Having a multi-pronged forward attack is always hard to beat.

And the St Kilda attack of 1994 showed that in devastating fashion in 1994 when the twin towers of Tony Lockett and Stewart Loewe and brilliant forward pocket Craig O’Brien combined in stunning fashion against Essendon at the MCG.

The Saints won a shootout by scoring 18.2 (110) to Essendon’s 15.10 (100).

St Kilda’s recent final scoreline of 12.1 against Port Adelaide was one out of the box and it prompted memories of that famous St Kilda-Essendon game.

In the July 1994 game at the MCG St Kilda’s winning score of 18.2 (110) represented a 90 per cent rate of accuracy. The 12 goals out of 13 scoring shots in this year’s Port Adelaide produced a 92 per cent return.

St Kilda’s deadly accurate day came towards the end of an injury-plagued season. By the time of this Round 18 encounter, Loewe had missed 12 games and Lockett 13 and the Saints hadn’t won a game for eight weeks.

In their absence a remodelled attack had relied heavily on the smaller O’Brien. In the first 17 rounds the trio had only been together in two games, but on this sunny July afternoon they worked in perfect harmony.

O’Brien revelled in the fact that the opposing defence concentrated on Lockett and Loewe. He bagged four goals straight, while Lockett ended with 6.1 and Loewe 3.1, hauling in 12 marks along the way.

Craig O’Brien remembers that he copped some stitches in the eye during that clash with his old team.

“That was the year I really started to understand how to play next to Tony Lockett. Later on when we were both at Sydney we built a better relationship (as forwards)," O'Brien said.

"I remember Ian Dargie came to the Saints from WA and he made the mistake of getting in Plugger’s way in a practice match.”

The Saints burst out of the gates in the first term with 8.1 and built a 16-point lead by the first change. Seven of the goals had come through Lockett, Loewe and O’Brien.

In a strange match-up, Joe Misiti was placed on Loewe. Meanwhile Anthony Daniher picked up Lockett and Chris Daniher took O’Brien.

Bomber coach Kevin Sheedy observed after the game that St Kilda was a better side than most people thought. He had not changed his match-ups in the first quarter, but as the game wore on the changes became more frequent.

When O’Brien’s goal put the Saints 29 points ahead four minutes into the last quarter, it should have  been all over.

Essendon had other ideas and a burst of five goals in seven minutes set the scene for an exciting finish. In the end it was left to 18-year-old Damen Shaw to stitch up the game when he received a free kick and goalled from a difficult angle.

An unsung hero of the win was centreman Darren Bourke.

The talented left-footer had 30 possessions to provide a highlight of a year when he had been waylaid by stress fractures in the foot.

Only able to train for 45 minutes per night, he was able to feed the attack with rapier-like passes and remind everyone at the club how much he had been missed.

ST KILDA  8.1  10.2  15.2  18.2 (110)
ESSENDON  5.3  7.7  10.9  15.10 (100)

BEST
Loewe, Burke, O’Brien Keogh, Lockett, D.Bourke, Lappin, D.Shaw

GOALS
Lockett 6, O’Brien 4, Loewe 3, Shaw 2, N.Burke, Vidovic, D.Bourke