Injury hell for St Kilda as Demons salute at Marvel
Save articles for later
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.
Christian Petracca unscrambled his goalkicking radar as Melbourne cemented themselves back in the top four on a night of injury hell for St Kilda.
The Saints’ 21-point loss on Saturday night was compounded by a “significant” injury to Max King, who faces a lengthy stint on the sidelines in a massive blow to the club’s finals hopes.
Max King’s injury was a tough sight for St Kilda fans.Credit: Getty Images
King dislocated his left shoulder, which he had reconstructed last December after a training mishap, in the opening seconds of the game and was subbed out minutes later.
The Saints were down to just two fit men on the interchange by early in the second quarter after losing seasoned midfielder Seb Ross (hamstring) and versatile big man Zaine Cordy (concussion) on top of being without Josh Battle, Jack Higgins and Brad Hill from last week’s team.
King, Ross and Cordy will not be available for the Saints’ vital away clash next week with Gold Coast.
“It doesn’t look good. I’d be out of my lane if I procrastinated, hypothesised as to what it is, but it looks on the surface significant,” Saints coach Ross Lyon said of King’s injury. “But I’ll hold fire (until) they come to me officially. I live in the war space, the bodies that get dragged away I sort of worry about later.”
The Saints were gallant in defeat, keeping the game alive until deep into the final term, but they lacked the polish and class to overrun the Demons.
King was sorely missed by a Saints team, which won the inside-50 count 52-46 but could not find a way around Steven May, who was a wall in the Demons defence with eight intercept marks. It is difficult to imagine May would have had such an influence if King had stayed fit.
“Someone said he won the TV. He probably should have got two,” Goodwin said of May’s performance.
With Tim Membrey also unavailable, Mitch Owens and Anthony Caminiti performed roles beyond their years, the former toiling manfully for two goals against Jake Lever.
Both earned praise from Lyon, who is selling hope but must know the difficulty now facing his team to make the finals without their two leading goalkickers from last year.
This was not an impressive performance by Melbourne, but so compressed is the ladder any win is vital – and this one puts them a game and percentage clear inside the top four. They will need to improve considerably to beat Brisbane at the MCG on Friday night.
The move to play midfield maestro Petracca forward paid dividends, giving the Demons attack much-needed bite after the loss of leading goalkicker Bailey Fritsch.
Petracca had been the poster boy for the Dees’ inaccuracy with one goal and eight behinds from his past three games, but he showed plenty of mettle in front of the big sticks to kick four straight on Saturday.
Christian Petracca gets animated.Credit: AFL Photos / Getty Images
The Demons would have preferred to wait until deeper into the season to push Petracca forward, but their hand was forced by Fritsch’s injury and their recent woes in front of goal.
They gained far more from Petracca’s contributions around goals than they lost from his ball-winning in the middle.
The pristine surface under the roof at Marvel Stadium no doubt helped Simon Goodwin’s men, who have slogged through greasy conditions in the past four games in booting 29.61.
It remains to be seen whether this is only a temporary thawing of the Dees’ goalscoring freeze, but their forward line looks more dangerous with Petracca in it and Ben Brown as the spearhead.
Jake Melksham enjoys a goal for the Dees.Credit: Getty Images
Brown, who kicked a goal from 11 possessions and four marks, appeared to move freely, pushing up the ground to provide a target and was also a threat inside 50 metres.
“His first two weeks are progressing in the right direction. He gives good leadership, he understands good patterns and he’s hard to play against,” Goodwin said.
“He spent a lot of time on his body in the last six or eight weeks, he’s had that knee concern for a period of time now, and he just looks a little bit stronger, and he’s moving well, and we’re starting to get some impact from him.”
The Dees were pipped for centre clearances and beaten for contested possessions, but their defence, led by May, stood firm against the wasteful Saints.
Max King slumps to the turf.Credit: Getty Images
Hot early, the Saints could not make it count on the scoreboard. King’s absence was not the issue as they still generated enough shots to put a gap on the Demons.
Mattaes Phillipou’s miss from 30 metres straight in front when his kick clipped the fingers of the man on the mark was particularly frustrating for Saints fans.
The Dees were extremely efficient when they went forward, booting five straight in the first term. Prepared to run the ball, they attacked the goalmouth, where Brown had a presence with his strong leading creating space behind him when he was not targeted.
They found goals from forwards on the lead, and at ground level from their willingness to halve marking contests in which they were out of position.
Low percentage Pickett
May was a marking machine – and none was better than his effort in the first quarter when he climbed on Cordy, taking the ball almost parallel to the ground.
While marking is high up on May’s job description, it isn’t for Kysaiah Pickett, who, it seems, will not die wondering when it comes to taking the mark of the year. Hardly a week goes by without Pickett attempting to take the mother of all “speccies”. The excitement machine made several attempts that could be described at best as speculative. Without wanting to be a killjoy, there might be some in the Demons coaches’ box who would prefer him to get to the front of the contest for a higher percentage crumb rather than sitting on the shoulder of an opponent.
Saints’ struggles
Goals were difficult to come by for the Saints – and there was one passage of play that clearly showed why. Having broken through Melbourne’s defence on a rare occasion, the Saints had an open goal beckoning to Anthony Caminiti, but the first-season Saint opted to handball instead, failing to hit the target. Fortunately for the Saints, Owens was taken high and given a free kick dead in front of goal, which he converted.
ST KILDA 3.5 4.7 6.8 8.10 (58)
MELBOURNE 5.0 7.2 9.5 12.7 (79)
GOALS
St Kilda: Owens 2, Gresham 2, Wood, Steele, Billings, Sharman
Melbourne: Petracca 4, Sparrow 2, Melksham 2, Brown, Neal-Bullen, Langdon, Hunter
BEST
St Kilda: Marshall, Steele, Wanganeen-Milera, Sinclair, Crouch, Wilkie.
Melbourne: May, Petracca, Viney, Brayshaw, Salem, Lever.
Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.
Most Viewed in Sport
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article