ST KILDA has dented Geelong's finals hopes with a late point to Saints midfielder Shane Savage resulting in a thrilling draw at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
The Cats looked set to steal a win when first-year midfielder Nakia Cockatoo kicked a long goal at the 25-minute mark of the final quarter to put his side one point ahead.
But the Saints, as they had for all of the entertaining contest, did not go away or give up, willing the ball forward for several more scoring opportunities.
The last chance came after the ball was sent deep into their forward line to a pack of players with Savage emerging with the ball. But his snap did not hit its intended target and could secure only a behind, which locked the scores at 14.13 (97) to 15.7 (97).
Although not a loss, the result is not a good one for Geelong's hopes of a ninth-straight finals appearance given fellow top-eight contender Adelaide's heavy win over the Brisbane Lions on Saturday night.
The Cats are still ninth on the ladder but are six points behind the Crows and four points behind eighth-placed North Melbourne, who meet Fremantle at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Geelong will need to win its final two games against Collingwood and Adelaide (at Simonds Stadium) and have other results fall their way to scrape into the finals.
It was one of those games where, despite St Kilda's dominance across the contest, it always appeared the Cats would be good enough to at some stage take control given they had more on the line.
But that never happened, with four lead changes in the final term seeing the second draw of the 2015 season in dramatic circumstances.
Although the Cats were expected to win on Saturday night, had they taken all four points it would have felt like they had snatched a victory they probably didn't deserve.
The Saints were the better team throughout despite an obvious class gap between the sides.
Captain Nick Riewoldt was terrific with 22 disposals, 10 marks and a goal, Sam Gilbert's move into the midfield was worthwhile with 21 touches and two long important goals, and Seb Ross gathered 22 disposals and kept Joel Selwood to little influence.
Saints coach Alan Richardson was upbeat after the draw, saying it was good for his team to get some reward out of a strong performance.
"It was as proud as I've been without getting the result. We've played some reasonably strong footy for patches in recent weeks. I think we've been positive in entries for five weeks now," he said.
"Today we got beaten on entries but we were able to maximise a bit more.
"For it to be an arm-wrestle all day – even after such a promising start – for the guys not to wilt in any way and just keep coming and keep coming … there was a lot of positives, there's no doubt about that."
Much of the interest in the contest lay in watching 203cm ruckman Jason Holmes, who became the first American-born AFL footballer in his debut for the Saints.
Holmes, who has slowly built up his form and game knowledge over two seasons in the VFL, wowed the crowd with his leap and tap work, and won 34 hit-outs as well as seven disposals.
He was often pitted against one of the other good stories in the contest, with Geelong big man Nathan Vardy playing his first game since 2013 after a horror run with injury.
Vardy impressed. He collected 14 disposals, 20 hit-outs and drifted forward to kick two goals, in one of the positives for the Cats.
Another was the continued form of Steven Motlop (33 disposals, one goal) and Cam Guthrie (29 touches), while Steve Johnson had some virtuoso moments of brilliance and bizarreness with his four-goal effort.
Geelong coach Chris Scott said he was disappointed with how his team played out the final two minutes having taken the lead after Cockatoo's goal.
"It was poor, but what a great opportunity to learn. There were some players in our team, young and old, who will have learnt a lesson already and we'll get the opportunity to go through it during the week," Scott said.
Given the way the game was played, the close finish shouldn't have been a surprise.
The Saints got off to a flyer with four goals inside eight minutes, but the Cats slammed on five of the last six goals of the quarter to cut the lead to three points at the first break.
Again the second term saw the Saints give up early control to be overrun at the latter stages by the Cats, who were not at their best but made the most of their chances to take a one-point lead at half-time.
The Cats kicked four goals for the third term but could only extend their lead to seven points at the last break, with St Kilda managing three goals for the quarter and hanging in the contest.
St Kilda kept marching in the final term with three goals and several other missed chances, and in the end was the better team, but the result will say they were equal.
The Cats looked set to steal a win when first-year midfielder Nakia Cockatoo kicked a long goal at the 25-minute mark of the final quarter to put his side one point ahead.
But the Saints, as they had for all of the entertaining contest, did not go away or give up, willing the ball forward for several more scoring opportunities.
The last chance came after the ball was sent deep into their forward line to a pack of players with Savage emerging with the ball. But his snap did not hit its intended target and could secure only a behind, which locked the scores at 14.13 (97) to 15.7 (97).
