Demons flirt with finals failure after Saints shock
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Tim Membrey finished off that work well in the forward 50 by kicking four goals while Gresham was influential everywhere with four of his own and a hand in a number of others.
The Saints simply ran harder to overlap and carry the ball quickly forward, while the Demons looked to rely on their inside midfield strength too heavily, and lacked either the ability, desire or game plan to hurt St Kilda with similar outside run. Angus Brayshaw was the only Melbourne player who seemed able to match inside grit and outside poise to a damaging standard for long enough.
The Demons kicked the first three goals of the game, however, with the Saints rarely advancing past the halfway point of the ground. Melbourne were expertly setting a trap, letting the Saints out of the 50 but then pouncing across half-forward. Two goals to Brayshaw, his first a fine show of strength and poise, set the tone, but the Saints hit back with four of their own. The best of those was thanks to 2017 first-round draft pick Clark, who burst forward and found Billings with a clever chip kick. Billings missed but was dumped after the tackle and the downfield advantage was converted by Gresham, whose burn off half-back at a centre clearance created the previous Saints goal, a mark and set shot by Membrey.
Melbourne kicked the first goal of the second quarter but let the Saints away again. St Kilda did a brilliant job at isolating Melbourne’s defenders. Their forwards tried to make sure they weren’t too close to each other, meaning Melbourne’s defenders couldn’t peel off their opponents to create overloads. That worked well for Steele who capitalised from some quick ball movement to take the Saints’ lead to 15 points. The Demons got their noses back in front with three of their own but St Kilda kicked four of five goals to end the quarter.
The Demons were frustrating, shooting themselves in the foot. They conceded four of seven Saints second quarter goals due to poor discipline. Two – one each to Savage and Jack Newnes – came because Melbourne allowed them a free run to receive handpasses on the 50 and then shoot for goal after their teammates had marked, and the other two were due to 50m penalties. Jake Melksham gave one away for running into the protected zone while Armitage kicked a goal due to a 50m penalty against Clayton Oliver, who dangerously dumped an opponent in a tackle after the umpire had whistled for a separate free kick.
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