond/St Kilda Trade Union of small forwards had got to work: Butler had a couple, Snags had one after a dashing run through the middle and well-weighted kick from Sinclair, and Matty Parker had a couple (just like pre-COVID times).

The thing is, regardless of where you think Richmond will finish this year, they just looked better, right from the time Liam Baker swept onto Gresham’s handball at the game’s opening bounce. The way they move the ball is almost hypnotic. Spent force or not, their system is more finely-tuned. Their players are more responsive with and without the ball. The yellow Sherrin moves almost on its own. Richmond players merely guide it forward and to dangerous positions using their hands and boots and bodies. Once they strung together a couple of possessions in a row and the ball got moving there was little we could do about it. The opening was ominous enough. They kept it going with the Baker, Ross, Ralphsmith, Ross handball combination along the wing, ending with a Shai Bolton flick up to Lynch for a goal. They pounced on anything slightly rogue, from the opening bounce to the Mason Wood spoil near full-back that was instantly turned into a goal by Parker.

It’s not just chaos footy all the time, either. In the second quarter, Nankervis picked up a spilled ball on the boundary and handballed to Baker, who in a second sized up a forward 50 entry and then split traffic going for a short central option in Edwards instead. Edwards didn’t need to wait before any movement ahead emerged and found Bolton on the lead. Absolutely no fuss.

It was those kinds of moments that made it feel like a matter of time before Richmond broke the game apart. Paddy Ryder, in a St Kilda jumper, was giving our mids the best service they’d had since, well, he last played. But the Tigers were more dangerous across the ground. Here I’m using Nick Riewoldt’s “Eyeball” test, i.e. “They were just better.” It’s not going to hold up in court, but it was holding up from Row S. The lead was gradually inching beyond two goals. Soldo at back of the square, short to Dow, out wide to Graham, on the lead to Castagna. Long set shot kick for a goal. Easy.

We were barely hanging on. An excellent moment from Rowan Marshall kept us in it – a strong mark on the lead on the wing and a perfect low kick to Membrey and King. They raffled it with Membrey the winner; he popped up at a few very crucial times with goals and defensive efforts when we were up against it.

Gresham was providing his much-heralded Point of Difference in the midfield on his way to what was probably a career-best game (he’s liked playing Richmond over the journey) and Ratten made the in-game call early in the third – Gresham was doing enough to allow Sinclair (perhaps our best in the early part of this year) to spend more time off half-back, while Brad Hill would spend more time in the front half. Hill only had six possessions at half-time including a kick-out that went straight to McIntosh, and the return entry fell to Parker for his third. Hill was absolutely hating footy when he gave up a soft ball in the goal square to Nankervis for a soccer goal, and then at the other end a couple of minutes later his scrubbed left-foot kick grazed the inside of the goal post.

***

Cam noted in the comments last week that we’d only played two good quarters in the first two games and still sat at 1-1. There was good and bad in that; we’d gotten away with a win, all things considered, but the fickle 2021 Saints were still here. Round 3 is probably when you can start identifying trends, and one difference emerged on Sunday: this 2022 version is made of sterner stuff. A 34-point deficit against Collingwood was reeled back, and the slow start in Perth reeled in, where in previous years both games would have turned ugly. Richmond threatened to blow us off the park. Halfway through the third quarter it would have made a lot more sense for Richmond to be the team to kick 10 in a row.

Avid watchers who have followed On the Couch to the 6.30pm time slot will have seen this week’s show highlight Membrey’s gut running defensive effort to hold up Broad as Richmond were coming out of defence at this point in the match. It gave Sinclair enough time to press over and spoil Parker and then knock the ball on, and to give Ross the opportunity to win a contested ball running head-on into Broad. He took the footy and gave off a quick handball to Membrey, who started running the other way with the ball; a give off to Gresham, a catapault throw missed by the umpire to Hill, to Brad Crouch for an excellent composed goal. A dangerous Richmond attack with a 25-point margin had been halted. The reaction from the crowd was more of relief than that we were still in the game than St Kilda having just willed themselves to the beginning of a 10-goal streak. 

Matt has mentioned a few times that Brad Crouch hasn’t yet ingratiated himself to St Kilda fans. A lot of that has to do with the type of game he plays – he accumulates possessions consistently and without too much flashy stuff. On the one-year anniversary of his debut, he played a game that supporters couldn’t ignore – 11 clearances and nine tackles, including a pressure effort early in the third when the game really was on the line, and the goal to boot. His big body created chaos against a Richmond midfield missing its best. Jack Steele finally had a well-rounded support crew humming.

***

There’s something about our third quarters in 2022. In Round 1, we went on a 5.6 to 0.0 run (including an early last quarter goal), and then last week’s third quarter yielded a run of 5.3 to 0.2. This week, it sparked a 10.4 to 0.0 run (spoiled by a pokey Dougal out on the full in the last 15 seconds). It was yet another fascinating momentum shift this year in broader AFL landscape. Something was going around this week alone: Adelaide’s heady finish on Friday, Geelong kicking the last eight in overwhelming Collingwood – who themselves had kicked nine out of 10 – while Carlton kicked eight out of the first 10 and the Hawks kicked seven of the last eight.

Why does it take a game turning to custard before the players pull their finger out? Sunday probably wasn’t a Marvel thing. We all thought Dimma’s comments about the Tigers and Marvel last year were a little bit funny because we knew they weren’t on their way to yet another premiership, and we’d only won four of our last 10 at the Concrete Disney Store ourselves. Three years after Simon Lethlean declared we were the fittest team in the comp and we’ll “run teams off their legs”, perhaps we really have something to show for the pre-season under new head of performance and conditioning Nick Walsh. Richmond has now faded from two games in three weeks.

