It was one of those games when the Saints dominated general play, but for a variety of reasons couldn’t put the opposition away.

With 10 minutes to play, the Dockers were charging home at Subiaco Oval in WA. They had booted five unanswered goals and had all the late momentum. It was only a cool, calm goal by Adam Schneider that settled the issue right at the end.

Schneider says: “I remember it was Milney’s 200th. I had a shot for goal with a snap from the boundary and Milney tried to toe-poke it, but missed it. 

“Ross Lyon was always big on special occasions. We watched Milney’s highlights before the game which Milney made himself, I think! He loves it that much. It was a really important game for us to win and travel well.

“We’d had a bit if history over there because we had won there for Robert Harvey’s 350^th and that was brought up. There were not many St Kilda fans there and I can remember complete silence after we kicked a couple of goals. That’s the key when you play over there.” 

Going into the match, St Kilda and Freo sat in third and fourth place respectively. The trip to Perth is never comfortable for any travelling team, but St Kilda headed west in the knowledge that three weeks earlier they had knocked off West Coast on the same ground.

Stephen Milne’s brilliant start to his milestone game silenced the home crowd. He booted the opening goal of the day and had four on the board by half-time. He was quietened to a degree by Chris Tarrant after half time, but others such as Justin Koschitzke dictated terms in the forward half.

The continued absence of Nick Riewoldt with a torn hamstring meant that others had to fill the void and no one exemplified that better than Brendon Goddard who racked up 20 touches by half-time and finished with 33 for the day.

It was Milne’s opposite number at the other end, Freo’s Hayden Ballantyne, who posed the only sustained threat to the Saints’ defence. He looked likely to assume the mantle of the competition’s main irritant over the next decade. St Kilda had enormous drive from Goddard, Sam Gilbert and Nick Dal Santo, and for most of the day Fremantle had no players of equivalent drive and consistency.

St Kilda never completely shook off the Dockers until Schneider’s final goal, but the breakaway had come early in the third quarter when Koschitzke and Clint Jones goalled in quick succession. Not long before three-quarter time, the gap had widened to 36 points in St Kilda’s favour.

It was an encounter which had an edge even before the players took the field. During the week Freo coach Mark Harvey had questioned St Kilda’s use of a private plane to get to Perth.

After the siren there was an unseemly squabble among players which wasn’t a good look. Dockers Hayden Ballantyne and Ryan Crowley figured prominently. Saint Steven Baker, who was Ballantyne’s opponent said that it was the Dockers who had started the ruckus.

The memory burns bright for Schneider, who this year is coach of Lavington.

After two seasons as an assistant coach at GWS he asked to be released a year early from his contract, as he became tired of spending so much time away from his wife and kids because of the COVID rules.

“In two years of my daughter playing netball I saw her play just one game. It’s just the simple things in life that you miss out on.”

ST KILDA  2.1  8.6  11.7  12.13 (85)
FREMANTLE  2.1  4.5  7.6  10.7 (67)

GOALS
Milne 4, Koschitzke 2, Schneider 2, McQualter, Gardiner, Jones, Gilbert

BEST 
Milne, Goddard, Gilbert, Schneider, Jones, Koschitzke.