St Kilda v Adelaide: All the latest news, results from the Round 13 clash in Cairns

Four times Adelaide went scoreless in a first quarter before Saturday night, and every time they lost the match.

The fifth time, against St Kilda in Cairns, was different after a stunning fightback by the Crows and an even more incredible finish.

The Saints were in front for over 118 minutes at Cazalys Stadium.

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Three minutes after the Crows hit the front for the first time, they came away with an incredible win.

Young forward Riley Thilthorpe was the hero, with a stunning over-the-head goal with minutes remaining giving Adelaide the lead and, ultimately, the win.

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It came moments after the No. 2 Draft pick had failed to score entirely from a tight set shot, with his team trailing by one point, but the boyhood Crows fans made up for that and then some with a moment of brilliance.

“I can’t even tell you (what I’m feeling),” he said on Channel 7.

“I missed that set shot; that would have put us up and then it just fell into my lap and I did what I did.

“No idea (what I was thinking), I just saw the ball and kicked it.”

But while Thilthorpe was the hero, it was all set up after Adelaide reset following a horror start to the match.

The Crows were sloppy with their skills and decision making for the second week in a row, and the Saints punished them for it.

St Kilda was plus-15 in contested possession in the first quarter, while the Saints halfbacks mopped up every entry the Crows had in their forward 50.

Adelaide was in danger of becoming the first side since Fitzroy in 1995 to go scoreless in an opening half, but Matthew Nicks’ side was able to find their way into the game even though there were still some alarming stats.

After halftime, the Crows had just three inside 50 tackles and St Kilda 22.

But for the first time this season the Crows won a third-quarter and in the fourth they came for the Saints.

They had more tackles in that last quarter than they had for the entire match, and had 13 inside 50 entries to St Kilda’s four quickly in the fourth.

St Kilda did not have an inside 50 for 12 minutes in the final term, while the Crows piled on six goals in a row and then Thilthorpe produced arguably the moment of Adelaide’s season.

UP THERE AT CAZALYS

Footy fans in Far North Queensland lapped up the return of AFL action to the region, and they must be getting used to it now.

After hosting four matches in last year’s Covid-affected season, Cazalys Stadium hosted its fifth AFL Premiership match in 12 months with the Saints and Crows clash.

There were fears early in the week that the game would have to be moved to Sydney, but the Queensland government came to the party and granted the Saints a border exemption to play in the Sunshine State.

The match was the first time either side played at the stadium, which has hosted eight of the 18 AFL teams in 13 matches since 2011.

CROUCH RUNS RIOT

It was a matchup that many had been waiting to see ever since Brad Crouch crossed the border and became a Saint in the off-season.

Crouch faced off against his former side for the first time in a battle that footy fans have been eager to see since he left for Victoria.

The St Kilda on-baller maintained his strong recent form, which has seen him average 25 disposals this season, backing up last week’s 38 with another 36 touches and a goal.

Crouch did not get to go up against brother and former Crows teammate Matt, with the younger sibling recovering after undergoing surgery for an ongoing groin issue last month.

TEX KEPT QUIET

Before the game, Taylor Walker was sitting second on the Coleman Medal leaderboard with 36 goals, rediscovering the form that saw him feared as one of the most dangerous forwards in the competition.

Walker has kicked bags of five goals or more three times this year, with the Crows’ big man relishing in the new rule changes which allow him to run and jump at the footy.

But Saints backman Dougal Howard provided a lockdown job on the big Texan to minimise his impact on the game.

Howard kept Walker to just the one goal, and finished with 24 disposals to Walker’s 11 and seven marks to his opposite’s three.

Walker still sits one goal behind Carlton’s Harry McKay in the Coleman Medal race, who doesn’t play this week, with the Blues having the bye.

RYDER’S SPECIAL MILESTONE

St Kilda’s Paddy Ryder tied the record for the 10th most games played by an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander on Saturday.

Ryder equaled Brisbane Lions great Chris Johnson’s record of 264 games in St Kilda’s win against Adelaide.

Since his return in Round 7 against the Hawks, the 33-year-old ruckman has been in sublime form, averaging 35 hit-outs per game.

He was well below that on the night, finishing with 23 hitouts in the trying tropical conditions.

WILL VETERAN CROW GET WEEKS FOR HUGE HIT?

St Kilda defender Hunter Clark has suffered a broken jaw from a huge bump from Adelaide veteran David Mackay, with all eyes now set to be on how the match review panel judges the hit.

Mackay caught Clark flush on the jaw with his shoulder when both collided when fighting for the ball early on in the second quarter at Cazalys Stadium in Cairns.

Clark was in immediate trouble following the big bump from Mackay, with multiple trainers around the Saints’ running defender as he laid on the ground.

Eventually Clark was able to get up and leave the field on his own two feet and St Kilda withdrew him out of the game and activated medical sub Jack Bytel.

After he was examined further the Saints announced that Clark had suffered a broken jaw from the bump by Mackay.

Both players were going for the ball, and Mackay was even able to get hands on the footy before his shoulder caught Clark.

All eyes will now be on the MRP and Match Review Officer Michael Christian as to how he will judge the incident.

Clark is going to be out for some weeks, but the majority of initial thoughts about the incident said this was down to more bad luck rather than any malicious act by Mackay.

After watching the incident Fox Footy analysts Brad Johnson and Jordan Lewis both said it was just an unfortunate incident.

Johnson said Mackay getting his hands on the ball was big in this.

“At first I thought he (Mackay) bumped him but looking at the vision I think he is fighting for the ball,” he said.

“And it’s an unfortunate incident that has occurred.”

Lewis said he thought it was a “fair contest” between Mackay and Clark.

“Sometimes in our game accidents happen and I think it was courageous from both players,” he said.

“It was a 50/50 ball to win.

“Unfortunately, Hunter Clark was a bit lower but that doesn’t mean Mackay gets suspended.

“I thought it was a fair contest.”

The huge collision came after the Crows went scoreless in a first quarter for just the fifth time in their history.

They started to inch closer to becoming the first team to not register a point in a first-half since Fitzroy in 1995, but the Crows were able to avoid this piece of unwanted history as they fought back from their horror start.

SCOREBOARD

SAINTS 4.3 7.6 8.9 8.12 (60)

CROWS 0.0 2.6 6.6 9.12 (66)

SPARKES’ BEST

Saints: Crouch, Steele, Dunstan, Butler, Highmore, Howard. Crows: Laird, Keays, Seedsman, Thilthorpe, Doedee, Rowe.

GOALS

Saints: King 2, Wood 2, Butler, Byrnes, Crouch, Sinclair. Crows: Thilthorpe 3, McKay, McAdam, Rowe, Sloane, Smith, Walker.

INJURIES

Saints: Hunter Clark (broken jaw)

LATE CHANGES: Nil

UMPIRES

Stevic, Brown, Whetton

VENUE

Cazalys Stadium

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

SPARKES’ VOTES

3. R Laird (Ade)

2. B Crouch (Stk)

1. R Thilthorpe (Ade)

Sports reporter

Adelaide

Simeon Thomas-Wilson is a sports reporter for The Advertiser who covers a range of sports but predominantly Australian football. Before that he was city editor and an urban affairs reporter for The Advertiser, … Read more

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