Pre Game
00:00
St Kilda lost by 73 points to Essendon when these sides met in Round 3 last season, its heaviest defeat against the Bombers since Round 8, 2002.
Quarter 1
00:00
Q1 is now underway.
00:56
SCORE
BEHIND - Bombers (Sam Durham)
04:00
SCORE
GOAL - Bombers (Harrison Jones)
04:36
Harrison Jones kicks the first goal of the match following a turnover forced in Essendon's forward arc. Jones has three goals from his two matches this season, having kicked 20 in 2021.
06:19
SCORE
BEHIND - Bombers (Peter Wright)
07:09
SCORE
BEHIND - Bombers (Peter Wright)
08:00
The Saints lost the time in forward half differential by 13 minutes and 55 seconds last week against the Lions, their worst differential this season. To this point, 67% of the play has been in the Bombers' forward half.
08:15
SCORE
BEHIND - Bombers (Mason Redman)
13:07
Jade Gresham breaks through with the first goal for St Kilda after they have evened up the territory battle with seven inside 50s each. He leads his team with six disposals to this point.
14:59
SCORE
BEHIND - Saints (Paddy Ryder)
16:04
SCORE
GOAL - Saints (Max King)
16:32
In the last five minutes, it has been the Saints on top leading the contested possessions (7-2), inside 50s (5-0), and most importantly points (13-0).
19:17
The Saints lead the clearance count 10 to one, though it has not generated a goal from this source thus far. The Saints have outscored their opponents by 18.8 points per game from clearances at Marvel Stadium this season.
19:56
SCORE
GOAL - Bombers (Sam Durham)
20:13
Bombers Interchange - Sam Durham off due to an injury.
23:53
SCORE
GOAL - Bombers (Sam Draper)
24:02
Ebbs and flows in this game with the first two goals to Essendon, the following two to St Kilda, and now the last two to Essendon - who hold a nine-point lead. In the last four rounds, the Bombers have scored from 35.9% of their inside 50s – ranked last. Tonight they have seven scoring shots from 11 insides 50s.
28:41
SCORE
GOAL - Bombers (Nic Martin)
29:53
SCORE
BEHIND - Bombers (Rushed)
30:43
The Bombers' defensive-half ball users have led the way in its 16-point lead at quarter time. Nick Hind (10), Mason Redman (10), and Dyson Heppell (eight) are among the five leading disposal players.
Quarter 2
00:00
Q2 is now underway.
01:31
SCORE
GOAL - Saints (Jack Billings)
02:21
St Kilda gets the first goal of the second term through Jack Billings who was assisted by Max King. King has two score assists to go along with his goal to this point in the match.
04:54
SCORE
GOAL - Bombers (Matt Guelfi)
05:37
Dylan Shiel sets up a goal for Matt Guelfi. Shiel is leading Essendon's midfield brigade with 12 disposals, three clearances, and two goal assists. Shiel finished with a team-high 27 disposals, 15 contested possessions, eight clearances and 10 tackles last round against the Blues.
08:23
SCORE
GOAL - Bombers (Archie Perkins)
10:01
SCORE
BEHIND - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
10:52
Essendon has kicked 2.2 from the six kicks inside 50 that have landed within 30 metres of goal. They have kicked 0.3 from the seven kicks landing further than 30 metres from goal.
16:48
SCORE
BEHIND - Saints (Ben Long)
18:12
The creative Brad Hill has been limited to just five disposals thus far. Between rounds 9-11, where he played 99% of his time as a defender, he averaged 27.7 disposals.
22:07
Dylan Shiel has done his all to gain ground for Essendon in this first half. He leads all players with 338 metres gained and has looked to get moving with the ball in hand with five running bounces.
23:04
SCORE
BEHIND - Saints (Rushed)
25:08
SCORE
GOAL - Bombers (Peter Wright)
27:03
Essendon kicked four goals to one in the second term. Debutant Massimo D'Ambrosio stepped up in this quarter to lead his side with eight disposals. Jye Caldwell produced team-highs in pressure acts (six) and clearances (three) in the term.
Quarter 3
00:00
Q3 is now underway.
01:02
SCORE
GOAL - Saints (Rowan Marshall)
01:08
Rowan Marshall wins an early one-on-one in the third quarter and kicks St Kilda's first goal since the second minute of the second term. Marshall had just four possessions in the first half.
02:24
SCORE
BEHIND - Bombers (Zach Merrett)
03:57
SCORE
GOAL - Saints (Paddy Ryder)
05:40
SCORE
GOAL - Saints (Ben Long)
06:09
The star St Kilda ruck duo in Paddy Ryder and Rowan Marshall along with forward Ben Long have kickstarted the Saints' closing of the margin, now within 11 points. The Bombers have been unable to control possession to this point with no marks in the third quarter.
