St Kilda have held on in one of the games of the AFL season to claim a crucial eight-point win over GWS at Marvel Stadium. The Saints triumphed 14.12 (96) to 13.10 (88) in a contest that saw the lead change multiple times and never exceed 17 points.
Liam Ryan stars with six goals
A week after kicking a career-best six goals, recruit Liam Ryan matched that feat on Sunday. His six-goal haul was instrumental in steering the Saints to victory, providing a constant threat to the Giants' defence.
Cooper Sharman also contributed four goals for St Kilda, while Aaron Cadman kicked four for GWS.
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera's heroics and injury scare
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera was outstanding for St Kilda, but he suffered an ankle injury during the frenetic final term and ended the game as a forward. Earlier, he sent a scare through the Saints' camp when limping early in the second term, but recovered quickly. Later in the fourth quarter, he had another brush with injury after his foot got caught under GWS ruck Kieren Briggs in a tackle. Wanganeen-Milera was visibly upset with the umpires for not awarding a free kick and struggled to walk, but insisted to medical staff that he would not come off the ground.
Game summary
The margin was never greater than 17 points, and the tight win follows St Kilda's last-gasp loss to Sydney. The Saints badly needed the four points, improving to 6-8 and keeping their finals hopes alive.
There had been talk about what sort of crowd the game would attract, given the first quarter clashed with Australia's World Cup soccer opener. The attendance of 17,748 was about par for St Kilda versus GWS at Marvel Stadium.
GWS had alarm bells ringing for the Saints when they kicked the opening three goals in nine minutes. But the Saints quickly steadied, as Sharman made up for a poor set shot with two goals. St Kilda led by two points at the first change and, after Ryan lit up the start of the second term with three goals, they led by 15 points midway through the quarter.
Now it was questions being asked of the Giants, and they responded, taking control of clearances and kicking the last two goals of the half to only trail by a point.
An outstanding tackle from Marcus Windhager in the third quarter - one of his 10 for the game - floored Phoenix Colthard and earned the Saint a free. It also started a melee, and when play resumed, Windhager handed off to Wanganeen-Milera for a booming goal from outside 50m. That was the last goal of the term, with a succession of behinds leaving the Saints eight points up at the last change.
After playing across half-back for the first three quarters, Wanganeen-Milera went into the middle for the start of the final term. He beat two deep in the forward pocket and dished off to Sharman, who goaled. Despite a tag from Toby Bedford, Wanganeen-Milera's bullet pass also found Ryan, who kicked his sixth to put the Saints up by 13.
Cadman's fourth goal and Jesse Hogan's first then brought the Giants to within a point. The Saints won the next centre clearance and Sharman kicked his fourth, giving them priceless breathing space. The ball lived in the Giants' attack for the last few minutes, but they could not capitalise.
