Ross Lyon’s new-look St Kilda have celebrated the membership’s one hundred and fiftieth anniversary in fashion and maintained their unbeaten begin to the AFL season with a troublesome 18-point win over Essendon.
Jack Higgins and Dan Butler kicked 4 objectives every for the Saints, whose blistering opening and ferocious end had been options of the 14.8 (92) to 11.8 (74) victory on the MCG on Saturday.
But there have been some nervous moments within the last time period when the Bombers drew stage – having trailed by 34 factors early within the match – earlier than St Kilda steadied with a five-goal burst to place the end result to mattress.
It got here at a price, with the undermanned Saints shedding Jimmy Webster to a suspected fractured cheekbone and Mason Wood nursing a shoulder damage.
St Kilda champions Tony Lockett, Ian Stewart, Ross Smith, Barry Breen and Nicky Winmar had been among the many previous greats available to assist have a good time the membership’s milestone amongst a 69,251-strong crowd.
The devoted who turned up bought their cash’s price as witnesses to a rollercoaster experience of a contest.
“There’s a bit of anxiety (on such a big night) … we wanted to make the most of it,” Lyon stated.
“We tried not to get caught up in the week because there was a lot of honouring of past champions and moments within the club.
“But our accountability was to deliver nice effort tonight that, win or lose, our members and followers and everybody related to the membership can be happy with.
“I was confident we would do that.”
Callum Wilkie stood up in defence for St Kilda and Brad Crouch (31 disposals), Jack Sinclair (26), Seb Ross (24), Jade Gresham (23) and Wood (27) had been all sturdy contributors.
The Saints kicked the opening 5 objectives of the match within the first 18 minutes and booted one other 5 in simply 12 minutes in the course of the last time period, placing Essendon to the sword.
“There were two periods where they got on a roll and kicked 10 of their 14 goals in a short space of time,” Bombers coach Brad Scott stated.
“We were really badly beaten in the contest early and Wilkie was just really dominant early.
“We arrested that and made some modifications, each when it comes to personnel but additionally in our basic struggle and willingness to compete.
“But if you give a side like St Kilda that defend very well a 34-point head start, it’s going to be hard to peg them back.
“It was a disappointing begin however I’m actually happy with the struggle and the hassle to show it round.”
Nic Martin (27 disposals) was among the Bombers’ best and Darcy Parish racked up 34 touches, with Jye Caldwell and Archie Perkins kicking two goals each.
Explosive forward Jake Stringer had a quiet night on return from injury, kicking one goal from eight disposals.
As part of their 150th celebrations, St Kilda inducted former star players Leigh Montagna and Nick Dal Santo into the club’s Hall of Fame.
Champion full-forward Bill Mohr was posthumously elevated to Saints ‘Legend’ standing.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
