St Kilda has held off a surging Gold Coast to win its first game of the AFLW season by three points, and strike a hammer blow to the Suns' finals hopes.

The last-placed Saints led by 24 points early in the match but had to grit their teeth late as Suns forward Sarah Perkins spurned two chances to steal victory in the final two minutes.

Together We Rise: Become a 2022 Member today

With the 5.4 (34) to 4.7 (31) victory at Trevor Barker Beach Oval, St Kilda shook off Wednesday's after-the-siren loss to Greater Western Sydney but remain bottom of the ladder.

The Suns are within touching distance of the top six but their poor percentage means they must win their final two games and rely on other results to make finals.

SAINTS MATCH CENTRE: View all news, stats and videos from Round 8

St Kilda's Tilly Lucas-Rodd (21 disposals, nine tackles) impressed through midfield while Cat Phillips (17 disposals) and Tarni White (15 touches, seven tackles) were typically hard-working.

Tara Bohanna kept the Suns in the match with three goals, while defender Vivien Saad (14 touches, four marks) and midfielder Jaimee Stanton (16 disposals) worked hard all day.

Round 8 v Gold Coast
  • 01:49

    AFLW | RD8 All the goals v Gold Coast

    Enjoy all the goals from our thrilling three-point win over Gold Coast in Round 8.

    AFLW
  • 00:39

    'Thank you so much for sticking with us': Priest's message to fans after Round 8 triumph

    Hear from AFLW Captain Hannah Priest after our Round 8 win against Gold Coast

    AFLW
  • 01:36

    'It's amazing to finally get a win': Exon after Round 8 win

    Nat Exon spoke to STK Media following our Round 8 win against Gold Coast

    AFLW
  • 03:00

    AFLW | RD8 Dal Santo post-match

    Watch St Kilda's press conference after round eight's match against Gold Coast

    AFLW
  • 10:42

    AFLW | RD8 Mini-Match: St Kilda v Gold Coast

    The Saints and Suns clash in round eight of the NAB AFL Women's Competition

    AFLW
  • 05:35

    AFLW | RD8 Highlights v Gold Coast

    The Saints and Suns clash in round eight of the NAB AFL Women's Competition

    AFLW
  • 03:51

    AFLW | RD8 Last two minutes: Saints withstand Suns onslaught to notch first win of 2022

    Enjoy the thrilling final moments between the Saints and Suns

    AFLW
  • 00:29

    AFLW | RD8 Saints suffer big blow with vice-captain helped off

    St Kilda has been dealt an early injury concern with spiritual leader Rhiannon Watt hurt in this ruck contest

    AFLW
  • 00:25

    AFLW | RD8 Livewire Xenos doesn't miss these

    Saints gun Nicola Xenos finds herself on the scoresheet again with this clever opening goal

    AFLW

St Kilda burst out of the blocks with four unanswered goals across the first two quarters, with two coming directly from Gold Coast turnovers.

The Saints suffered a major blow part way through the opening term when Rhi Watt was forced off with a knee injury, with Jacqui Vogt deployed in the ruck.

After Kate Shierlaw gave St Kilda a four-goal lead early in the second term, the Suns found a foothold in the game through Bohanna and Perkins.

The Suns trailed by 16 points at the final change but the brilliant Bohanna created two goals, including beating two St Kilda defenders for her third of the game to cut the deficit to five.

With less than two minutes to go, Perkins received a free kick for a ruck infringement, but pushed her set shot wide.

Barely a minute later, Perkins took a massive mark from close range and had a more straight-forward chance to win the match, but missed again.

Say what?

"It feels very good now, I must admit I wasn't feeling that good when there were a few minutes to play in that last quarter. I think I ticked off every emotion (in that final quarter)." - St Kilda coach Nick Dal Santo

"We gave ourselves a chance to win it in the end, but we took a while to get going and in the end we didn't play our game for long enough, and they did. We gave them a start, and you can't do that in elite sport. We knew they'd be really hungry for a win, and we certainly were a little bit flat-footed and a little bit slow to react at times." - Gold Coast coach Cameron Joyce

What's next?

The Saints return to RSEA Park for the first time this season, playing host to Geelong on Saturday afternoon. The Suns will be back in Melbourne on Sunday evening, taking on Carlton at Ikon Park.

ST KILDA  3.0  4.2  5.2  5.4 (34)
GOLD COAST  0.1  1.2  2.4  4.7 (31)
 
GOALS
St Kilda: Xenos, Exon, McDonald, Shierlaw, Guttridge
Gold Coast: Bohanna 3, Perkins
 
BEST 
St Kilda: Lucas-Rodd, White, Phillips, Priest, Jakobsson
Gold Coast: Stanton, Saad, Whitfort, Bohanna, Drennan
 
INJURIES 
St Kilda: Watt (left knee)
Gold Coast: Groves-Little (head)

LATE CHANGES
St Kilda: Nil
Gold Coast: Nil
 
Reports: Nil
 
Crowd: TBC at Trevor Barker Beach Oval

EXPLORE