On this day in 2003, Fraser Gehrig booted nine goals to sink the Kangaroos in a nail-biting upset for the ages.

Grant Thomas’ Saints came into the Round 16 clash on the back of four straight thrashings by an average of over 50 points, while the Kangaroos sat comfortably in eighth spot.

St Kilda exploded out of the blocks, piling on 10 first-quarter goals in one of the most dominant opening terms ever witnessed at the club.

But the Kangaroos bit back, whittling down the Saints’ advantage at every break to gain the ascendancy and push hard for an unlikely come-from-behind win.

WATCH: St Kilda v North Melbourne R16, 2003

With scores level at 126 apiece with just 1:23 left on the clock, a young Xavier Clarke took possession in the Saints’ defensive goal-square and rushed a behind, conceding a one-point lead.

The ensuing kick-out proved fruitless, resulting in another North Melbourne inside-50 entry, before a host of household St Kilda names took matters into their own hands.

After a strong intercept mark, ‘Joey’ Montagna started the offensive manoeuvre that travelled via Austinn Jones and the skipper Aaron Hamill, before a bounding Robert Harvey, in his 16^th season, tore through the centre of Telstra Dome, ball tucked under his arm.

“I just remember coming out of defence, we were clearly going to go through the corridor,” Aaron Hamill recalled.

“I was the one that hit up through the centre. I saw ‘Harvs’ running hard and gave him the ball, because being ‘Harvs’ I knew that he liked blokes coming at his leg – he fed Plugger all those years, and then Rooey – so I dished off to him, and then he looked forward and saw Fraser.”

Captain Aaron Hamill and Fraser Gehrig played crucial roles in the famous win.

Harvey delivered a long bomb into the path of the ‘G-Train’, mullet flowing gloriously behind, and the defining moment of the day was now in Gehrig’s hands.

With his quintessential no-fuss approach, Gehrig went back, took his time and slotted his ninth goal for the afternoon, putting St Kilda five points ahead with just 33 seconds remaining.

“It was the last play of the game and Fraser, who didn’t really venture too far out of his little pig pen there, was in pretty good touch that day,” Hamill laughed.

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“He slotted it, and yeah, they’re great memories. I just remember seeing the ball go through and the crowd going nuts behind the goals, that’s what I looked at … it was a good moment.”

The gutsy victory was a turning point for the Saints, whose ominous form at the end of 2003 translated into a 2004 pre-season premiership and consecutive preliminary final appearances in 2004 and 2005.

Gehrig’s goal-kicking prowess would become a hallmark of that St Kilda side, as he went on to claim back-to-back Coleman medals the following two years, going down as one of the most memorable Saints of all time.

St Kilda                 10.1        13.3        18.4        21.6 (132)
Kangaroos           3.1          8.3          15.8        19.13 (127)

Goals: F Gehrig 9, L Montagna 3, S Baker 2, S Powell 2, N Riewoldt, S Lawrence, L Ball, D Wulf, A Hamill
Best: R Harvey, F Gehrig, L Hayes, S Powell, L Montagna