Match

GWS Giants vs St Kilda

Commentary / 21 Mar 2021

Pre Game

00:00
These teams last met in the final round of 2020, with the Saints kicking the last eight goals of the game to book a place in the finals. GWS was outscored by 45 points from clearance chains in this game, which is its worst return since 2016.

Quarter 1

00:00
Q1 is now underway.
01:15
GWS has started the game with Lachie Keeffe as a forward. Keeffe played 100 percent game time as a defender in 2020, but kicked a career-high three goals in Round 1, 2019.
01:38
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Harry Perryman)
02:01
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Toby Greene)
03:40
The opening two scores to the Giants were sourced from forward half intercepts. GWS scored only 19 points per game from this source last season, which was ranked 13th.
05:51
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Rushed)
06:05
GWS has an early 5-0 lead in intercept marks, with four of these taken in the forward half. The Giants averaged 13 intercept marks per game last season.
09:06
With the wet weather likely to contribute to many stoppages in this game, effective clearances will be important. The Saints have won nine of the first ten clearances in the game, but three of these have been immediate turnovers.
11:43
The Saints were ranked last in 2020 for both percentage of kicks that were long and the percentage of kicks that went forward. St Kilda will look to be more direct with its ball movement today in the wet.
12:05
SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Rushed)
14:31
SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Jack Steele)
15:13
The first five scores of the game have all come from chains started in the forward half. With the conditions making ball movement difficult, the territory battle will be crucial. St Kilda ranked second in forward half scores last season.
16:35
The first goal of the game to Toby Greene and the Giants was sourced from a forward half intercept. GWS has an early 7-2 lead in such intercepts and averaged only 17 per game last season.
19:56
The Giants lost the time in forward half differential by six minutes and 40 seconds per game in 2020 (ranked 17th). GWS has had the ball in its forward half for 61 percent of the opening quarter today.
21:55
The excellent goal from the impressive Tom Green was sourced from a forward half stoppage. GWS scored from 39 percent of its forward half clearances last season, which was ranked second.
25:06
Giants Interchange - Sam Taylor off due to the blood rule.
25:30
SCORE GOAL - Saints (Jack Billings)
25:43
An accurate snap at goal from Jack Billings gives the Saints their first goal of the day after five other attempts had registered only two behinds. St Kilda was ranked No.1 last season for shot at goal accuracy.
31:10
St Kilda has already recorded 12 clanger kicks and forward half kicking efficiency of only 26 percent (compared to GWS 65 percent). The Saints averaged only 18 clanger kicks per game in 2020.
32:26
St Kilda led the clearances 18-10 in the first quarter, but also led 8-1 in clearances that directly resulted in turnovers, meaning that the effective clearance count was only 10-9 in favour of the Saints.

Quarter 2

00:00
Q2 is now underway.
00:07
Versatile Giant Harry Perryman took four intercept marks in the opening quarter, which already equals a career-high in a game for him. Perryman kicked a career-high four goals in Round 1 last season.
01:54
The defensive pressure of the Saints has been strong resulting in a 30-18 lead in the tackle count. Jack Bytel with seven tackles among his 11 pressure acts is currently the No.1 ranked pressure player on the ground.
02:12
SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Jack Higgins)
03:06
SCORE GOAL - Saints (Jack Lonie)
03:15
GWS leads 8-6 in forward half intercepts, but St Kilda leads 14-9 in points scored from this source, including the last goal to Jack Lonie.
04:40
St Kilda recorded 41 goals from within 15-metres of goal during the regular season in 2020, which was nine more than any other team. Both goals for the Saints today have come from within 30-metres, including the goal square set shot from Jack Lonie.
06:06
Toby Greene was involved in 30 percent of all GWS scoring chains in the games he played last season. The talismanic Giant has been involved in three out of six scores today, including an assist on the last goal to Bobby Hill.
09:59
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Rushed)
10:16
GWS averaged only eight contested marks per game in 2020 (St Kilda averaged ten), but the Giants currently lead 6-0 in this count despite the slippery conditions.
13:04
Dan Butler recorded 33 tackles in the forward 50 during the regular season in 2020, which was ranked No.1 in the AFL and 10 more than any other player in the competition. Butler has already recorded two such tackles, and the Saints lead this count 8-7.
16:24
SCORE GOAL - Saints (Jack Higgins)
17:45
An opportunistic goal to Jack Higgins punished a GWS defensive 50 turnover. St Kilda has now scored 20 points from nine forward half intercepts. In 2020 the Saints averaged 24 points from 20 such intercepts per game.
18:56
SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Josh Battle)
20:13
SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Rushed)
20:26
St Kilda leads the inside 50 count 16-6 this quarter and has had the last eight inside 50 entries scoring 1.2.(8) during this period of dominance.
21:49
SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Bradley Hill)
23:31
Saints Interchange - Josh Battle off due to the blood rule.
26:48
SCORE GOAL - Saints (Bradley Hill)
27:01
The clever piece of play and goal from Brad Hill was the fifth score in a row to the Saints who have slowly taken control this quarter. It was the first goal of the game for either team to come from a chain that started in the defensive half.
28:42
The territorial dominance this quarter for St Kilda (inside 50 entries 19-10) has now been converted into a scoreboard advantage with the goal to Membrey coming from a centre bounce clearance. This was the first score of the game from this source.
30:32
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Jack Buckley)
32:22
A crucial late goal to Harry Himmelberg and the Giants. Himmelberg has been the target of only two kicks into the forward 50 by GWS today, with Toby Greene the primary target (five times). For St Kilda, Tim Mebrey (six) and Jack Billings (four) have been the main forward 50 targets.
33:22
Jack Steele was again prominent in the first half for St Kilda. The newly installed captain was the No.1 ranked Saint for contested possessions (9), clearances (7), score involvements (3), and metres gained (435).