07:31
SCORE
GOAL - Saints (Jack Billings)
10:08
SCORE
BEHIND - Bombers (Ben Hobbs)
13:44
SCORE
GOAL - Saints (Jack Higgins)
14:04
Accurate kicking and maximising opportunities have allowed the Saints to level the scoreboard. In this quarter they have kicked 4.0 from set shot.
16:06
Essendon has been unable to feed the ball out to its outside runners in this quarter with Sam Durham, Matt Guelfi, Nicholas Martin, and Brayden Ham all yet to record a disposal in the quarter. St Kilda leads the clearance count seven to four for the term.
17:13
SCORE
GOAL - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
18:53
SCORE
BEHIND - Bombers (Harrison Jones)
20:16
After conceding the first five goals of the quarter, the Bombers have been able to retaliate with two goals of their own from Jake Stringer and Harrison Jones. In the last 10 minutes, the Bombers have raised the pressure at stoppages to negative the opposition run with a pressure rating of 274 compared to St Kilda's stoppage pressure rating of 200.
22:17
SCORE
BEHIND - Saints (Max King)
23:51
SCORE
GOAL - Bombers (Peter Wright)
26:19
SCORE
GOAL - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
27:16
All but one of Essendon's targeted kicks inside 50 have gone to Peter Wright (seven), Jake Stringer (four), or Harrison Jones (three). Each of these three players has two goals in the match. Meanwhile, St Kilda has shown a reliance on Max King, targeting him eight times inside 50. Max King has been targeted 38% of the time St Kilda has entered the forward 50 this season, the highest percentage of any player at the club.
28:01
SCORE
BEHIND - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
28:51
Bombers Interchange - Dyson Heppell off due to an injury.
29:45
Bombers Interchange - Jye Caldwell off due to an injury.
29:47
SCORE
GOAL - Bombers (Sam Draper)
33:09
SCORE
GOAL - Bombers (Matt Guelfi)
34:10
Despite conceding the first five goals of the term and scores levelling, the Bombers managed six unanswered goals to take a 37-point lead into three-quarter-time. In the final 20 minutes of the term, the Bombers were sharp by handing going at 96% handball efficiency compared to the Saints' 77%. They controlled territory in this time as well with 11 inside 50s to four.
Quarter 4
00:00
Q4 is now underway.
01:07
SCORE
BEHIND - Saints (Rowan Marshall)
02:07
SCORE
GOAL - Saints (Jade Gresham)
05:09
It's been the rebounding players leading the way for both sides with Jack Sinclair and Mason Redman each amassing 25 disposals to this point. Sinclair has the advantage in metres gained with 405 to 374, but Redman has the upper hand in disposal efficiency at 92% to 76%.
05:17
SCORE
BEHIND - Saints (Jade Gresham)
12:59
After an 11-goal third quarter, the scoring has stagnated with just the one goal in this term. Both sides have begun controlling the ball more and combined for 36 of the 190 marks in the match this term.
14:05
SCORE
BEHIND - Bombers (Archie Perkins)
14:45
SCORE
GOAL - Saints (Jack Higgins)
16:33
SCORE
GOAL - Saints (Jade Gresham)
16:38
St Kilda closes the gap to just 18 points with Jade Gresham's third goal for the match. He leads his team in contested possessions with 12 and has maintained a 79% disposal efficiency despite receiving the fourth highest pressure on his disposls of any of his teammates.
19:28
SCORE
BEHIND - Bombers (Archie Perkins)
20:32
SCORE
BEHIND - Bombers (Nic Martin)
21:59
SCORE
BEHIND - Bombers (Ben Hobbs)
24:42
SCORE
BEHIND - Bombers (Ben Hobbs)
25:28
SCORE
BEHIND - Bombers (Nick Hind)
26:26
SCORE
GOAL - Bombers (Peter Wright)
27:10
Peter Wright's goal is the first goal Essendon has kicked in a fourth-quarter since their Round 10 match against Richmond.
28:05
SCORE
GOAL - Bombers (Peter Wright)
29:00
After three goalless matches in a row following 25 goals in the first nine rounds, Peter Wright has responded tonight with four goals and added four score assists alongside them.
29:10
On the back of five separate goal scorers, St Kilda mounted a comeback in the third term bringing the scores level with supreme ball use, including 82% efficiency by foot in the forward half during this term. However, Essendon didn't back down and returned serve with six straight goals, including two from Jake Stringer, to enter the final term with a 37-point lead that proved too significant for St Kilda to overcome.