Discussion St. Kilda 15.5 (95) defeated West Coast 3.11 (29), Round 18, 1992

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mianfei

mianfei

Club Legend
May 10, 2009
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Carlton North
AFL Club
St Kilda
I wonder how many of you can recall a game that today is lost in obscurity it seems, but logically must rank as one of the best games St. Kilda have ever played. It is most definitely the biggest win they have ever had over a premiership-winning side.

It was played at Waverley Park on July 19 of 1992 - the year before St. Kilda moved there for all their home matches. After an even first quarter, the Saints demolished West Coast on a ground affected by a major hailstorm at half-time and rain throughout the second half, kicking 14.3 (87) to 2.8 (20). Lockett kicked seven whilst Winmar and Harvey each had thirty-seven possessions.

Having watched a lake-like ground reduce the Eagles’ attack to amazing ineptitude against Footscray five weeks later, I was eager to see this game. Owing to the AFL tampering with the MCG during the finals by using a “super sopper” to dry the ground, I have felt fans of all the top seven sides of 1992 (including Geelong, Footscray, Collingwood, Hawthorn and Carlton) need to see this game (the Footscray one too) to see whether, without the “super sopper”, the 1992 finals series might have taken a very different course. What amazes me is that Name A Game, the only people to have footage, have never had this game requested on DVD before, so I will have to wait a month for mastering (which I accept). 7TWO of course has never shown the game either.

I really wonder if any of St. Kilda fans actually have good recollections of the game and their thoughts on
  1. whether St. Kilda have ever played better than they did in this game, and if so by how much?
  2. why West Coast fared so badly - was it
    • St. Kilda playing superbly
    • an aberration in the Eagles’ form that St. Kilda took advantage of?
    • the condition of Waverley Park?
  3. notable events during the game
 
i was at that game, footy trip with my local footy club from bendigo
i dont really remember that game that well but i do remember sitting there with a tarp over us for most of the game
 
I would have been there, but can't say I remember it particularly. Hail at Waverley wasn't unheard of (the Brisbane game at Waverley was more memorable - it was coming in sideways and they probably should've stopped play).

We played some good footy that year, and beat the '91 premiers (Hawthorn) the next week by 75 points.
 

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I was 10 at the time, so don't have awesome memories off the game. I was probably more upset that I couldn't have a kick post game due to the weather.

I do remember Buckets taking a few marks that day which were ridiculous given the conditions. Would be surprised if he didn't haul in at least 10 that day.
 
I don't recall that particular game - but what I can say is that I have many recollections of Robert Harvey's thighs powering him through the mud of Moorabbin and Waverley and driving a knife through our team.

We had a midfield of very sklled 'outside players' with the likes of kemp, lewis and matera. In the rain and cold of a bad day in Melbourne it's not much of a surprise we got trounced as it wasn't all that uncommon - as our strenghth was our run and carry starting from David Hart on the full-backline up to Brett Heady on the half forward line.
 
mianfei said:
I


I really wonder if any of St. Kilda fans actually have good recollections of the game and their thoughts on
  1. whether St. Kilda have ever played better than they did in this game, and if so by how much?
  2. why West Coast fared so badly - was it
    • St. Kilda playing superbly
    • an aberration in the Eagles’ form that St. Kilda took advantage of?
    • the condition of Waverley Park?
  3. notable events during the game
Click to expand...

I do remember the game but I think it is a more typical example of our team at that time than something extraordinary.

In those days, Saints had a top 6 or 7 as good as anyone in the league. When they all turned it on we could beat anyone and make them look stupid. I recall around the same time beating the Crows by about 130.
 
Squizzy1970 said:
I would have been there, but can't say I remember it particularly. Hail at Waverley wasn't unheard of (the Brisbane game at Waverley was more memorable - it was coming in sideways and they probably should've stopped play).

We played some good footy that year, and beat the '91 premiers (Hawthorn) the next week by 75 points.
Click to expand...
Those two games must be as well as any St. Kilda side has ever played at least on paper - Shanahan kept Dunstall goalless in the Round 19 match - and it seemed that St. Kilda would make a genuine shot at the premiership in a way they did not in 1991. One thing is for certain - that St. Kilda never showed in 1991 that they could be so serious a premiership candidate - and in 1991 there were distinctly fewer serious flag candidates than in 1992, when any of the top seven sides could have been reckoned a chance had things gone their way?

However, perhaps the emotions of the following week’s farewell to Moorabbin prevented St. Kilda gaining the sort of momentum that would have won them a premiership? At all events, their form against Fitzroy was relatively lackluster, and they were well beaten after good starts against Carlton and Adelaide in their next two matches.
 
mianfei said:
their form against Fitzroy was relatively lackluster
Click to expand...

Now that game I do remember - massive build-up and we were very ordinary, and were staring down the barrel of losing on this big occasion against a struggling opponent before turning it on late in the match.

The Dogs were just too good for us in the final - from memory the ground was quite heavy which suited the Dogs who had a few mud-runners.
 
Squizzy1970 said:
Now that game I do remember - massive build-up and we were very ordinary, and were staring down the barrel of losing on this big occasion against a struggling opponent before turning it on late in the match.

The Dogs were just too good for us in the final - from memory the ground was quite heavy which suited the Dogs who had a few mud-runners.
Click to expand...
St. Kilda also looked ordinary in terrible conditions against struggling Melbourne (a team whose big-man strength of Stynes, Lyon, Schwarz etc. would have been badly affected in such weather) and could easily have lost before Lockett kicked four in the last quarter. Nevertheless, they did beat Collingwood in the first Elimination Final and looked back in form even though the win was not convincing.

