Nick Riewoldt sparks Saints blitz
The Age, Warwick Green
July 8

All eyes were on the Riewoldts on this remarkable night. Almost 50,000 piled into Etihad Stadium for the purple-themed Maddie's (Riewoldt) Match, and fittingly the Lockett and Coventry ends were renamed the Maddie and Riewoldt goals.

And by five minutes into the second quarter, the respective fortunes of the two Riewoldts on the field told the tale of this match.

It was the moment St Kilda's Nick Riewoldt ran back with the flight of the ball and flew for a chest mark against his direct opponent, Alex Rance, and Tigers ruckman Toby Nankervis.

That grab made it 2907 career marks for the Saints great, surpassing the AFL record held by Dogs/Roos ruckman Gary Dempsey.

The ensuing kick was a goal to the "Maddie End", giving St Kilda a 36-point lead and effectively signposting a Saints victory. His was one of nine unanswered St Kilda goals during a second-quarter blitz in which the Saints could do no wrong, setting up an 82-point lead at half-time.

Saints cruise as Tigers drown in expectation
Herald Sun, Scott Gullan
July 8

This game was over last Tuesday.

That was the day the growing chorus about Richmond being a premiership contender reached its highest point.

By then all the weekly footy shows had devoted significant time pumping the Tigers’ tyres.

To be fair they deserved some loving given the way they’d stitched up Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval to move to fourth on the ladder.

But what was missed in all the hyperbole was one fact ... it’s Richmond they were talking about.

A tried and true Tigers fan must have surely sensed trouble as the experts queued up one after the other to laud their team as legitimate flag material.

St Kilda were breathtaking in big win over Richmond
The Australian, Greg Denham
July 10

St Kilda were simply breathtaking in their demolition of Richmond at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night when they won a fourth straight game for the first time since 2011.

After a mediocre previous six rounds — three big losses to ­Sydney, the Western Bulldogs and Adelaide followed by three wins against bottom-eight clubs — the Saints produced their best form since their round-seven win over Greater Western Sydney at the same venue.

While it seemed to come out of the blue after some scrappy ­victories, including a nine-point win over the Dockers in Perth six nights earlier, their humiliation of the Tigers was played at finals-like intensity.

The Saints kicked more first-half goals against the Tigers than they had done in total in 10 of their previous games, and their final score of 21.12 (138) was their highest score this season.