"Another finals series approaching, another Tom Hawkins action under scrutiny.
The big Cat will almost certainly be looked at by the match review officer Michael Christian on Sunday for an aggressive run-down tackle on St Kilda’s Darragh Joyce in the final quarter.
Joyce’s head hit the ground in the tackle and he was subbed out of the game with concussion.
Adding to the Cats’ concerns, superstar Patrick Dangerfield was reported for rough conduct after a collision with St Kilda’s Brad Crouch in the last quarter of Saturday’s match, but both players laughed off the incident."
Deadshits will get a slap on the wrists with wet lettuce leaves.
More from that article.
"THE KING IS RISING TO POWER
St Kilda key forward Max King could be anything.
It’s easy to forget he has only just turned 21 and has played only 38 AFL games.
But his past month of football has given a glimpse of the player he looks set to become for the Saints next year and beyond.
King started the clash with the Cats on fire and was an unstoppable force in the first quarter as he had five disposals, took five marks (three contested) and kicked 2.1.
He was again hampered by an adductor injury after that, as he was in Round 21.
However, it was as exciting a 20-minute patch as you will see from a young key forward and will give Saints fans hope heading into 2022, with their finals flame this year now extinguished.
Despite the injury issues the past two weeks, King has kicked 14 goals from his past four games for a total of 38 majors from 20 games for the season.
It’s not hard to see a 50-goal year ahead in 2022 if King can stay fit and continue his development.
Pain now, but pleasure awaits Saints
As St Kilda’s 2021 campaign all but ended at GMHBA Stadium tonight, you could excuse coach Brett Ratten for a sullen outlook on a match – and season – that promised so much.
But while he was at a loss to explain the Saints’ ill discipline and sudden inability to win contested possessions as the Cats pulled off a 45-point turnaround for a 14-point win, he was equally buoyant about their future.
Senior coach Brett Ratten of the Saints heads of the ground. Picture: Getty Images
Senior coach Brett Ratten of the Saints heads of the ground. Picture: Getty Images
“I’m pretty flat. The thing you take out of it was that our effort and endeavour were pretty good,” Ratten said.
“But you don’t lose contested ball by (36) … you could have moments and lose a contest here and there, but we just lost contest after contest … some of that was being second to the ball and giving away free kicks.
“But the second quarter they just dominated stoppages and field position and made it tough for us to get out and they changed the game.”
Ratten was full of praise for spearhead Max King, who had his finger prints on five of the first scoring plays of the game as the Saints rolled to a 31-point lead.
“It was pretty disappointing. We had a chance and started well, but with Max reinjuring that adductor, we just lost a bit of momentum and a focal point that was on fire,” said Ratten, who said his young full-forward was a beacon for Saints’ fans into the future.
“He was marking the ball at the highest point, converting, playing some fantastic footy.
“It was pretty encouraging, not just from (a) St Kilda (perspective), but any young forward in the competition.
“We have witnessed at the footy club for a while Max going about his craft and some of his training performances are like, `Wow!’.
“So we know he’s got talent, but to see it first hand against teams, he’ll get some real confidence going into next year.
“He’s been against Harris Andews, (Jeremy) McGovern and he’s played on All-Australian players and done exceptionally well.
“It’s a snapshot for Max (into the future), but the biggest thing is how (we) complement him with players around him.”
Ratten said King’s injury was not worse than he’d done previously in a long campaign, but said he’d probably go into cotton wool with the Saints only a mathematical chance of making the final eight.
“He has tweaked it again (and) it points to him not playing next week.”
Ratten said his squad had recovered well from the low point of its season, a shock loss to cellar dweller Adelaide in Cairns in Round 13.
“We’ve made some inroads. When you think about the Adelaide game and where we were, we were low on confidence and really people were doubting themselves a bit,” he said.
“We weren’t superb, but we played some pretty good footy in the second half of the year.
“The development of our younger players — King, but also (Tom) Highmore, (Ryan) Burns and (Leo) Connolly got exposure as well.
“From an inside 50 point of view, we’ve denied the opposition a bit, which is pleasing, but we’ve got a lot of work to do in the off-season.”
