Anatomy of a heist: How the Saints snatched an unlikely victory – and the Demons crumbled

Sydney Morning Herald

a day ago

In the early seconds of the final quarter, St Kilda's Jack Higgins got on the end of a pass from Max Hall. The small forward marked easily with no opponent really close to him; he shouldn't have been given so much space. He went back and from an angle of about 35 degrees slotted a nice goal from the right forward pocket. That cut the margin to 40 points with plenty of time left. But no one would have predicted what was to come.
'Higgins has been a bit of a ray of sunshine on a dark day for the Saints,' reflected commentator Alister Nicholson on Channel Seven.
CLASSIC COOPER
6:16 elapsed (16.05 minutes left)
A very good goal from a quality and rapid-fire centre clearance. Less than a minute after Bradley Hill snatched a goal from a tight angle, the Saints got another one. Hall took possession from the bounce, gave a sharp handball to Wanganeen-Milera who, in turn, offloaded to Zak Jones. Jones booted into the forward line where Cooper Sharman showed great ground-level ability to spin onto his left boot and kick it through. The margin was cut to 28 points with more than 16 minutes of game time to come; the Saints were well and truly in the hunt.
A CONTENTIOUS PENALTY
22:57 elapsed (4.16 minutes left)
Wanganeen-Milera stormed out of the centre and pinpointed a pass to Higgins. But was the kick touched by Harvey Langford before landing in Higgins' arms? The umpire didn't think so, paying the mark, and Higgins got a 50-metre penalty after being slung to the ground by Judd McVee. The Melbourne players desperately pleaded with the umpires, allowing Higgins to play on and run into an open goal. The Saints again had scored two goals in about a minute of play, this time cutting the margin to five points.
'I reckon the ball was touched, guys,' Nick Riewoldt said in commentary on Seven. 'I reckon it was touched coming in.' In any case, the umpires didn't pay it. Game on.
DEES MISS A CHANCE TO SEAL IT
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Melbourne led by six points with little more than two minutes to play. All they needed was another score to virtually secure the win, and Clayton Oliver had the opportunity. A goal would force St Kilda to score twice to even level the scores; even a point would require two goals from the Saints to win. But the Demons midfielder couldn't deliver and his dodgy kick went out on the full.
It was a horrible miss. To his credit, after Oliver handballed to Charlie Spargo (who dropped the ball), the Demon did do well to reclaim it, but he squandered his scoring chance. Where was his left foot? A free kick to St Kilda from deep in defence was the result. The moment symbolised a lack of composure for the dispirited Demons.
EPIC MARK AND GOAL
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It will be a mark that's replayed for years to come. An excellent left-foot kick from Mason Wood running down the wing (after a handball from Marcus Windhager) set up the moment for Wanganeen-Milera, who took his chance like few others would have done. The hottest talent in the game, who's expected to find a home away from Moorabbin next season, Wanganeen-Milera climbed over Bayley Fritsch (who crashed to the turf) and in front of McVee. The Saint took the mark with one grab, sending the crowd into raptures.
How about Ross Lyon's reaction in the box! The veteran coach could barely contain his joy.
But the Saint still had to kick the goal. And he did. The out-and-out AFL star went back and showed brilliant composure to split the big sticks. Scores level. The clock ticked down as he approached his shot at goal, leaving eight seconds before the final siren – and with a final centre bounce to come.
THE DEMON NUMBER: A 6-6-6 HORROR SHOW
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At the resumption, a nightmare for the Demons. With only Max Gawn, Christian Petracca and Kysaiah Pickett in the centre square, they had made the mistake of having seven forwards. Free kick St Kilda, for the 6-6-6 infringement. 'We had seven forwards, and two wingers,' coach Simon Goodwin confirmed later. 'It's a pretty simple process to get right. We'll have a look at why it happened, how it happened and make sure that never happens again.'
Amid the confusion, wise heads and flustered minds could be seen. Having called the 6-6-6 breach, the field umpire asked for players to get to their positions before the Saints could be given the free kick. In this time St Kilda ruckman Rowan Marshall and Wanganeen-Milera hatched a perfect plan to find a score.
Gawn could be seen signalling to Jack Viney on the wing to come into the centre. But the damage had already been done. In complete contrast, the St Kilda unit showed composure as big man Marshall prepared to take the free kick.
Once the umpire signalled time on again, Wanganeen-Milera ran strongly out of the centre into space on the forward flank. Marshall found him with a beautifully weighted kick. The Saint had too much time as Viney desperately tried to get to him.
Wanganeen-Milera marked the ball comfortably with five seconds left, and took his set shot from about 40m out and after the siren. All he needed was a point to complete the heist; he kicked a goal anyway.
Delirium. Pandemonium. Saints win by six points.
Petracca looks stoney-faced. The Demons are left to ponder: what the hell just happened?
Melbourne coach Goodwin was left gobsmacked. 'Late in the game we didn't handle the pressure, we didn't handle the moment, and we didn't handle the tight game scenarios like we should have, and that's on all of us,' he said.
'We'll own that together.'
Lyon was delighted that his players prospered rather than panicked. 'That's why senior on-field leadership has never been more paramount,' he said later.
''Nas' [Wanganeen-Milera] was instrumental – him and 'Row' [Marshall], they said 'get the forwards to one side [for the free kick], I'm going to dart here'. That's what they did.
'It was really, really pleasing. It was exciting.'