But what did we actually do well? It’s hard to reconcile the gap between Richmond’s best and our best. When Richmond is switched on I look at them and think, “Ah, yes, that’s what a good football team looks like. I remember now.” We’re not quite as structured around the ball – it seems as though our guys are left to their own devices to win contests more than other teams. But we outworked and outran them. We outlasted them. The passage that led to Crouch’s goal was an excellent example, and you could follow that right through to the last of the 10-goal streak. A fast tackle from Brad Hill on McIntosh at the throw-in, Steele out to NWM with a quick kick forward; Butler was out of position but created the contest against Jayden Short, and as the ball was knocked out both Hill and NWM had already run ahead to meet the contest. NWM gathered the ball and gave it off to Butler, who had sprung back up, and gave off to Membrey who found Hayes, who had sprinted forward.

The midfield was a different beast. This game did nothing to dispel the notion that a 34-year-old ruckman carrying an Achilles problem might be our most important player (Spoiler alert: It’s Paddy Ryder, who plays for St Kilda). But Gresham has added speed and agility in the middle (his cat-like pounce and turn on the ground and then follow-up knock at the start of the final quarter helped set up King’s first), and Sinclair has been there with him helping to reshape this midfield. Crouch has found some excellent form, Ross had some great moments around the footy in one of his better games for a long time, and Steele is gradually returning to his best (and he’s still among our best anyway).

Until we’d had the game won the first two goals were in the back of my mind. What if we’d lost the game in the first 34 seconds? We’d spent our petrol tickets against Collingwood getting back to parity. This ended up being a mash-up of the first two games. It looked like we were heading for a carbon copy of the Pies game with an early goal in the last quarter (courtesy of Max King marking the centre clearance with his legs) to put us in front, following a third-quarter rush that kept the game alive for another half-hour at least. (Membrey had run in on an angle to put us in front but missed late in the third with a weak banana kick that some of Higgins’ Round 1 misses). The first echo of Fremantle came a few minutes later when Max rose in the pocket among four players to bring down the Ben Long kick, landed lightly and scooted off and snapped his second goal. He was on his way.

***

For the second week in a row, Max had spent much of the game in virtual anonymity. Last week it was two disposals at half-time, before three goals in a few minutes in the third and what proved to be the sealer late. This week, it was six touches and a behind to three-quarter time, before four goals from six shots.

Grimes going down certainly helped. But the forward line was functioning differently with the way the team was playing higher up the ground. His second goal came from one of the more thrilling passages of recent Saints Footy; Sinclair working into space out wide out of defence, a neat quick kick to Hill and then to Long, both of whom had worked ahead of their opponents. Long went long, and Max rose.

Max had more space to work in with this type of movement and once he got separation on Tarrant and Gibcus and a half-decent delivery there was nothing anyone could do. Long, Membrey, Paton, Gresham and Steele all obliged through the quarter. Like I said last week, he doesn’t need to make barnstorming leads and mark the ball at full pace on his chest, Plugger-style. He simply finds space and calmly receives the ball from the air.

Footy is heavily reliant on system. It means a lot of goals are from low-risk situations, usually closer to goal. The rush that comes with mercurial solo efforts in all parts of the ground are rare now. There is a joy to seeing Max take a mark on the 50 metre-line, on a tough angle, and for him to turn his back on the play and take the responsibility to kick the goal. He did it again a couple of minutes later on a sharper angle when he won a holding free-kick, and shut the door. After 1.3 in the first game at this ground he could so easily have dropped his head, let alone the first half last week, and the first three quarters on Sunday. Instead he was backing himself in to be the matchwinner when the game was on the line.

He’s only 41 games in and this is the St Kilda Football Club after all, so I’m not going to call anything yet. But it is such a thrill (that word again) to watch someone from the side you barrack for play in this way. We were spoilt for choice in the 1990s and 2000s for these types of players; not so much in the 2010s. Few have promised great things ahead. And it is that much more special knowing he playing for the club he grew up loving.

While we’re feeling good, special mentions have to go to Mason Wood, who played one of his best games (to go with Gresham and Crouch). His goal from a step outside 50 came when we needed a moment of brilliance and helped get the run on, and he moved very well through traffic to have a hand in multiple goals. Ben Long too, who was thrust into the game kicked two goals from uncompromising attack on the opposition. Also, NWM for some of the cleanest possessions in a Saints jumper in years. His 40-metre bullet pass inboard to Rowan Marshall out of defence in the last few minutes was itself a small victory lap for the day. D-Mac has found himself.

The last quarter saw 7.1 from 14 inside 50s. Max could have made it more from his six shots. It took inside 50s efficiency for the game to 55% compared the Tigers’ 35%. Watching on the replay the light show makes it look like there’s a constant power failure at the ground after every St Kilda goal. (Sure, we kicked a lot of goals but that’s not enough to short an entire stadium’s lighting system.)

Anyway, Max fucking King.

***

The last time St Kilda won a match with the final scoreline of 117-84 was Round 22 of 1997 against Port Adelaide. It was the last game of the home and away season and secured top spot on the ladder on the way to the Grand Final loss. Last week was a 65-55 scoreline; the only time we’d won with that was in 1913, another Grand Final year (there have been only seven). So the omens tell us we’re on track to lose another. Otherwise, the last time we went 2-1 was 2019, and we played Hawthorn in Round 4 then too, and that season saw our coach get sacked.

***

St Kilda turned 149 years old this week. Congratulations / Happy Birthday to all who celebrate. Or sorry that happened. There’s a whole lot more to commiserate over the journey. But footy is a week-to-week proposition. When the darkness descends early again and the wind starts to bite a little, you revel in 10 goals in a row and Max King kicking four in the last quarter, and the Saints going 2-1.