St Kilda impressed fans at last night’s NAB Cup match at the Telstra Dome when they overcome Richmond by 40 points. With some big names missing from the St Kilda side all eyes were on the Tigers who were hoping to kick start 2008 with a win first up however it was not to be.
St Kilda lead the game all night and apart from small patches from Richmond the game never looked in doubt. Former West Coast Eagle Michael Gardiner finally got his chance to play at AFL level again when he teamed up with one of last years premiership players Steven King to form a strong force around the ground. It was Gardiner’s first match since midway through the 2006 season, he has been riddled with injuries ever since he joined the Saints.
Charlie Gardiner, another former Geelong recruit also starred for the saints who slotted in to the forward line nicely alongside Justin Koschitzke and Fraser Gehrig who was re-drafted by the saints after he had a change of heart when he retired last season. Nick Reiwoldt was one of a few St Kilda stars who missed last nights game.
Apart from the odd burst of speed and confidence from the Tigers side there was not a lot of positives to take from the game apart a screamer from Kelvin Moore and the performance of a few of the younger players.
Terry Wallace still remained positive after the game and was confident that last nights loss was not an indicator to how the Home & Away season will turn out
ST KILDA 0.4.1 – 1.7.5 – 1.11.9 – 1.15.12 (111)
RICHMOND 0.3.2 – 0.4.4 – 2.6.7 – 2.7.11 (71)
Goals: St Kilda: Nine-point goals: L Montagna. Goals: F Gehrig 3 S Milne 3 J Koschitzke 2 J Allen 2 R Eddy X Clarke D Armitage S Birss C Gardiner.
Richmond: Nine-point goals: G Tivendale C Newman. Goals: B Deledio 2 N Brown 2 M Richardson K Pettifer M Morton.
Best: St Kilda: N Dal Santo L Montagna J Koschitzke X Clarke C Gardiner S Fisher C Jones.
Richmond: N Foley C Newman J King N Brown M Richardson.
Umpires: D Goldspink H Kennedy T Keating J Armstrong.
Crowd: 23,329 at Telstra Dome.
