Worst game ever? Richmond, St Kilda stage clanger-fest at the MCG in Round 22Herald Sun
23 August 2016WAS this the worst game ever?
It’s a big call, but St Kilda’s nine-point win against Richmond in Round 22 has to be in the conversation.
Both teams traded turnovers as just 13 goals were kicked for the match in perfect sunshine at the MCG.
Anthony Hudson, who was calling the game for Fox Footy, described the first half as “horrendous”.
“The turnovers in the first half had to be seen to be believed,” Hudson said in this week’s episode of the SuperFooty Podcast. “The funny thing was the third quarter was marginally more interesting, but there were virtually no scores.”
The second quarter is definitely in contention for the worst in living memory. Richmond was the main culprit; in the space of nine minutes:
— Sam Lloyd pounced on a loose ball in the goalsquare only to fall over the goal line and miss the footy, which bounced off his knee and through for a behind.
— Todd Elton dropped an uncontested mark under no pressure at the top of the goalsquare.
— Elton marked a Saints shot on goal at the other end of the ground and kicked over the head of a teammate standing 15m away. The ball landed in clear space 20m from St Kilda’s goal and a Saints gather ended with a Jade Gresham mark 5m out. Eddie McGuire summed it up in the broadcast: “This is just horrible defensive play”.
The Tigers scored just 0.4 for the quarter while the Saints managed 2.3.
Unfortunately Gresham’s goal at the 13:45 mark of the second quarter was St Kilda’s last until Nick Riewoldt converted a set shot at the 1:55 mark of the final term. Amazingly in that time Richmond barely closed the gap on its opponent.
After Jack Riewoldt kicked a goal from a free kick 1:53 into the third quarter, neither team kicked a goal for the rest of the term.
Among the turnovers, missed targets and mistakes, the two teams managed to set the following records:
— THE combined score of 101 was the lowest of any match this season.
— THE shot at goal accuracy of 31.7 per cent was the worst of any match this year.
— St Kilda’S score of 55 was the lowest by a winning team this season.
— Saint David Armitage had 11 clangers for the game, including eight free kicks against.
Armitage’s eight free kicks against was the fourth most ever recorded by Champion Data.
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