The Western Bulldogs might have come into Thursday’s clash under intense pressure, but it was their opponents that finished the night squarely in the spotlight.
Widely favoured coming into the Marvel Stadium match-up, St Kilda barely fired a shot all night in a horribly disappointing 60-point defeat, 19.10 (124) to 9.10 (64).
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The tone was set from the outset, with the Bulldogs piling on seven goals to one lone Saints major for a 37-point lead after just one quarter.
With all and sundry hoping for a St Kilda response, a brief revival was quickly extinguished as the margin only increased at the main break, with the blowtorch shifting from Dogs coach Luke Beveridge to his Saints counterpart, Ross Lyon.
Late in the opening half, Bulldog Rhylee West sent the ball into the forward 50 metres and Tim English comfortably took a mark among a pack of three Saints.
“English now gets in and gives them a chance to go 49 points up,” Brian Taylor said in commentary.
“And Ross has just about had enough.”
English duly kicked the goal after the siren as the Dogs took that 49-point lead into the main break.
“There’s only so many magnets you can move, so many holes you can try to plug up,” Collingwood premiership player Dale Thomas said.
“And I think the message will now come at halftime, it’s the pressure and effort, the one thing they pride themselves on as a football club.
“And that hasn’t been at its highest level tonight. They’ve been pulled apart.”
The Bulldogs had winners all over the ground against a St Kilda side that was getting battered by all onlookers.
“They’ve failed the test St Kilda. They really have,” Kangaroos great David King said on Fox Footy.
“Under the bright lights of tonight, so much expectation, they’ve got an opposition that’s on the rack and they’ve just dropped the ball here.
“They’ve failed to handle the heat.”
When young Bulldog Harvey Gallagher kicked a goal just over one minute into the third quarter, the pile on continued.
“You’d be absolutely filthy if you were in the St Kilda coaching box,” Thomas said in a clip you can see in the video player above.
“Just from the effort on that play, or the lack thereof.
“The ball just scrapping around. Horrible.”
Beveridge came into the match under the pump, with the Dogs coming off a 29-point loss to Essendon and a number of fans querying some of his team selections.
St Kilda fans were the ones finding full voice on Thursday, however, as Lyon suffered the second heaviest defeat in his time leading the Saints.
“Playing a laughing stock of a team and looking like a laughing stock in return,” was one comment on X, formerly Twitter.
“I don’t think I could possibly be any more disappointed, but then we just keep playing,” wrote another.
“Tasmania closer to a flag than this rabble,” added a third.
“Absolutely putrid. Worst disposals in the comp by a fair margin,” commented another.
It won’t get any easier for the Saints, taking on the Power in Adelaide next Friday night, before clashes against North Melbourne and Hawthorn.