Match

St Kilda vs Melbourne

Commentary / 06 Jul 2023

Pre Game

00:00
Melbourne has won the last three encounters between these two sides, with St Kilda's last victory coming in 2019.

Quarter 1

00:00
Q1 is now underway.
00:14
Jack Sinclair has attended 26 centre bounces across the last two rounds and is starting in the midfield once again tonight.
00:59
Saints Interchange - Max King and is possibly out for the game.
01:57
Max King hurt his shoulder in his first contest of the match against Steven May. He is currently being assessed in the rooms.
02:21
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Alex Neal-Bullen)
03:22
Both teams are missing their club leading goal kicker tonight. Bailey Fritsch (29) for Melbourne and Jack Higgins (27) for St Kilda are both out with injury.
05:48
Jack Steele gets St Kilda's first goal of the game in game 150.
06:47
Max King has been subbed out of the game due to the shoulder injury he sustained in the first contest.
07:21
Saints Interchange - Sebastian Ross and is possibly out for the game.
07:38
St Kilda is on top early in this contest. They lead inside 50's (5-1) and clearances (4-1). The ball has spent 72% of the quarter in St Kilda's forward half.
08:50
SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Mattaes Phillipou)
10:08
SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Liam Stocker)
11:36
SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Cooper Sharman)
11:42
St Kilda isn't making the most of their early dominance. They lead inside 50's (7-2) but have hit the post twice and have kicked one goal from five shots.
13:16
SCORE GOAL - Saints (Jade Gresham)
13:28
Demons Interchange - Harrison Petty off due to an injury.
13:32
Jade Gresham recorded a game-high eight score involvements last round, his equal-best return this season. He's already had two score involvements and a goal early in this contest.
14:32
Seb Ross is out of the game with a hamstring injury. St Kilda are already down two players, with Max King having been subbed out.
16:15
SCORE GOAL - Saints (Mason Wood)
16:27
St Kilda's forward 50 pressure has been immense. They lead tackles inside 50 (7-0).
18:04
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Lachie Hunter)
18:17
Both of Melbourne's goals have been generated from stoppage situations, while St Kilda has scored 13 points from Melbourne turnovers.
19:49
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Ben Brown)
20:07
Melbourne makes it back to back goals from centre bounce clearances. St Kilda only concede 27 points from clearances on average, but have already conceded 18 points from that source in the opening term.
21:46
Melbourne has scored (3.0) from four inside 50's, while St Kilda has only managed (3.3) from 11 inside 50 entries.
22:44
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Ed Langdon)
22:52
Ed Langdon is running hot in the first term. Langdon has already had a game-high 11 disposals, five contested possessions, two tackles and a goal.
25:28
Despite losing the territory battle, Melbourne is possessing the ball far more. They've had 30 more disposals (82-52) but 55 of those have come in their defensive half.
28:29
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Christian Petracca)
28:37
Melbourne has recorded a shot at goal accuracy of just 28% since round 12 but have turned their goal kicking woes around tonight, kicking (5.0).
31:14
SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Rushed)
31:47
SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Mattaes Phillipou)
32:06
St Kilda has now hit the post three times.
32:30
Melbourne average the most intercept marks of any team (18.3). They've already taken eight in the first term, with Steven May taking three of those.
33:30
Despite trailing clearances (8-12), Melbourne generated a goal from four of those clearances, while St Kilda only managed one goal from their 12.

Quarter 2

00:00
Q2 is now underway.
01:20
Jack Steele is leading from the front in game 150 and is the highest ranked player on the field. Steele has a game-high six tackles and a disposal efficiency of 100% from his nine disposals.
02:50
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Ben Brown)
03:39
Melbourne's defence is holding up better than St Kilda's. Melbourne has managed to rebound from defence on 16 occasions, while St Kilda has only rebounded five times from Melbourne's 11 inside 50 entries.
05:12
SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Brad Crouch)
06:22
After losing the clearance and tackle count in the opening quarter, Melbourne leads clearances (3-0) and tackles (6-1) in the second term.
07:50
SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Jack Sinclair)
08:24
St Kilda's fitness is going to be tested as the game progresses. They've now lost Zaine Cordy, Seb Ross and Max King to injury, with Zak Jones and Jack Billings playing their first AFL games of the season.
11:03
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Jake Melksham)
11:45
Melbourne has scored from both of their inside 50's this quarter (1.1), while St Kilda has only scored (0.2) from seven inside 50 entries. The trend is continuing from the opening term.
13:40
Rowan Marshall is competing well in the ruck for St Kilda. Marshall has had a game-high five clearances and has restricted the dual ruck combination of Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy to a single hit-out to advantage between them.
15:36
St Kilda finally breaks the run of five consecutive goals from the Demons. The Saints continue to own the territory battle, with 64% of the second quarter played in their half.
17:51
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Tom Sparrow)
18:10
Melbourne average 32 points per game from stoppages but have already generated 31 points from stoppage situations in the opening half today.
19:32
After 41 disposals in the VFL last week, James Jordon has earned his spot back in the side. Jordon has had a game-high five score involvements, 11 disposals and three inside 50's.
21:22
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Jake Melksham)
23:49
Melbourne lost the tackle count by five in the opening term but leads the tackle count by 10 in the second.
25:20
Kysaiah Pickett has only registered one handball approaching half-time. Jimmy Webster has spent the majority of the game on him.
26:18
Melbourne extended their quarter time margin of seven to 13 at half-time. Melbourne's defence is holding firm, leading intercept marks (15-11) and only conceding four goals from 28 inside 50 entries from the Saints.

