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Venue: MCG | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date: Sun May 21 | Result: Loss by 92 points | ||||||||||||||||||
| Umpires: M. Nicholls, K. Nicholls, Allen | Crowd: 39,908 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Goalkickers: Fevola 4 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Reports: Nil | Injuries: Waite (medial) | ||||||||||||||||||
Game Review
After a solid and sometimes stirring performance in Round 7, the Blues faced up to horror team St Kilda - 'horror' as we had lost our last 6 matches to the Saints and had not beaten them since better times in 2001. In fact, the average losing margin in the past 3 encounters was 93 points. On top of all that, the Saints were coming off a disappointing loss and were under pressure to make up for that. They responded by coming out full of aggression, which the Blues were unable to match.Other than the performances of Brendan Fevola up forward, who had the unusual honour of kicking every one of our only 4 goals and noticeable games from Simon Wiggins with 25 touches and Kade Simpson with 22, this game was to follow the same pattern. Many of the boys tried very hard but the Blues were simply outclassed and out-muscled by their more talented and physically stronger opponents. They were smashed at the clearances, could not counter the St Kilda defence and had no one to stop Nick Riewoldt, who would kick 9 goals 3 on form defenders Whitnall and Thornton, though he was not normally renowned for such accurate kicking.
Image: courtesy K.McNair
Team
| B: | 34 Simon Wiggins | 8 Lance Whitnall (vc) | 32 Bret Thornton |
| HB: | 1 Andrew Walker | 9 Jason Saddington | 33 Ryan Houlihan |
| C: | 6 Kade Simpson | 40 Adam Bentick | 29 Heath Scotland |
| HF: | 43 Anthony Koutoufides (c) | 30 Jarrad Waite | 3 Marc Murphy |
| F: | 5 Josh Kennedy | 25 Brendan Fevola | 19 Eddie Betts |
| Ruck: | 10 Dylan McLaren | 24 Nick Stevens (vc) | 44 Andrew Carrazzo |
| Interchange: | |||
| 12 Matthew Lappin (vc), 20 Cory McGrath, 26 Adrian Deluca, 13 Luke Blackwell | |||
| Coach: | Denis Pagan | ||
| Emg: | Jordan Bannister | Troy Longmuir | Trent Sporn |
| In: | Luke Blackwell | ||
| Out: | Brad Fisher (injured) | ||
Milestones
Debut: Luke Blackwell50 Games (Carlton): Nick Stevens
Brownlow Votes
3: Nick Riewoldt (STK)2: Lenny Hayes (STK)
1: Robert Harvey (STK)
Round 7 | Round 9