Essendon has notched up just its third win of the season with a 35-point upset of St Kilda in a see-sawing affair at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.
The Saints had won eight games so far this season to the Bombers' lowly two, but you wouldn't have picked it from the opening bounce of the 15.17 (107) to 11.6 (72) result, nor from the second-half acceleration after the Saints drew level.
After a flat effort against Carlton last week, Essendon was noticeably sharper in its pressure around the ground, catching St Kilda on the hop and forcing a number of forward-half turnovers.
By contrast, the Saints were messy entering attack, and unable to properly capitalise on the seven-centimetre height advantage Max King had on Jordan Ridley, with James Stewart on the bench as sub.
Integral Bombers midfielder Darcy Parish was sidelined with a badly corked calf, but Essendon was able to string together disposal chains by hand with ease in the first half.
St Kilda broke the emergency glass and sent Tim Membrey to defence halfway through the second quarter, which stemmed the bleeding somewhat, but robbed King of his partner-in-crime up forward.
The Saints were only three adrift in inside 50s and one ahead in clearances at the main break, despite being 28 points behind.
And finally, the on-field output started to match the statistics, the Saints coming out with menace and purpose, piling on five straight goals to tie the match up 15 minutes into the third term.
The Bombers of old (last week's edition) would have folded then and there, but Jake Stringer had other ideas, breaking free to kick 2.1 from nine disposals as the Bombers rattled on six straight of their own.
Jade Gresham did everything possible to get the Saints the win, while Josh Battle was impressive in defence and Bradley Hill busy off half-back.
Mason Redman had a career-high 31 disposals, providing plenty of creativity out of defence and Peter Wright provided a lovely full-stop on his 100th game, kicking the final two of his four goals in the last minute of the game.
Spud's Game: Time 2 Talk.
The start of the match was delayed by two minutes as the two sides and umpires came together to join arms in the centre of the ground. Essendon and St Kilda legends Tim Watson and Nathan Burke addressed the group, the crowd and the broadcast audience, urging everyone to take two minutes to talk to a mate about mental health in a moving address.
ST KILDA 2.1 3.3 8.4 11.6 (72)
ESSENDON 4.5 7.7 13.11 15.17 (107)
GOALS
St Kilda: Gresham 3, Billings 2, Higgins 2, King, Marshall, Ryder, Long
Essendon: Wright 4, Jones 2, Stringer 2, Draper 2, Guelfi 2, Durham, Martin, Perkins
BEST
St Kilda: Gresham, Hill, Sinclair, Membrey, Battle
Essendon: Merrett, Redman, Shiel, Wright, Stringer
INJURIES
St Kilda: Nil
Essendon: Heppell (hand)
SUBSTITUTES
St Kilda: Marcus Windhager (unused)
Essendon: James Stewart (unused)
Crowd: 33,274 at Marvel Stadium
