St Kilda has secured their place on top of the ladder with a critical 60–82 win over Carlton at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.
With both sides in the top four in the lead-up to Round 6, it was a test of who was going to respond better off a loss after both teams were defeated in Gather Round.
The game started with the ball seemingly flicking from end to end, but both sides struggled to score and pull away with the game tight from the outset.
While the Blues seemingly began to dominate statistically in the second quarter, that didn’t turn into scoreboard dominance as Carlton’s prolific midfielders seemed unable to link up with their forwards as well as St Kilda’s.
Patrick Cripps was the man that led that stoppage dominance with a monstrous second quarter, and while they only led by four points, the Blues would have felt like their contested game was well on top in the first half.
Coming out of half-time though, it was St Kilda who began to even up in that aspect of the game and with their inside 50 entries more clinical, they were able to slowly bridge a gap on their opponents.
As well as a better midfield performance, the Saints truly began to distance themselves with their smalls far more impactful than Carlton’s going forward as they won 14 forward-half groundball-gets in the third quarter alone, while the Blues won just five.
With a stable lead, the Saints continued to trust their processes and were able to hold off their opponents in the last quarter as they executed brilliantly down the stretch to ice the game. While Carlton ultimately won the disposal (446-360), centre clearance (13-9), mark (140-101) and free kick (20-14) counts, the Saints were simply more efficient in being able to turn field position into scores as they had more inside 50s (56-51), marks inside 50 (12-9) and tackles inside 50 (12-9) than their opponents.
Carlton great Mark McClure believes his former side’s inability to turn stat dominance into scores was a symptom of St Kilda stifling their options with ball in hand.
“I love what St Kilda did,” McClure said on AFL Nation.
“Carlton had 80 possessions more than St Kilda did and got beaten by 22 points.
“That says to me that they fiddled around, mucked about and made a mess of most things as they didn’t know where to go or what to do.
“They’ve lost their way a bit, when they were boisterous against Geelong … they took them on, it was ridiculous.”
Youngster Mitch Owens was incredibly impressive as a taller player that was clean below his knees all night up forward with two goals, 16 disposals and seven tackles, while Jade Gresham (one goal, 20 disposals) and Dan Butler (three goals) returned to form.
For the Blues, the likes of Sam Walsh (38 disposals), Patrick Cripps (34 disposals), Adam Cerra (one goal, 39 disposals) and Blake Acres (36 disposals) all had plenty of it as Carlton dominated possession throughout the clash.
The Saints would have also been thrilled that Tim Membrey and Jack Steele got through the game unscathed after the duo returned from injury.
While the Saints were outclassed by a Collingwood side in Round 5, their performance here against Carlton – a team many expect to also battle for the finals – was another test that Ross Lyon’s side has passed, and no one will doubt their credentials in 2023 as their game plan looks rock solid.
The loss means Carlton now sits 7th with a 3-1-2 record but with a poor percentage of 92.4. They’ll fall to eighth if Melbourne defeats Richmond on Anzac Eve.
St Kilda face another test in Round 7 on Friday night against Port Adelaide, but they’ll enter that clash as favourites whereas the Blues will back themselves to get the four points against West Coast in Perth next Saturday night.
FULL SCORE
Carlton: 3.4, 6.7, 7.10, 8.12. (60)
St Kilda: 3.2, 6.3, 11.7, 12.10. (82)
GOALS
Carlton: C. Curnow 3, Silvagni 2, McKay, Durdin, Cerra
St Kilda: Butler 3, Owens 2, Wood, Membrey, Marshall, Higgins, Gresham, Cordy, Clark
BEST
Carlton: Patrick Cripps, Sam Walsh, Adam Cerra, Harry McKay
St Kilda: Mitch Owens, Dan Butler, Jack Sinclair, Jade Gresham, Rowan Marshall
INJURIES
Carlton: N/A
St Kilda: N/A
CROWD: 45,770 at Marvel Stadium