Although not a loss, the result is not a good one for Geelong's hopes of a ninth-straight finals appearance given fellow top-eight contender Adelaide's heavy win over the Brisbane Lions on Saturday night.
The Cats are still ninth on the ladder but are six points behind the Crows and four points behind eighth-placed North Melbourne, who meet Fremantle at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Geelong will need to win its final two games against Collingwood and Adelaide (at Simonds Stadium) and have other results fall their way to scrape into the finals.
It was one of those games where, despite St Kilda's dominance across the contest, it always appeared the Cats would be good enough to at some stage take control given they had more on the line.
But that never happened, with four lead changes in the final term seeing the second draw of the 2015 season in dramatic circumstances.
Although the Cats were expected to win on Saturday night, had they taken all four points it would have felt like they had snatched a victory they probably didn't deserve.
The Saints were the better team throughout despite an obvious class gap between the sides.
Captain Nick Riewoldt was terrific with 22 disposals, 10 marks and a goal, Sam Gilbert's move into the midfield was worthwhile with 21 touches and two long important goals, and Seb Ross gathered 22 disposals and kept Joel Selwood to little influence.
Saints coach Alan Richardson was upbeat after the draw, saying it was good for his team to get some reward out of a strong performance.
"It was as proud as I've been without getting the result. We've played some reasonably strong footy for patches in recent weeks. I think we've been positive in entries for five weeks now," he said.
"Today we got beaten on entries but we were able to maximise a bit more.
"For it to be an arm-wrestle all day – even after such a promising start – for the guys not to wilt in any way and just keep coming and keep coming … there was a lot of positives, there's no doubt about that."
Much of the interest in the contest lay in watching 203cm ruckman Jason Holmes, who became the first American-born AFL footballer in his debut for the Saints.
Holmes, who has slowly built up his form and game knowledge over two seasons in the VFL, wowed the crowd with his leap and tap work, and won 34 hit-outs as well as seven disposals.
He was often pitted against one of the other good stories in the contest, with Geelong big man Nathan Vardy playing his first game since 2013 after a horror run with injury.
Vardy impressed. He collected 14 disposals, 20 hit-outs and drifted forward to kick two goals, in one of the positives for the Cats.
Another was the continued form of Steven Motlop (33 disposals, one goal) and Cam Guthrie (29 touches), while Steve Johnson had some virtuoso moments of brilliance and bizarreness with his four-goal effort.
Geelong coach Chris Scott said he was disappointed with how his team played out the final two minutes having taken the lead after Cockatoo's goal.
"It was poor, but what a great opportunity to learn. There were some players in our team, young and old, who will have learnt a lesson already and we'll get the opportunity to go through it during the week," Scott said.
Given the way the game was played, the close finish shouldn't have been a surprise.
The Saints got off to a flyer with four goals inside eight minutes, but the Cats slammed on five of the last six goals of the quarter to cut the lead to three points at the first break.
Again the second term saw the Saints give up early control to be overrun at the latter stages by the Cats, who were not at their best but made the most of their chances to take a one-point lead at half-time.
The Cats kicked four goals for the third term but could only extend their lead to seven points at the last break, with St Kilda managing three goals for the quarter and hanging in the contest.
St Kilda kept marching in the final term with three goals and several other missed chances, and in the end was the better team, but the result will say they were equal.
ST KILDA 5.4 8.7 11.9 14.13 (97)
GEELONG 5.1 9.2 13.4 15.7 (97)
GOALS
St Kilda: Bruce 3, Minchington 3, Hickey 2, Gilbert 2, Membrey, Savage, Riewoldt, Newnes
Geelong: Johnson 4, Hawkins 3, Vardy 2, Mackie, Taylor, Gregson, Guthrie, Motlop
BEST
St Kilda: Steven, Riewoldt, Gilbert, Newnes, Ross, Bruce, Minchington, Fisher
Geelong: Motlop, Johnson, Guthrie, Hawkins, Enright, Taylor
INJURIES
St Kilda: Nil
Geelong: Josh Caddy (knee)
SUBSTITUTES
St Kilda: Josh Saunders replaced by Brodie Murdoch in the third quarter
Geelong: Josh Caddy (knee) replaced by Nakia Cockatoo at half-time
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Farmer, Mollison, Wallace
Official crowd: 25,245 at Etihad Stadium