On a Name A Game video I already have commentators were saying that about Footscray when they demolished the Eagles five weeks after the Saints did the same thing. People said exactly that, however - when it came to the crunch St. Kilda were not good enough without speaking of the conditions which could easily have camouflaged St. Kilda’s disadvantage in pace vis-à-vis other top sides like West Coast. They were not disgraced against the Bulldogs, but failed against them three times that year and were not to beat Footscray until 1995 in an upset when the Saints were winless.
 
St. Kilda 15.5 (95) defeated West Coast 3.11 (29) on Name A Game

I forgot to tell you this, but I have now obtained the full match from Name A Game! You can read my review.

It was most definitely worth the wait, too. The first quarter was forgettable apart from a few stunts, but after that St. Kilda kicked two goals after a lucky break and began to play with increasing confidence on a ground that was in very good condition before the rain. Their marking in defence was amazingly good and they moved the ball in a way that left West Coast without any answer at all. Ricmel, you are right in saying West Coast looked stupid: they had no answer to St. Kilda’s sheer skill and in the wet they played quite literally as if it was dry as I have never seen any other team do.
 
When I was watching the Fremantle v Hawthorn game today, it said when the rain in Perth (which was what made me want to watch the game) became at its heaviest, it said that a West Coast player in this game actually had hailstones hit him on the body! I don’t however recall that on any video!

Do any of you who actually went there recall it? Why might I be mistaken or is the commentator?
 

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saintsrfreak said:
Christ did you have this bookmarked for a year?!
Click to expand...
No, I didn’t!

I just recalled the site when I heard the game mentioned during the broadcast of tonight’s Fremantle versus Hawthorn game, which in parts was even wetter - there was like the St. Kilda v West Coast game a hailstorm during the half time break. Although I knew of the half-time hailstorm, since I last posted I watched the 1992 game often enough to realise that no hail fell during actual play.
 
I remember this game vividly as a 8 year old. We got off to decent start then we got stuck on 13 for ages and St.Kilda ran away with it. Lockett and Loewe were on fire that day and we had no answer. It was one of two extremely poor performances in Melbourne. We got toweled up at the Western Oval a few weeks later, failing to kick a goal until the 4th quarter in the drenched conditions caused by Footscray officials watering the ground only an hour before the game. Still it served us well recovering from there to win the remaining games of season 1992.
 
I remember the hail at the game. Similar to SamFisher25's experience, traveled down by bus with the Ballarat supporters group.

I can remember Cuz tearing them apart in the wonderful slush. Gave Matera the run around that day.
 
sdb4884 said:
It was one of two extremely poor performances in Melbourne. We got toweled up at the Western Oval a few weeks later, failing to kick a goal until the 4th quarter in the drenched conditions caused by Footscray officials watering the ground only an hour before the game. Still it served us well recovering from there to win the remaining games of season 1992.
Click to expand...
I am utterly sure Footscray officials did not water the ground before the game: it was just as wet at the MCG for the Melbourne versus St. Kilda game the same day! If anything, the Eagles lost the game through not risking Peter Sumich, since he was totally irreplaceable on the very slow Western Oval turf with its very heavy clay soil, and their high-flying forward line looked completely paralysed and unwilling to contest with Footscray's extra man in the second quarter and most of the last. If they had had a fit Sumich, the Eagles would have had a reasonable chance of winning even in those lake-like conditions. (St. Kilda's defence simply shut the man down, but then Frawley and Shanhan together kept Dunstall to 0-1 the following week they were in such good form).

The thing that makes these games so interesting is that St. Kilda could under the slow conditions show skills so brilliant they would not want to try in the fast-paced world of Docklands football: a team like the 1992 Eagles who were much faster would stop them every time under those conditions. All five of their third quarter goals were wonders to behold, from Winmar's 50-metre kick with the short circumference of the ball to Lockett's grab in a forward pocket ruck duel. It's a pity even 1992 season highlights won't show these.
 
mianfei said:
I wonder how many of you can recall a game that today is lost in obscurity it seems, but logically must rank as one of the best games St. Kilda have ever played. It is most definitely the biggest win they have ever had over a premiership-winning side.

It was played at Waverley Park on July 19 of 1992 - the year before St. Kilda moved there for all their home matches. After an even first quarter, the Saints demolished West Coast on a ground affected by a major hailstorm at half-time and rain throughout the second half, kicking 14.3 (87) to 2.8 (20). Lockett kicked seven whilst Winmar and Harvey each had thirty-seven possessions.

Having watched a lake-like ground reduce the Eagles’ attack to amazing ineptitude against Footscray five weeks later, I was eager to see this game. Owing to the AFL tampering with the MCG during the finals by using a “super sopper” to dry the ground, I have felt fans of all the top seven sides of 1992 (including Geelong, Footscray, Collingwood, Hawthorn and Carlton) need to see this game (the Footscray one too) to see whether, without the “super sopper”, the 1992 finals series might have taken a very different course. What amazes me is that Name A Game, the only people to have footage, have never had this game requested on DVD before, so I will have to wait a month for mastering (which I accept). 7TWO of course has never shown the game either.


I really wonder if any of St. Kilda fans actually have good recollections of the game and their thoughts on
  1. whether St. Kilda have ever played better than they did in this game, and if so by how much?
  2. why West Coast fared so badly - was it
    • St. Kilda playing superbly
    • an aberration in the Eagles’ form that St. Kilda took advantage of?
    • the condition of Waverley Park?
  3. notable events during the game
Click to expand...

Not true ..... I have a copy of this game from Name A Game
 
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