St Kilda have given coach Ross Lyon the right begin to his second stint in command of the AFL membership with a shock 15-point win over his former aspect Fremantle.
The injury-hit Saints had been at lengthy odds to problem final 12 months’s crushed semi-finalists, however kicked the ultimate 5 targets of the sport to put up a ten.7 (67) to 7.10 (52) victory at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.
Neither aspect led by greater than two targets in a scrappy contest till the house aspect surged with last-quarter majors to Mason Wood (two), Jade Gresham and makeshift ahead Zaine Cordy.
The deflated Dockers had no reply, posting 0.4 to the Saints’ 4.1 within the decisive closing time period.
Fremantle famous person Nat Fyfe went goalless from simply 9 disposals in his new position deep in assault.
There had been query marks round St Kilda’s scoring skill with out key forwards Max King and Tim Membrey, amongst not less than half a dozen gamers lacking from their finest aspect by damage.
But Wood, Gresham and Mitch Owens kicked two majors every to assist get their aspect over the road.
Brad Crouch (30 disposals), Ryan Byrnes (27) and Jack Steele (27) gained loads of the ball as Mattaes Phillipou and Anthony Caminiti each confirmed glimpses of promise on debut.
Fremantle defender Brennan Cox threatened the AFL/VFL report of 24 marks, held collectively by Melbourne’s Greg Parke (1970) and former Bulldogs defender Brian Lake (2007).
But the statistic was indicative of the Dockers’ sluggish build-up play from their again half.
Seventeen of Cox’s 20 grabs had been uncontested as he, Luke Ryan and Hayden Young ran up big possession tallies by commonly chipping the ball round in defence.
It gave St Kilda loads of time to get numbers again in defence, clogging up house and making for a low-scoring contest.
A pair of 50m penalties towards Callum Wilkie and Jack Steele for backchat value St Kilda two targets as Fremantle briefly hit the entrance throughout the second time period.
The Dockers led by six factors on the closing change however St Kilda completed stuffed with working to finish a shocking upset.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
