St Kilda need a victory over Brisbane on Friday night to keep their final hopes alive, but they’ll be without inspirational mid Dan Hannebery.
The Saints (11-9, 101.1%) have taken a cautious approach with the veteran after he tweaked his ankle in last week’s loss to Geelong.
Brisbane (14-6, 124.2%) have their own injury woes with defender Marcus Adams ruled out with concussion.
The Lions have beaten St Kilda just once at Marvel Stadium in 22 years, dating back to 2000 when it was known as Colonial Stadium.
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The medi subs are Zak Jones (St Kilda) and Ryan Lester (Brisbane).
This match gets underground at 7.50pm AEST from Marvel Stadium.
Watch it live on Fox Footy (channel 504) from 7pm AEST.
Follow St Kilda v Brisbane in our live blog below!
QUARTER BY QUARTER MATCH REPORT
The Saints showed their cards early when tagger Marcus Windhager went straight to Lachie Neale for the first bounce.
And despite the Lions doing all the attacking in the opening minutes, it was Jack Higgins who got St Kilda on the board first.
Higgins pounced when Oscar McInerney missed with his hands in the middle of the ground.
The Saint set sail for home from the center square and it bounced through.
“One tiny little handling error and it’s out the back door,” commentator Brian Taylor said.
Neale headed deep forward in a bid to try and overcome the Windhager tag, but had just one touch to his name after more than 10 minutes of play.
“He and the Lions asking the question.. ‘alright you can run around the midfield as a tagger but how do you go as a pure defender if I go forward?’ Good move,” commentator Daisy Pearce praised.
After early misses by Dan McStay and Hugh McCluggage, plus Cam Rayner’s out on the full, it took a brilliant Charlie Cameron contested grab to get the Lions on the board.
McCluggage then added his side’s second a minute later from the center clearance.
The ball just wouldn’t sit for Neale as he streamed inside 50 and the Saints dodged a third bullet as Jack Sinclair was there to bring the ball out of defense.
But the first term was played mostly in the Lions’ front half as St Kilda were unable to clear.
When Jarrod Lienert won a big ruck battle against McInerney, the Saints got forward and Tim Membrey didn’t disappoint with the snap – and he went to Dayne Zorko to let him know about it.
Tempers threatened to spill over a few times in the first term as the Saints sat just one-point behind.
“St Kilda are on track to record 100 tackles here,” commentator James Brayshaw said.
“They have come to play.”
Mason Wood then gave the Saints the lead after Mitch Owens broke free from the stoppage and got the handball out.
But St Kilda let the lead slip after the quarter time siren when Hipwood slotted his set shot from 40m out.
The second term belonged entirely to the Lions as they found another gear and kicked away.
A big Brad Crouch bump rocked Lion Darcy Gardiner early in the second term as the Saint crashed heavily into his opponent.
Pearce immediately thought Crouch’s actions would draw at least a week’s ban, but luckily for Gardner he was able to stay out on the field.
Joe Daniher went aerial before kicking his first goal of the night before Linc McCarthy extended Brisbane’s lead to 14 points minutes later.
Like the first quarter, the ball remained locked in Brisbane’s attack as St Kilda’s defense was put under enormous pressure.
Hipwood got out the back and goaled from the square before another big contested grab by McStay pushed the lead out to a game-high 26 points.
Wood gave the Saints some hope minutes out from half time with a big goal from just outside 50.
But by the main break, Brisbane held a 22-point lead.
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