Match

St Kilda vs Adelaide Crows

Commentary / 07 Apr 2018

Pre Game

59:30

Welcome to Etihad Stadium for the St Kilda v Adelaide Crows Round 3 clash.

59:33

Outs for Saints: T.Membrey, B.Longer, J.Steele, H.Clark, K.Stevens

59:34

Ins for Saints: R.Marshall, L.Dunstan, B.White, N.Coffield, N.Wright

59:35

Outs for Crows: M.Crouch, D.Fogarty

59:36

Ins for Crows: T.Lynch, R.Douglas

00:00

The Crows won the contested possession count by 48 last week against the Tigers, which is the best differential they have recorded since Round 4, 2012.

Quarter 1

00:00

Q1 is now underway.

00:49

An early mark to Rowan Marshall who has been brought in to do the ruck work for the Saints tonight. St Kilda is ranked last for differential in hitouts, clearances and score from stoppages this season.

01:53

The opening score of the game goes to Shane Savage who has averaged 13 disposals per game across his career against Adelaide, which is his lowest amount against any team.

03:15

SCORE BEHIND - Crows (Rushed)

04:30

SCORE GOAL - Crows (Mitch McGovern)

04:46

Adelaide gets the first goal of the game following a forward half intercept. The Crows have averaged 40 points per game from this source in the first two rounds (ranked second).

07:06

St Kilda lead in intercept marks 4-0, and are the No.1 ranked team for such marks this season averaging 20 per game.

07:44

SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Blake Acres)

08:41

St Kilda is matching Adelaide for contested possessions early, but is undoing this work with kicking efficiency of only 38 percent. The AFL average for kicking efficiency is 65 percent.

09:26

SCORE GOAL - Saints (Jack Sinclair)

09:46

The first goal for the Saints comes from a forward half stoppage. St Kilda is ranked a distant last in scoring from such a source this season, generating only nine points this way across the first two rounds.

11:54

SCORE GOAL - Saints (Blake Acres)

12:26

A second goal from a forward half stoppage for the Saints, who lead the clearances 5-3 and in the last ten minutes have won the contested possession count 17-10.

13:35

SCORE GOAL - Crows (Taylor Walker)

15:05

SCORE BEHIND - Crows (Rory Sloane)

15:59

Luke Dunstan has made a prominent start on his return to the Saints, with team-highs for clearances (three) and contested possessions (four), to go with seven disposals at 100 percent efficiency.

18:10

SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Blake Acres)

19:18

Nick Coffield making his debut for the Saints tonight, averaged 21 disposals and three clearances in 16 TAC Cup games in 2017.

21:17

SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Jack Newnes)

22:37

SCORE GOAL - Crows (Rory Atkins)

23:01

The last goal for the Crows followed a kick-in, and was their second to come from a defensive half chain in an indication of their slick ball movement. Both the goals for the Saints have come from forward half chains.

24:07

SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Rowan Marshall)

25:59

SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Nathan Wright)

27:25

St Kilda is doing well to outnumber Adelaide at the contest, and lead in ground ball gets 30-21.

29:01

The Saints were able to shade the Crows at clearances (9-7) and contested ball (42-32) in the first quarter, leading to a 9-5 advantage in shots at goal, but some errant kicking has allowed the Crows a two point lead.

Quarter 2

00:00

Q2 is now underway.

01:13

The Saints have had the ball in their forward half for 60 percent of the game. St Kilda was ranked third last in this category across the first two rounds.

03:25

SCORE GOAL - Crows (Richard Douglas)

04:07

The Douglas goal was the second of the night to come from an assist by Tom Lynch. Only three players in the competition have provided more score assists than Lynch across the past two seasons.

07:18

This quarter the Crows lead effective kicks 16-7 and marks 9-2, with the Saints having difficulty maintaining control of the ball.

09:03

Adelaide is applying strong defensive pressure and leads the tackle count 33-14. Only three Crows are yet to record a tackle, while there are 14 such St Kilda players.

09:27

SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Shane Savage)

10:51

Despite Adelaide winning the hitouts 17-9, St Kilda is leading in first possession at stoppages 16-9, with its midfielders doing well to shark the Adelaide hitouts.

11:46

SCORE GOAL - Crows (Eddie Betts)

12:07

Four goals in a row to Adelaide with the accurate Betts snap his first goal of the season. Only Lance Franklin and Josh Kennedy (WCE) have kicked more goal than Betts (245) since he crossed to the Crows in 2014.

13:48

SCORE BEHIND - Crows (Sam Jacobs)

16:42

St Kilda has generated 14 forward half intercepts, but only scored 0.4.(4) from these opportunities. In 2017, the Saints averaged 31 points from 25 such intercepts.

17:50

SCORE GOAL - Saints (Nick Coffield)

18:27

Eventually the Saints get some reward for a forward half intercept with a goal to debutant Nick Coffield. The Saints had generated five consecutive inside 50 entries leading into the goal.

