Slick Eagles too good for St Kilda
West Coast register their fifth straight win, an impressive 53-point victory over St Kilda.
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WEST COAST 7.3 8.4 15.6 20.11 (131) ST KILDA 1.2 6.4 10.5 12.6 (78)
Goals: West Coast: J Hill 4 J Kennedy 4 E Yeo 3 J Cripps 3 B Sheppard C Sinclair F McInnes L Shuey M LeCras M Priddis. St Kilda: J Bruce 2 J Sinclair 2 M Weller 2 A Schneider D Roberton E Templeton J Newnes S Savage T Membrey.
BEST: West Coast: Shuey, Priddis, Gaff, McGovern, Naitanui, Duggan. St Kilda: Steven, Armitage, Weller, Billings, Newnes, Montagna.
INJURIES: St Kilda: Webster (concussion), Fisher (hamstring).
Umpires: Chris Kamolins, Jason Armstrong, Nicholas Foot.
Official Crowd: 23,598 at Etihad Stadium.
Was it a slight on West Coast or a compliment to St Kilda that many came to Etihad Stadium on Saturday thinking it possible the Saints would expose the Eagles as not as good as their second place on the ladder might suggest?
St Kilda's Sean Dempster marks in front of West Coast's Josh Kennedy Photo: Getty Images
The Eagles are probably not the second best team in the league right now, but they left Melbourne-based judges who had not seen them play live much this season impressed.
To say they are not a finals calibre team would be to ignore the slick-skilled, furious-paced football they used to break St Kilda in two bursts in the first and third quarters.
It would sell short a team that has now won six of eight games.
But the Saints are also worthy of compliment, for that was the other undeniable statement made in this contest.
Put simply, the Saints are not an easy team to break now. And indeed it takes a good team, perhaps one September-bound, to do it.
West Coast are not the only team that knows it.
Greater Western Sydney found it out in round one, Essendon understood fully in round five and, most telling, the Western Bulldogs could certainly have told you after in round six.
In all four matches, counting Saturday's, a common formula has under-pinned the great spirit the Saints have shown – hard and fast games at Etihad Stadium in which St Kilda has been able to wrestle the momentum back through, first and foremost, great team pressure.
There was no better example than Saturday's game, in which a seven-goals-to-one burst in the first quarter by Adam Simpson's team threatened to make this anything but the compelling contest it ultimately became.
The Saints responded in the second quarter by laying 36 tackles for the term which, to provide context, was one more than Carlton laid for the entire night against Geelong on Friday.
Jack Steven, again, led the way on both sides of the ball with 36 disposals and an incredible 12 tackles.
At least at this ground, that is becoming a Saints trademark. Not quite Port Adelaide's "never give up" mantra, but certainly opposition teams know they will have to play well and from siren to siren to beat the Saints at Etihad Stadium.
The Eagles, of course, did play well.
Ultimately, they were able to play at a speed and skill level for enough of this game to make a big difference, for instance the seven-goal third-quarter burst that finally put the result beyond doubt.
In the end, that difference was 53 points, but the the margin blew out in the last quarter – perhaps unfairly, given the Saints lost Jimmy Webster to concussion and then defender Sam Fisher to a hamstring injury.
The Eagles' rushing coast-to-coast play off half-back, through the corridor and use of lightning-quick handball chains on the way was more than a team at St Kilda's level of development is yet ready to handle.
They had an advantage in the midfield, where Nic Naitanui and Callum Sinclair owned the hit-outs, 59-36, which meant that the Eagles got takeways that led to goals at critical times.
Every time the Saints challenged and got close – in the third quarter, it was seven points - it just seemed like the West Coast would win the next centre bounce and get the game back on their terms.
Their on-ball brigade has "blink-and-miss-it" hands in tight, which helps them move swiftly from congestion and ignite their running game.
Matt Priddis (31 disposals, seven clearances), Andrew Gaff (33 disposals, six inside 50s) and Luke Shuey (28 disposals, nine clearances) do it beautifully, and on Saturday Liam Duggan (23 disposals, eight inside 50s) had one of his best games after sliding under the Saints' radar.
The Eagles appear, for now at least, to have a deep and damaging midfield fleet - maybe one that could compete with the best teams. But there are far bigger tests to come for the Eagles' midfield "B Squad".
They are a powerful offensive team. Going into round eight, only Hawthorn had scored more points and they piled on another 131 points against the Saints.
Josh Kennedy kicked four goals and took big marks, but he had plenty of helpers like Josh Hill (four goals), Elliott Yeo (three) and Jamie Cripps (three). Cripps kicked a stunning running goal early in the game.
Up the other end, where the Eagles are valiant but vulnerable owing, to a horrible run of injuries to several key defenders, it helped that Nick Riewoldt did not play. In short, their midfield dominance made it easier for them to combat the likes of Josh Bruce (two goals) and the Saints exciting small forwards who stepped up when their team was firing.
Jeremy McGovern continues to defy the odds in leading the Eagles' low-profile but hard-working defence defence and was crucial with 18 disposals and seven rebound 50s.
