A brief fight back at the beginning of the third term and fourth term gave Saints fans a glimmer of hope on both occasions, but every time it appeared St Kilda was poised to make a legitimate assault, Mick Malthouse’s men found a steadying goal and arrested the momentum.
A flurry of late majors blew the margin out beyond five goals, but in reality the contest was played on a much closer basis than the end margin would suggest.
Lenny Hayes, in his 284th game for the club, was St Kilda’s most influential player – regularly extracting the ball in tight confines and amassing 30 possessions and a whopping 11 clearances. Tonight was the third time in the last month that the evergreen midfielder has collected 30 or more possessions in a game.
And he wasn’t alone in the engine room, with Adam Schneider enjoying his new role further afield and Farren Ray continuing his strong run of recent form on the wing.
The three new draftees – Luke Dunstan, Jack Billings and Blake Acres – each hit the scoreboard and played their role admirably in the defeat.
Acres booted his first career goal prior to being subbed in the third term for Maverick Weller, while the left-footed Dunstan, fresh from a week on the sidelines due to concussion, had a disposal efficiency of 88 per cent – 23 per cent higher than St Kilda’s team ratio.
Billings again illustrated great skill, primarily by foot, and finished with two goals in another promising display.
As the game meandered towards a Carlton victory late in the last term, Nick Riewoldt persevered characteristically. The skipper played a lone hand up forward as Rhys Stanley had his quietest game of the year.
Jack Steven was also below his best but did receive the Blues number one tag.
Not for the first time in 2014, Carlton made a late change and it was Dennis Armfield who replaced Heath Scotland in the selected 22. Armfield, who was playing his first senior game for the season, tracked Steven closely for the entire evening and held him to just 15 possessions.
STK: 9.15 (69)
CAR: 15.11 (101)
BEST
Hayes, Schneider, Riewoldt, Billings, Ray, Dunstan
GOALS
Riewoldt 4, Billings 2, Schneider, Dunstan, Acres