19:54

SCORE BEHIND - Crows (Mitch McGovern)

20:36

SCORE BEHIND - Crows (Rushed)

22:15

SCORE BEHIND - Crows (Lachlan Murphy)

24:07

SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Rushed)

26:20

SCORE BEHIND - Crows (Richard Douglas)

28:04

SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Rushed)

28:58

Bryce Gibbs leads the Crows for both clearances (six) and tackles (eight), while Jack Sinclair has recorded a career-high 19 first half disposals for the Saints.

Quarter 3

00:00

Q3 is now underway.

03:33

SCORE GOAL - Crows (Paul Seedsman)

03:43

Paul Seedsman has a game-high 398 metres gained from 13 disposals at 85 percent efficiency.

04:46

SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Jack Newnes)

05:31

St Kilda was ranked second last for accuracy in front of goal last season, and this problem has continued into the early stage of 2018, with half time returns of 2.10.(22) last week and 3.9.(27) this week.

08:14

SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Paddy McCartin)

08:34

The Saints lead in forward 50 marks 7-5, but have returned only one set shot goal from these opportunities.

09:41

SCORE GOAL - Saints (Josh Bruce)

09:58

In the third quarter, the Saints lead contested possessions 18-11, inside 50 entries 7-3 and marks 9-2, with the Bruce goal finally giving St Kilda some reward for this period of control.

11:55

SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Blake Acres)

12:35

St Kilda is continuing to win time in forward half (71 percent this quarter), but has retained possession from only 46 percent of its kicks inside 50 tonight. Adelaide has retained possession from 58 percent of its entries.

15:55

SCORE GOAL - Crows (Eddie Betts)

16:13

Adelaide has now scored 4.2.(26) from 47 defensive half chains, while St Kilda has scored 0.5.(5) from its 44 defensive half chains, with the cleaner ball movement of the Crows generating better scoring opportunities.

18:48

SCORE GOAL - Crows (Taylor Walker)

19:56

SCORE BEHIND - Crows (Eddie Betts)

20:03

Adelaide lead the clearances this quarter 10-3, with the last goal to Walker coming from one of these clearances.

21:10

SCORE GOAL - Crows (Eddie Betts)

21:29

Seven of the last nine inside 50 entries to the Crows who have kicked three goals during this period, and now have five goals from defensive half chains with the opening up of the game suiting their better ball movement.

23:06

SCORE GOAL - Crows (Josh Jenkins)

23:34

In the last ten minutes, the Crows lead the contested possession count 14-3 and the inside 50 count 8-2, and have now kicked the last four goals of the game.

25:35

SCORE BEHIND - Crows (Josh Jenkins)

27:37

SCORE BEHIND - Crows (Taylor Walker)

28:35

In the third quarter, the Crows lead in corridor disposals 27-10 with this direct ball movement generating quality scoring chances for Adelaide.

29:32

SCORE GOAL - Crows (Taylor Walker)

30:33

The Crows have been strong defensively tonight leading overall tackles (69-45) and forward 50 tackles (12-5). This pressure has contributed to the Saints having forward half kicking efficiency of just 50 percent.

Quarter 4

00:00

Q4 is now underway.

02:46

SCORE GOAL - Saints (Jade Gresham)

03:21

St Kilda averaged 14 points per game from defensive 50 chains in 2017, and in Round 1 this year scored 7.1.(43) from this source. Tonight the Saints are yet to score from 35 such chains.

05:26

SCORE GOAL - Crows (Bryce Gibbs)

08:31

Tom Doedee has again been prominent defensively for the Crows with six intercept possessions (including a team-high three intercept marks), four spoils and two tackles, to go with 13 disposals at 100 percent efficiency.

08:56

SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Rushed)

10:24

SCORE GOAL - Saints (Jarryn Geary)

10:46

The goal to Geary was the first of the night for the Saints to come from a defensive half chain. St Kilda has won the clearances 6-2 and inside 50 entries 7-2 this quarter.

12:11

SCORE BEHIND - Crows (Tom Lynch)

12:44

Paul Seedsman now up to 695 metres gained from 24 disposals. No other Crow player has gained more than 400 metres tonight.

15:59

SCORE GOAL - Crows (Mitch McGovern)

16:16

The Crows have scored 6.3.(39) from 18 forward half intercepts, while the Saints have scored 2.4.(16) from their 26 forward half intercepts.

18:46

Adelaide lead 18-10 in one-on-one contest wins and have taken six contested marks in the final quarter, with its key position players more influential as the game has progressed.

19:55

SCORE GOAL - Saints (David Armitage)

22:21

Sam Jacobs has contributed to the Crows winning the hitouts 42-20 and clearances 34-29, but also has a game-high ten score involvements and 11 contested possessions.

25:54

SCORE BEHIND - Crows (Bryce Gibbs)

29:08

SCORE GOAL - Crows (Rory Atkins)

30:27

SCORE BEHIND - Crows (David Mackay)

31:31

SCORE BEHIND - Crows (Eddie Betts)

31:39

Adelaide was able to punish the St Kilda turnovers and led in scores from intercepts 74-33, with every Crow recording at least ten disposals in an even team performance.