Quarter 3

00:00
Q3 is now underway.
01:59
Melbourne average the most inside 50's per game of any team (59) but only had 21 in the first half. The ball has spent 60% of the game in St Kilda's forward half.
04:11
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Jake Melksham)
05:06
St Kilda has started the third quarter with intensity. They have a pressure rating of 218, lead tackles (9-3) and have won the first four clearances of the term.
06:54
Despite generating plenty of opportunities, St Kilda is blazing away inside 50. The Melbourne defence has taken 11 intercept marks in their defensive 50. St Kilda are missing Max King's presence up forward.
07:59
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Rushed)
09:56
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Christian Petracca)
10:51
Melbourne has kicked seven of the last eight goals of the match and are out to a game-high 21 point lead.
13:03
Jack Billings gets his first goal in his first game of AFL this season. Billings has spent most of the season playing VFL following injury.
14:49
The Saints won the contested possession count by 35 last round, their best result this season. They lead contested possessions (89-81) tonight against a Melbourne side that is ranked number one in the competition for contested possessions.
19:36
Taj Woewodin, son of former Melbourne Brownlow Medallist Shane, has had seven disposals and three score involvements in his AFL debut.
20:35
Christian Petracca is starting to have a big impact on the game. Spending most of his time forward tonight, Petracca has seven score involvements and three goals.
20:53
Saints Interchange - Liam Stocker off due to an injury.
22:37
Melbourne lost the inside 50 count by seven in the opening half, but are beginning to take control of the territory battle. They lead inside 50's (14-8) this term and have spent 67% of the quarter in their forward half.
23:20
SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Jack Billings)
27:07
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Rushed)
28:07
Despite being severely undermanned, St Kilda is hanging in there. Their leaders, Jack Steele and Rowan Marshall have been immense. Steele has had 23 disposals, 11 contested possessions and 10 tackles in game 150, while Marshall has had 22 disposals, 13 contested possessions and seven clearances.

Quarter 4

00:00
Q4 is now underway.
02:05
Jack Sinclair has a game-high 500 metres gained from his 25 disposals.
03:46
St Kilda has had the first five inside 50's and the first two clearances of the final quarter. They lead disposals (30-11) this term.
05:13
Demons Interchange - Harrison Petty and is possibly out for the game.
06:50
Steven May is holding things together for Melbourne. May has now taken eight intercept marks, closing in on the all time record of 10.
07:33
SCORE BEHIND - Saints (Mason Wood)
07:40
St Kilda has a pressure rating of 220 this quarter, well above the competition average of 180. They are giving everything, despite limited rotations.
09:46
SCORE GOAL - Demons (Jake Melksham)
09:55
For all of St Kilda's dominance at the start of the last quarter, Melbourne make them pay. St Kilda scored (0.2) from eight inside 50 entries, while Melbourne goals from just their second inside 50 entry of the term.
11:01
SCORE GOAL - Saints (Mitch Owens)
11:36
The Saints have scored from just 40% of their inside 50s this season, ranked last in the competition. They've continued that theme tonight, scoring just 36% of the time from 47 entries.
12:08
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Taj Woewodin)
14:13
St Kilda has had 27 more disposals and four more inside 50's in the final quarter but Melbourne lead the quarter by five points.
15:59
Christian Salem has had 22 disposals and six rebound 50's in game 150 for the Dees.
17:26
SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Ben Brown)
18:49
Melbourne has a positive differential of 19 points from stoppages in this game, despite trailing clearances (28-32).
19:37
SCORE GOAL - Saints (Jade Gresham)
19:51
Jade Gresham recorded a game-high eight score involvements last round. He has a team-high eight score involvements again today, with his goal keeping St Kilda's hopes alive.
21:31
Melbourne will look to slow the game down to ensure they hang on. They are playing on from a mark just 5% of the time from 19 marks this quarter. St Kilda are playing on 21% of the time from 24 marks as they chase the game.
23:08
St Kilda will need three unanswered goals in three minutes to win this game.
25:01
St Kilda has had double the number of inside 50's that Melbourne has had this quarter (14-7) but both teams have scored (2.2).
26:31
Christian Petracca has recorded a shot at goal accuracy of just 26% this season, but has kicked four goals straight tonight. He equals his career best of four goals in a game to ice the match for the Demons.
28:01
Jack Steele and Rowan Marshall were St Kilda's best. Steele was playing game 150 and had 31 disposals, 13 contested possessions and 12 tackles, while Marshall battled solo in the ruck with 29 disposals, 17 contested possessions and eight clearances.