Quarter 3

00:00
Q3 is now underway.
00:54
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Tim Taranto)
01:50
GWS had the last five inside 50 entries of the second quarter and has also generated the first three entries to start the third quarter.
02:18
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Sam J. Reid)
05:36
Both of these teams were ranked in the top-5 for tackle differential in 2020. St Kilda currently leads the tackle count 47-31 and has also recorded a slightly better tackle efficiency of 71 percent to GWS 67 percent.
06:58
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Stephen Coniglio)
07:13
GWS leads the inside 50 count 8-1 this quarter, and the goal to Coniglio gives the Giants some reward for this advantage. The Giants now lead 24-13 in forward half intercepts, but both teams have scored three goals from this source.
09:26
SCORE GOAL - Saints (Jack Higgins)
09:53
A clever mark and goal from Jack Higgins ends a run of five scores to the Giants. St Kilda now leads 13-0 in points scored from the back half, indicating the Saints have had more success with their ball movement.
11:53
In the first quarter, St Kilda recorded more clanger kicks (13-4), but since quarter time GWS has recorded more such kicks (17-10), with the sharper ball use by the Saints contributing to the turnaround.
12:49
SCORE GOAL - Saints (Sebastian Ross)
13:09
Another goal to the Saints coming from a chain started in the defensive half, with St Kilda starting to find holes in the defensive formation of the Giants. Both teams averaged 21 points from such chains in 2020, but St Kilda leads 19-0 today.
15:07
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Toby Greene)
18:31
SCORE GOAL - Saints (Tim Membrey)
18:54
St Kilda has now kicked 8 of the last 11 goals and all three goals this quarter have come from chains started in the defensive 50.
20:56
The pressure of the Saints has forced the Giants to over possess the ball at times. St Kilda has had 1.93 kicks per handball today while GWS has recorded only 1.35 kicks per handball.
22:56
Giants Interchange - Lachlan Keeffe off due to the blood rule.
23:43
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Callan Ward)
23:59
An excellent snap at goal from Callan Ward capped another forward half intercept by GWS. The Giants now lead 29-16 in these intercepts and 30-22 in points scored from these opportunities.
25:20
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Rushed)
25:25
Giants Interchange - Matt Flynn off due to an injury.
27:04
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Tim Taranto)
27:19
Toby Greene continues to be pivotal and now has game-highs for score involvements (5), forward 50 targets (7), and forward 50 disposals (8).
29:39
SCORE GOAL - Saints (Josh Battle)
30:24
While St Kilda has turned the ball over from a number of clearances, it has gained 450 more metres from clearances than GWS has. It was a forward half clearance that launched the last goal to Josh Battle.
32:01
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Harry Himmelberg)
34:31
Since the start of 2018, St Kilda has won 20 of 22 games when leading at the three-quarter time break, including its last ten such games.

Quarter 4

00:00
Q4 is now underway.
02:16
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Harry Himmelberg)
02:37
An early goal to Harry Himmelberg following a stoppage free kick. GWS now leads 15-4 in forward half free kicks, including 6-1 in forward 50 free kicks, with these lapses hurting the Saints.
04:48
GWS has again started the quarter strongly with four of the first five inside 50 entries, and allowing St Kilda only one uncontested possession in this term.
05:00
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Toby Greene)
08:17
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Jacob Hopper)
08:27
The goal to the hard-working Jacob Hopper has capped a passage of play that gave the Giants their first score of the day from a chain started in the defensive 50. Hopper has had 330 metres gained since half time, which is more than any other player.
11:01
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Harry Himmelberg)
11:43
Harry Perryman has again produced a standout Round 1 performance. The Giant utility has a game-high 11 intercepts (including a career-high six intercept marks), five spoils, won all three of his one-on-one contests, and also had a game-high 25 disposals.
12:26
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Tim Taranto)
14:50
SCORE GOAL - Saints (Jack Lonie)
15:02
A miraculous goal to Jack Lonie from a forward 50 stoppage keeps the Saints very much in the game. Despite leading the clearances 44-34, St Kilda trail 19-28 in points scored from stoppages.
16:11
SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Rushed)
17:22
The most forward half intercepts that GWS had in a game last season was 27. Today the Giants have already had 35 such intercepts with a speedy defensive forward combination contributing to this change.
20:25
SCORE GOAL - Saints (Sebastian Ross)
20:48
The long-range goal to Seb Ross was the fourth of the game to St Kilda to be kicked more than 40 metres from goal. Both teams have now kicked four goals from forward half intercepts despite the Giants having generated more such intercepts (35-24).
22:23
SCORE GOAL - Saints (Tim Membrey)
22:33
St Kilda leads the centre bounce clearances 12-9, and now also leads 13-1 in points scored from this source.
25:59
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Lachlan Keeffe)
26:53
Tim Membrey has been a valuable link today and recorded a career and team-high 556 metres gained, while also being involved in more scores than any other Saint (five).
27:16
SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Jack Sinclair)
30:07
Matt Flynn has recorded a game-high 14 contested possessions in his debut, while also contributing ten hitouts to advantage and five score involvements in a promising start to his career.
32:38
SCORE GOAL - Saints (Dan Butler)
34:18
A terrific win for a desperate Saints team who recorded more tackles (71-46), and fittingly it was forward 50 pressure from Dan Butler (four forward 50 tackles) that created the match sealing goal.
34:39
The siren has sounded to end Q4.