St Kilda ends Tigers' finals hopes

St Kilda 27.12 (174) def. Richmond 10.11 (71)

St Kilda have thrashed Richmond by 103 points on the back of an equal career best 10 goal haul to Fraser Gehrig, as Jason Gram, Leigh Montagna, Robert Harvey, Luke Ball and Sam Fisher ran amok.

With key defenders Andrew Kellaway and Darren Gaspar both being late withdrawals, it was always going to be a tough ask for Richmond to match it with the power forwards of the St Kilda line up.

The game was set up through a nine goal second quarter to St Kilda, five to Gehrig alone, as Gehrig and Nick Riewoldt were too much for the Richmond defence to handle.

Gram started the match in fine form for St Kilda, slotting through three first quarter goals as he was rewarded for some hard running. Richmond, on the other hand, were left to rue their poor disposal as their numerous skill errors allowed St Kilda plenty of opportunities to attack.

With 21 entries into their forward 50 for the quarter, it was merely a matter of time before St Kilda’s dominance started to show on the scoreboard.

After Jay Schultz kicked his second goal of the quarter to bring Richmond to within three points, St Kilda kicked three goals in four minutes, one through Gram and two through Gehrig to extend the lead to 21 points at the first break.

With Matthew Richardson spending a fair amount of the first quarter on the bench, Richmond seemed to lack direction going forward. Compounding this was Richmond’s inability to capitalise on Troy Simmond’s dominance in the ruck, with St Kilda clearing the ball from stoppages at will.

Richardson started the second quarter well, kicking Richmond’s third goal for the day within the first minute before three goals to St Kilda extended the lead back out to 33 points.

As the lights came on, Gehrig and Riewoldt started to get on top of Ray Hall and Joel Bowden with Gehrig one on one proving impossible to beat as he kicked five goals in the quarter.

Things only got worse for Richmond as after Gehrig kicked his fourth goal for the day, Nathan Brown strained his hamstring as he stretched out to take a mark on a lead and his day was over. St Kilda were not without their injury worries however, as Brendan Goddard had to leave the field on a stretcher late in the second quarter after a collision with Greg Stafford. Goddard later returned to the ground showing no ill effects.

With Richmond skipper Kane Johnson doing an excellent job minding Nick Dal Santo (five possessions to half time), Harvey, Montagna and Sam Fisher racked up 42 possessions between them in the first half alone as St Kilda built a commanding lead at the main break.

With a 47 point advantage coming into the third quarter, St Kilda continued to dominate every aspect of the game and piled on another nine goals as Richmond had no answer for the relentless running of Gram and Montagna, who kicked their fourth and third goals respectively in the third quarter.

Richardson continued to work hard for Richmond, presenting again and again as he ran himself into the ground, whilst Johnson continued his excellent work on Dal Santo. These two, along with Simmonds and Andrew Raines were the only shining lights for Richmond as St Kilda had far too many goal scoring options and players willing to run through the middle of the ground.

The game lost a lot of its sting in the final quarter as Gehrig added one goal to his total and in the process matched his career best with a ten goal haul as St Kilda inflicted Richmond’s third loss of over 100 points for the season.

For the victors, Gram and Montagna provided plenty of drive from half back, combining for a massive 63 possessions and seven goals, as St Kilda are running into form at the right time of the year.

St Kilda now have a clash with West Coast next Friday night at the Telstra Dome to look forward to as they continue their surge for a top two finish. Richmond on the other hand, now face a tough battle if they are to feature in the finals this year, starting with their game against the Western Bulldogs next Saturday.

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