Live AFL 2022, Western Bulldogs vs St Kilda Saints, Round 18: Live scores, updates, video, blog, stats, stream, news, result

St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs have been hit by Covid ahead of their blockbuster encounter on Friday night.

Both sides need a win to stay in finals contention, with the Saints currently outside the top eight only on percentage and the Dogs leading the chasing pack one game behind.

The Western Bulldogs (8-8, 110.4%) will be without star forward Aaron Naughton under the health and safety protocols. He’s one of five changes for the Dogs, who regain Bailey Smith from suspension and Josh Bruce for his first game in 341 days after injuring his ACL in 2021.

St Kilda (9-7, 104.1%) are looking to jump back into the top eight with a victory for coach Brett Ratten in Road Safety Round. Ratten has been the spokesperson for the round after losing his 16-year-old son Cooper in a car crash back in 2015.

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There were no late changes for either side. Luke Cleary (Western Bulldogs) and Ben Long (St Kilda) were the medical subs.

The match gets underway at 7.50pm from Marvel Stadium.

Watch it live on Fox Footy (channel 504) or Kayo from 7pm EST.

Follow WESTERN BULLDOGS v ST KILDA in our live blog below!

The Western Bulldogs started the must-win clash with St Kilda full of run, and punished the Saints at every opportunity.

Despite early misses to Marcus Bontempelli and Jason Johannisen, young Jamarra Ugle-Hagan stepped up when his team needed him.

Without big forward Aaron Naughton, Ugle-Hagan crashed packs at one end, laid tackles early and snapped truly to kick the first of the night.

Cody Weightman goaled from an in-the-back free kick and when Bontempelli cut off a corridor attempt and found Bailey Dale, suddenly the Dogs were out to an 18-point lead.

“When you take those corridor ones, you can’t afford to rock back on it. You need to be punchier than that,” commentator Daisy Pearce said.

“We know they want to take the corridor on. The risk versus reward. It’s that going in the corridor when they don’t need to. Try to limit the turnovers and make sure there’s no more scores,” Luke Hodge added.

A horror set shot from Mason Wood summed up the Saints’ first term as he butchered the ball and didn’t trouble the scorers.

Down the other end, the Dogs were devastating with goals to Rhylee West and Josh Dunkley to open up a 30-point quarter time lead.

Remarkably, all five goals for the Dogs came on the back of St Kilda turnovers.

“If not for a couple of massive efforts from (Callum) Wilkie, this scoreboard could be a lot worse,” Pearce said.

Fox Footy’s Leigh Montagna said the Saints looked “all at sea” despite the match being must-win for their finals’ hopes.

“All the red flags are there,” he said.

The Dogs continued to do as they pleased in the second term, kicking another two goals to push the margin out to 43 points midway through the quarter.

It’s the fourth time in the past five weeks St Kilda has conceded a six-goal or more run.

St Kilda just couldn’t get their hands on the footy, and when they did, they coughed it up with turnovers.

“They are not in a great mind space at the moment,” Hodge warned.

Commentator Brian Taylor could not believe what he was witnessing.

“They just can’t defend them at the moment, they are not committed to any contest either,” he lamented.

“There’s no pressure at all.”

Pearce described the Saints as being in “survival mode” as 70 per cent of the match was played in the Dogs’ front half.

Wood had a chance to redeem himself and snapped St Kilda’s first of the night almost 18 minutes into the quarter.

But down the other end, Bontempelli had the immediate reply on the run from 50.

By half time, the Saints were staring down a 36-point deficit, having kicked just two goals in the first half.

Accused of being “sub-AFL standard” by Fox Footy’s David King at half time, the Saints failed to lift early in the third term.

Ugle-Hagan added his third goal before Riley Garcia got on the scoreboard to push the lead out to 48 points.

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