Momentum building at Linen House Centre
Just like in Tasmania a week earlier, St Kilda entered Friday night with a big scalp in their sights, but with history not on their side. But just like down south, St Kilda ended an 11-game winless run on the Friday night stage, a week after extinguishing their 10-game losing streak on the road. Some media commentators have labelled Friday night’s win as a coming of age performance, with the top four scalp stamping St Kilda as a finals contender after a handful of years in the wilderness. While time will tell how accurate these contentions are, you can’t take anything away from the Saints on Friday night. It was a four quarter effort against a premiership favourite, in a timeslot that hasn’t favoured St Kilda. And it was a performance that didn’t rely on Nick Riewoldt or Leigh Montagna or anyone in particular to earn four premiership points. Ticks all round.
St Kilda slays midfield Giants
Before Friday night, Greater Western Sydney and their fleet of potential Rolls Royce’s – Stephen Coniglio (No. 2 pick), Tom Scully (No. 1), Josh Kelly (No. 2), Tim Taranto (No. 2) and Jacob Hopper (No. 7) – plus Callan Ward and Dylan Shiel, had led the Giants to be ranked No. 1 for clearances differential (+10.8) and contested ball (+16.5) after six rounds. But on Friday night, it was St Kilda that came to the party around the ball. Once again it was Seb Ross (17 contested possessions and nine clearances) and Jack Steven (13 contested possessions and seven clearances) who got the job done, but they weren’t without support. Off-season recruit Koby Stevens won 12 contested possessions, Jack Sinclair collected 10 and another new midfielder in Jack Steele had nine of his own. Collectively, the Saints dismantled the highly rated Giants around the ball, winning the clearance count by 11, contested ball by 12 and the inside 50s by 11. It was a giant slaying at Etihad Stadium.
Has Seb Ross entered the elite bracket?
With another 30 possession haul – his fourth in succession – Seb Ross has entrenched himself inside the top 20 ball winners in the competition and is quickly establishing himself in the upper echelon of midfielders in the game. Is he now in the elite bracket? That point has emerged in the media in recent days after he amassed 31 possessions (17 contested), nine clearances and four inside 50s to be alongside Jack Steven and Jack Billings, one of the most influential players on the ground. He might need to put a few more runs on the board, but after a breakout 2016 where he played every game and finished 6th in the Trevor Barker Award, Ross has reached new heights across the first seven games of this season.
Tale of two Jacks
One Jack played in attack, the other Jack played on the ball. Both had a major say in the outcome of Friday night’s game. For the second week in a row, Jack Billings spent the bulk of the game up forward where his lethal left foot dictated terms forward of centre. He got the ball rolling early when he slotted clinically from 45 metres out in the opening few minutes and went on to kick 2.3 – continuing his inaccurate start to 2017. By the end of the game, Billings collected 22 touches as a permanent forward, 11 score involvements, six tackles and six inside 50s. Talk about a player building nicely at Linen House Centre. In the middle of the ground, three-time best and fairest winner Jack Steven did what he does best. He won plenty of his own ball with 29 possessions (13 contested), accumulated 540 metres of gained territory, seven clearances (five centre clearances) and six inside 50s. Expect these two to share some Brownlow votes.
Saints learned their lesson
In his post-match press conference on Friday night, Alan Richardson told journalists: “I challenged our midfield after the Geelong game. We need to learn our lessons. There were many positives, but that was the real positive for me”. Say no more. After falling off a cliff in the last quarter against Geelong in Round 5, St Kilda found themselves in a similar position against the Giants at three-quarter time. One kick separated the two sides, but one side had a bigger point to prove, especially when you add the West Coast fade out to the equation. In the final 30 minutes on Friday night, St Kilda amassed 11 more clearances, 11 more tackles and eight more inside 50s to pave the way to a 6 goals to one blitz. It was the precise response St Kilda wanted and it added further depth to the performance.
