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St Kilda thrash insipid Freo to end three-match losing streak By Marc McGowan The Brisbane midfield masterclass that St Kilda suffered – and learned – from paid immediate dividends six days later.
The Saints “went to school”, as coach Ross Lyon put it, for a refresher course on how a good midfield performs, and put that education into practice to thrash an insipid Fremantle by 61 points at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.
Jack Macrae of the Saints kicks whilst being tackled by Caleb Serong of the Dockers. Credit: Getty Images
St Kilda’s victory ended their three-match losing skid and levels their win-loss ledger through eight rounds as they kept the Dockers to one goal in the first half and only five for the game.
Fremantle’s 5.3 (33) scoreline was the equal-10th-lowest in club history, and it took three final quarter goals to avoid being even lower.
“I was really pleased. It was a good response,” Lyon said afterwards.
The vision of a relaxed and satisfied Lyon smirking in the coaches’ box and leaning back in his chair, with arms crossed, spoke louder than his subdued post-match reaction.
Ross Lyon addresses Saints players during the their round 8 match against the Dockers. Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
“We know we’ve got a heap of work to do to improve. We’re not getting carried away,” he said. “We’ve already spoken about [moving on] to Carlton next week. We’re not a get-carried-away group, and I’m not a get-carried-away coach; good or bad. I’ll leave that to the others.”
Ex-Bulldog Jack Macrae starred for the Saints with video-game numbers of 38 disposals, 25 contested possessions, 14 clearances, 10 score involvements and eight tackles.
Macrae was also by Caleb Serong’s side at most stoppages, and with help from Jack Steele and Hugo Garcia, he held the Dockers ball magnet to 15 disposals – his lowest tally since his rookie season five years ago.
Serong entered the night averaging 29.6 disposals and a competition-best 15.9 contested possessions. Garcia (19, 10 tackles) and debutant Hugh Boxshall (16, four clearances) played strong complementary midfield roles.
Steele and St Kilda also limited Andrew Brayshaw to a modest 18 touches, while the third of Fremantle’s three-headed on-ball monster, Hayden Young, exited the match before half-time with what his coach Justin Longmuir said was a “serious” hamstring recurrence.
Lyon hailed, too, Liam Stocker’s job on Dockers recruit Shai Bolton, who mustered only seven scoreless disposals at 43 per cent efficiency.
The raw numbers illustrated the massive gulf between the teams; the Saints dominated disposals (379-286), inside 50s (61-34), clearances (50-22), centre clearances (13-5), contested possessions (151-103) and uncontested possessions (233-175).
Caleb Serong and Alex Pearce of the Dockers. Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
“Caleb Serong is one who’s been a great player over the years, in terms of his contested ball and clearance,” Steele told this masthead.
“We didn’t have a direct tag or anything on him, but we just wanted to make sure we limited his damage around stoppage. That was a big part of the game: win the midfield battle, to win the game – and Andy Brayshaw, too. I thought we did a really good job on him.
“They’re both really great midfielders in their own right, and sometimes it’s very hard to stop contested players, but we were able to just be a little bit harder at the ball on most occasions.”
Steele was pleasantly surprised to learn the context of Serong’s modest output, and
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