St Kilda has effectively ended its finals chances with a dismal performance as the Western Bulldogs ran riot at Marvel Stadium to claim a 28-point win.
Marcus Bontempelli embodied the Dogs’ resurgence on Friday night, overcoming a patch of quiet form in recent weeks to have the best afield honours sewn up by three quarter time.
The captain also put the final nail in the coffin to end St Kilda’s four-goal late charge.
For three quarters of the clash, Brett Ratten’s men were comprehensively outplayed in scenes that will haunt Saints fans and is a bitter way to all but bow out of finals contention.
In the end, inside 50s read almost identical (49-46 in the Dogs' favour) and so did scoring shots (19-16) as the Saints showed some heart late and even gave supporters tiny hope of a mammoth comeback.
But unsurprisingly, it wasn’t to be.
There’s no doubting that if the Dogs can bring the intensity they had for much of the first half, they would do well at the pointy end of the season.
However, it still seems incredibly unlikely they’ll get there. The win is their ninth of the season, but given they’ll likely need to beat two of Fremantle, Geelong and Melbourne, it seems they’ve brought their best too late in the season.
But on the other hand, the Saints are also just about done. Their percentage dropped to just 101.7 from the loss, and if Richmond win on Saturday, they’ll have to win two more games than them and Sydney to play finals.
With games against Geelong, Brisbane and Sydney to come, that seems highly unlikely, and there will be few who say the Saints deserve to play finals after their past fortnight.
There were many ways to summarise the clash but SEN’s Gerard Whateley did it well, telling AFL Nation early in the third term: “It’s unforgivable (for St Kilda) to present into a game of this magnitude like this.”
"That is far too easy..."
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Fresh off conceding 15 scoring shots in the opening quarter on Friday night last week, the Dogs flipped the switch to be the ones in control early.
In fact, saying Luke Beveridge’s side was in control would be giving too much credit to the Saints, who deserved none for how they began the game. With their finals hopes on the line, again and again throughout the majority of the first half they couldn’t find anything that could resemble their form at the start of the year.
The Saints simply couldn’t move the football and weren’t putting their heads over the footy enough to cover for it, conceding 5.2 and losing contested possessions 34-26 in the opening quarter.
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan was looking as lively as he ever has in his short career at the top level, booting the first goals of the opening two terms as his goal sense shone through.
Weaving through traffic and finishing with class!
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Jamarra Ugle-Hagan has got three. #AFLDogsSaints | #YokayiFooty pic.twitter.com/SDHi3QNVBP
He finished with three goals, and was joined by nine other goal scorers.
Bontempelli also roared back to form. Just last week GWS coach Leon Cameron speculated the Dogs skipper was carrying an injury, but he responded with two goals and 34 touches in claiming best-on-ground honours.
The 26-year-old also had his touch and skill back in spades, a patch of play late in the third term dubbed “the goal assist of all goal assists” by Whateley after some Bontempelli brilliance.
The Dogs forward line was feasting on some remarkable midfield dominance. At half-time, the clearance battle read 21-10, with the Dogs maintaining control of that stat to finish in the green, 41-21.
If any stat summed up the Saints’ first half, it was the tackle count of just 13 for the club at half time.
They’ve averaged 55 a game throughout the year, yet 13 players didn’t have a tackle to their name at the main break.
At one stage, the Dogs had kicked seven unanswered goals, leading to Gerard Healy to label the contest a “debacle” for St Kilda.
“I’m staggered by what I’ve seen in this first half from St Kilda,” he said.
"As good as it gets!"
— AFL (@AFL) July 15, 2022
That outrageously good from Marcus Bontempelli. #ColesGoals | #AFLDogsSaints pic.twitter.com/9MGZ0YLM6O
All in all, they were flattered by the scoreboard, and the contest didn’t improve for the men from Moorabbin in the second half.
The first two majors of the second half going in favour of the Dogs had the writing on the wall, and the Saints would go on to suffer another embarrassing lost quarter.
“Saints supporters deserve better than this,” Hawthorn legend Dermott Brereton added late in the third term.
The team’s last quarter was better, but inaccuracy and possibly selfishness cost them at times as the Dogs threw numbers behind the footy.
For the Saints, strong individual performances were unsurprisingly few and far between. However, Jack Sinclair (36 disposals) tried hard all day and kicked a brilliant goal to start the run in the final term, while Callum Wilkie was also solid in defence.
However, the club’s concerns will revolve around Paddy Ryder in the aftermath of the clash, with the veteran subbed out with a calf strain in the third term.
The Dogs host Melbourne next week, while St Kilda will also hope to win every game to end the season, starting with West Coast Sunday week.
FULL SCORE
Western Bulldogs: 5.2, 8.4, 12.5, 16.6. (84)
St Kilda: 0.2, 2.4, 3.9, 7.14. (%6)
GOALS
Western Bulldogs: Ugle-Hagan 3, Bontempelli 2, Treloar, Dale, Dunkley, Johannisen, Hannan, West, Garcia, Weightman
St Kilda: King 2, Wood, Billings, Jones, Steele, Sinclair
BEST
Western Bulldogs: Bontempelli, Liberatore, Macrae, Richards, Smith
St Kilda: Sinclair, Wilkie, Steele, Membrey, Battke
INJURIES
Western Bulldogs:
St Kilda: Ryder (Calf)