Sainters blessed by lucky escape
Mark Harding | May 04, 2008
IS it possible for a winning team to leave the field in worse shape than the loser? If so, St Kilda did at Telstra Dome last night.
The Tigers were winners everywhere but the scoreboard and, based on pre-season expectation, the Saints are in trouble.
Sure, they won an incredible match by three points after the Tigers had twice missed winning opportunities in the final minute, but they have Nick Riewoldt with a knee injury, Xavier Clarke with a leg injury and some of their stars down on form and confidence.
Not even a seven-goal performance from Stephen Milne could hide the fact the Saints were beaten in the midfield and were lucky to escape.
Their premiership clock is many hours closer to midnight than their opposition and while they started the season with high hopes, the Tigers were freely tipped for the wooden spoon.
Richmond fans might well get sick of valiant losses, but their team played exciting footy last night, fired by the Peter Pan exuberance of Matthew Richardson, who kicked five goals and grabbed 13 marks all over the ground.
Although Fraser Gehrig was back in the line-up, coach Ross Lyon signalled that he was still not in favour of the "big three" forward line by starting Justin Koschitzke on the bench as the relieving ruckman for Michael Gardiner.
Gehrig kicked only one goal and even when Riewoldt was off the field late in the game, he spent lots of time on the bench.
Maybe his decision to retire against the Tigers last year was the right one.
The game opened with Richardson on the wing without an opponent while Sam Fisher was loose in defence for the Saints.
The Saints were less keen to let the likes of Nathan Foley and Nathan Brown run free - Shane Birss was a heavy tag on Foley, while the noted niggler Steven Baker was minding Brown up forward.
Neither match-up worked with Foley busy at the stoppages with nine clearances and Brown having a great night - a game-high 29 possessions compared to Baker's six.
Other midfield match-ups included Shane Tuck on Lenny Hayes, Chris Hyde on Leigh Montagna with Nick Dal Santo and Kane Johnson matching possessions from afar.
The Saints were first away with three of the first four goals and Milne busy up forward, snapping the first after his opponent Jake King spilled a mark.
But the Tigers fought back late in the first term with Hyde not only keeping the normally prolific Montagna to only one touch, but assisting in two goals.
He feigned and ran around the mark finding Troy Simmonds on the lead and then showed quick hands in a pack to get the ball to Shane Edwards to put the Tigers only three points down at the first change.
The Tigers dominated the second term, but five goals to three was a poor reflection of their command in general play.
It seemed - and not for the first time over the past decade - that they needed two Richos.
One to float across half back and the wing and the other up forward providing a target.
Jack Riewoldt was providing a lively option, but the Tiger forward line had more purpose when Richo was "resting" in the square.
An example came late in the term when he provided an aerial contest against two Saint defenders and bought the ball to ground for Brown to snap the goal that gave them an 11-point lead at half-time.
Earlier Edwards and Jack Riewoldt had given Tiger fans a heartening glimpse of the future by helping each other to goals and King had bounced back from a rocky start against Milne to make a valuable contribution running into the forward line.
King soon had more bouncing back to do, although with the second half starting the way of the first with Milne goaling, this time from a free.
The Saints were suddenly playing with the urgency of a team whose coach had delivered some half-time ultimatums, with Gehrig getting into the action with a goal and Nick Riewoldt snapping another shortly before injuring his left knee in a slinging tackle from Luke McGuane.
The momentum had swung and a crucial decision when Matt White sent a 20m pass to Jay Schulz in front of goal, only for the umpire to rule play on, which led to a rebound for the fifth consecutive goal and a 16-point lead to the Saints.
But just as they had done in the first two quarters, the Tigers fought back with late quarter goals, including two to Richo.
Up the other end, another veteran Robert Harvey shrugged a tackle to calmly slot a reply and after a rushed behind to the Tigers it was one point the difference at the final change.
The Tigers had dominated the centre clearances late in the third term, but the Saints began to win their share - and after Richo kicked the first goal they answered with three on the trot including two to Milne, now on Chris Newman.
Xavier Clarke limped off to join Nick Riewoldt on the bench and when Richo took a screamer from a Brown pass and kicked his fifth the difference was back to four points.
Soon after Richo returned the favour to Brown who snapped a goal to put the Tigers back in front, but only until Milne took a one hander for his seventh goal.
The crowd was at fever pitch with the Tigers again doing all the attacking late in the quarter.
Brett Deledio, who earlier had run with the flight in a display of rare courage, took a grand mark and sent it forward for Kelvin Moore to take a screamer with less than a minute to play. His kick had the fans behind the goals cheering, but it swerved late and hit the post.
Then Jack Riewoldt took a mark on the 50m and had a kick for victory after the siren from outside the arc.
He hung his head low when the kick fell short, but all his mates ran to him to commiserate.
The Tigers could leave with heads held high.
The Saints left with four points - proof positive that sport doesn't have to be fair.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,23642307-19742,00.html
