Cats held to draw by Saints
Geelongâs finals hopes take a major hit after they draw with St Kilda at Etihad Stadium.
PT1M30S 620 349ST KILDA 5.4 8.7 11.9 14.13 (97) GEELONG 5.1 9.2 13.4 15.7 (97)
Goals: St Kilda: D Minchington 3, J Bruce 3, S Gilbert 2, T Hickey 2, J Newnes, N Riewoldt, S Savage, T Membrey. Geelong: S Johnson 4, T Hawkins 3, N Vardy 2, A Mackie, C Gregson, C Guthrie, H Taylor, N Cockatoo, S Motlop.
BEST: St Kilda: Riewoldt, Steven, Gilbert, Ross, Montagna, Dunstan, Goddard. Geelong: Guthrie, Motlop, Johnson, Enright, Vardy, Bartel.
Injuries: Geelong: J Caddy (knee).
Umpires: Jacob Mollison, Luke Farmer, Brent Wallace.
Venue: Etihad Stadium.
An undermanned St Kilda produced a mighty performance to conjure a heart-stopping draw on Saturday night, yet Geelong's finals prospects are as they would have been if Nakia Cockatoo's late goal on the run hadn't been cancelled out by Shane Savage's snapped behind 14 seconds before the final siren.
Steve Johnson of the Cats is challenged by Jarryn Geary of the Saints. Photo: Getty Images
Meanwhile, the conversation around whether Steve Johnson's remarkable career should extend into a 15th season moved into the realm of the extraordinary.
The Saints were missing key cogs David Armitage and Sean Dempster among seven forced changes, but were led magnificently by captain Nick Riewoldt, who played off a wing in the manner of the young racehorses of another football era. If Savage's hurried effort out of a goalmouth pack had gone the other side of the post, they would have been celebrating and Geelong's push for another slice of September would have been shredded.
Now, the Cats must win their last two games (against Collingwood and Adelaide) and pray for the Crows to also go down to West Coast or North Melbourne to lose its way.
So near, yet so far: Shane Savage of the Saints rues his miss at goal after the match ended in a draw. Photo: Getty Images
St Kilda was in front for 84 minutes, the Cats barely 30, but Cockatoo's goal for the fourth lead change of a pulsating last quarter looked like it would be enough. It was going to take something to stop everyone talking about Johnson's remarkable second-quarter faux pas; by siren time all were speechless.
Having kicked the first four goals of the game, the Saints still led by two deep into the second quarter when Darcy Lang intercepted a clearance and fed Johnson with clear air between Cat and goal. Stevie J ambled in, took a bounce, glanced over his left shoulder, slowed to a virtual walk – and was mown down by Savage.
Neglecting to check the right wing mirror as well ensured Heath Shaw's 2010 grand final replay rundown of Riewoldt looks tame by comparison. Malcolm Blight strolling through the MCG goalsquare and calmly dribbling the ball through for a point has a contender for the game's most embarrassing gaffe.
Yet true to maddening form, five minutes later Johnson swooped in the pocket and screwed home a sublime left-foot goal that gave the Cats the half-time lead. He added two more in the third quarter as Geelong got on top, and finished with four.
The Saints were a model of application, Seb Ross' effort in restricting Joel Selwood to 21 touches exemplified their determination to step up and claim a scalp. At this stage of the season the points in the "win" column matter only to the Cats, but St Kilda was the more worthy winner.
The first bounce pitted a man making history against one all-too familiar with heartache, as Jason Holmes became the first born-and-bred American to play AFL and Nathan Vardy resumed his tortured career. Both did the occasion proud.
Holmes liked what he saw of this foreign game when his introduction featured vision of Nic Naitainui reaching for the sky in ruck contests, and his steepling climbs and clean palming ensured the crowd had a new favourite within minutes. By then Darren Minchinton had kicked the first two goals before Cat fans even had a chance to thumb their Record to check who he was, and when Josh Bruce and Tim Membrey followed his lead the Saints were four goals up inside eight minutes. A three-to-one contested possession dominance told of the underdog catching the fancied foe napping.
Vardy kick-started the Cats' response with a goal from a free, Tom Hawkins coolly slotted a couple, and when the industrious Cam Guthrie found Harry Taylor for an after-the-siren goal, the Saints' admirable toil added up to only a three-point lead.
Johnson's calamity overshadowed all else that happened in a goal-for-goal second quarter in which Jack Steven and Riewoldt churned away, Steven Motlop and Guthrie did likewise for the Cats, and Josh Caddy succumbed to a knee injury and had to be subbed out at half-time.
Riewoldt played essentially as a midfielder and found the ball so regularly that when Selwood couldn't get near it he took himself out of the square, put captain on captain and hoped some of Riewoldt's magnetism would rub off. Selwood got better as the night wore on, but Riewoldt was the show's star.
Johnson ran hard and kicked truly twice but when Riewoldt goaled from his first possession inside the forward 50 and Tom Hickey kicked his second it was all square. Guthrie presented again and finished sweetly from long range for breathing space at the last change.
Minchinton closed that to a hair's breadth after a sublime tap from Holmes, and Sam Gilbert changed the lead yet again from long range after a Jimmy Bartel infringement. Motlop, playing brilliantly against a backdrop of an uncertain future, bounded away to wrest it back and looked to have landed another but was pinged for running too far.
He must have been tempted to get out the tape measure, while Johnson would surely love to hit rewind and play one embarrassing passage again.
