Saints thrash Eagles by 101 points amid ARC controversy
Updated ,first published
Your daily football news package in today’s AFL Briefing:
- The Saints’ 101-point win over West Coast moved them to a 3-4 record and they will face two more bottom-four opponents in the next three weeks.
- St Kilda’s missing piece Max King survived his first official match in 665 days by returning to football via the VFL.
- Resurgent North Melbourne have hit a bump in the road after Toby Greene dazzled in his landmark match for GWS.
St Kilda crush Eagles
Marc McGowan
St Kilda kicked 22 goals in their most dominant performance of the season on Sunday and eventually won the third quarter to beat West Coast by 101 points amid another ARC row.
The lopsided victory at Marvel Stadium took the revamped Saints to a 3-4 record and they will face two last-four foes in the next three weeks, Carlton and Richmond, either side of traveling to Darwin to meet the Gold Coast.
Mattaes Phillipou’s strike in the final three minutes sealed St Kilda’s eighth unanswered goal of the last term and the club’s first triple-digit lead since beating Essendon by 110 points in the round of 14 in 2015.
It was the Eagles’ second 100-point defeat this year after a 128-point haul from Sydney in round four. Coach Andrew McQualter acknowledged Sunday that his team has “gone backwards” in recent weeks.
But the biggest talking point was the decision to delete nearly 50 seconds of play in the second quarter following what was initially called the Saints’ long-range misfire by Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera.
Following this long start from behind, the referees suddenly created confusion when the ARC review found that Rowan Marshall had flagged Wanganeen-Milera’s strike before the ball had fully crossed the goal line.
Replays appeared inconclusive based on Marshall’s signal and the goal referee appeared to be in an ideal position to make his initial decision, but he took advantage to score St Kilda’s fourth goal approximately 18 minutes into the second quarter.
This started the Saints’ flurry over the Eagles, which increased their lead to 40 points at halftime.
It is common for goals to be reversed before play restarts at the center following official or silent ARC reviews, but Sunday’s circumstances were unusual. Age It has contacted the AFL for comment.
“It was a little different. I was glad they finally called back because I felt like I might have flagged it,” Marshall said. Age.
“I think that’s why the review was done. If the difference had been one goal it would have been a big decision in the game, so in the end I think the right decision was made.”
“I said to the referee, ‘I think he might have been marked’ but obviously we want them to support it and I think that’s why the ARC came into play… [but] I didn’t see him [a scenario like this] In a match before.”
St Kilda were 15 points ahead at the time, so McQualter later described the decision as “a bit of a change of momentum”, but made it clear that it would not be right to attribute the heavy defeat to the incident.
“I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this. I just think if they’re going to do this it needs to be clearly established,” McQualter said.
“They have to do it right. If it’s touch and go, I don’t think you change the game and the flow of the game by making such a decision… [but] I had bigger problems to deal with today. I don’t care. This is a problem they have to deal with. “If I lost a big final like this, I’d probably care a little more about it.”
Saints coach Ross Lyon was cautious about his reaction to the ARC call but said the process was generally at odds with league headquarters’ desire to shorten games.
“All in all, it was a positive development for us, so I’ll accept it,” Lyon said.
“In the context of the game being shortened, I’m not sure it meets those criteria – but I think it’s the best of intentions. So when people have the best of intentions, I don’t think we should undermine that.”
Wanganeen-Milera stood out again with 34 disposals, while Jack Higgins kicked a match-high five goals and league standout Callum Wilkie kicked a further 16 goals and made 12 interceptions in his latest superb defensive performance.
Former Eagle Liam Ryan was also among the seven goalkeepers in his first game against his former team, while Hugo Garcia also had 32 touches and two goals.
In one of his usual barrages with the media following last week’s one-point defeat against the Crows in Adelaide, Lyon insisted his side were making progress despite winning just two of their first six games in 2026.
Part of Lyon’s argument was that St Kilda had endured a tough fixture. The rebuilding Eagles were the exact opposite in that regard. But he wasn’t too happy with how his Saints did against the West Coast.
St Kilda have lost the first six third quarters this year and conceded the first two goals at half-time on Sunday before ending that drought by scoring seven of the next nine quarters to go into the final break with a 55-point cushion.
“We didn’t like it [our third quarter] For reasons I won’t go into detail about, but there was consistency in our play in the other three quarters, so we’ll move forward pretty quickly,” Lyon said.
“There were others too [third] Quarters 18 to 19 where we dominated inflows and then we were a little bit inefficient. Today we had 10 to 9 and scored 7.1, which is what Brisbane did to us. So sometimes there is no logic or reason.”
Lyon chose not to comment on the removal of Will Houghton KC, chairman of the AFL’s Appeals Board, who oversaw the decision to significantly reduce Saint Lance Collard’s suspension for a homophobic insult in a VFL match.
Max King makes VFL comeback
Peter Ryan
St Kilda missing piece Max King has survived his first official game in 665 days as he returns via the VFL after a miserable injury streak that lasted close to two seasons.
The 25-year-old played nearly 60 per cent of game time, kicking the cobwebs against Gold Coast at Moorabbin on Sunday. He sat on the bench in the final quarter as Gold Coast ran out a 35-point lead. King was in control minutes and showed no discomfort throughout the match.
King played forward and attacked many marking contests, relying on the Suns’ key defenders Caleb Graham and Caleb Lewis.
After taking the lead in the first quarter, he missed a set shot and missed the goal. He also had a beautiful dunk and scored in the forward 50 stoppages, but finished the game with just four touches.
The Saints’ squad included top-10 draft picks Alix Tauru and Tobie Travaglia, as well as veteran Jack Macrae and speedy Liam Henry; The Suns, on the other hand, had almost the full roster listed.
King’s last AFL game took place on June 30, 2024, and he has suffered a number of setbacks, including knee injuries and more recently a calf problem.
He has played 83 matches and scored 159 goals in his career so far. King has a contract with the Saints until the end of the 2032 season.
Suns’ Alex Davies has shown in his role why clubs are interested in his services beyond 2026. Fellow Suns veterans Joel Jeffrey and Charlie Ballard were impressive defensively.
Greene celebrates milestone as Kangas hits road bump
AAP
North Melbourne’s best start to the AFL season in a decade suffered a blow after Toby Greene dazzled in the milestone match to lead Greater Western Sydney to a seven-point win in Canberra.
The Kangaroos were off to their best start to the season since a 9-0 mark in 2016. A thrilling 75-point victory over Richmond in the final round It increased the joy of the club.
But their winning ways came to a tense end on Sunday as the Giants secured a 15.15 (105) to 14.14 (98) victory.
This was a much-needed win for GWS (3-4), who had lost four of their previous five matches.
They were buoyed by a flurry of returning players, including Jesse Hogan (quad), who provided the spark with two goals after North Melbourne took a 19-point lead into the first quarter.
From there, the Giants rallied to take the lead in the second term before both teams traded goals in a seesaw contest.
With the scores level at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Greene and Jake Stringer scored important goals that would pave the way for the victory.
North threatened to overrun when Harry Sheezel and young gun Finn O’Sullivan kicked the seniors to push their team into the home team’s goal.
The Giants took advantage of opportunities that left the outcome in doubt, but still managed to stay strong and prevail.
Greene was typically inspirational as he became the Giant’s most capped player with 268, surpassing Callan Ward’s old mark.
The 32-year-old had 27 disposals, two goals and 502 metres, while halfback Lachie Ash was also busy with 30 disposals and 757 metres.
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