As it happened AFL 2021 St Kilda Saints v Carlton Blues at Marvel Stadium

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Thanks for following tonight’s blog, everyone.

It’s been a brilliant night for the Blues and David Teague, who shrugs off any heat on a day when Alastair Clarkson announces he’s parting ways with Hawthorn at the end of the season.

For the Saints, it was a disappointing night considering their finals hopes were on the line.

Join the guys tomorrow for all the AFL action. Good night.

David Teague spoke on:

was this Carlton’s best game of the year: “Of this season? Possibly. It’s an interesting one. I thought our pressure was as good as it’s been, so in that area, absolutely. Accuracy at goal really helped. Our ability to convert early was very important.”

the gap between last week and this week: “I’m really proud of our performance tonight. Last week’s game was really disappointing and that’s the difference between the really good sides and the teams that aren’t there yet. We’re not there yet.”

Alastair Clarkson departing Hawthorn and whether he’d still be comfortable with the Blues calling Clarko: “I’ll be honest, most of my energy and thoughts have been put into this performance. I’m really comfortable with the people we have here and what we’re doing here and the direction we’re going. I’d understand them wanting to [call him], he’s been a great coach for a long time, but I’m going to back myself in. If that’s what you’re asking, I think I’m the right person to keep going forward with this football club.”

whether he will seek assurances of the club’s interest or lack thereof in Clarko: “Nup, I’ve got confidence in what I’m doing and what we’re doing as a group and a collective. I’m going to sit back and enjoy tonight’s effort.”

Charlie Curnow: “We took our time with him. We got as much information as we could and we planned it and to be honest we pushed it back a little bit because we wanted to be thorough. This time of the year it’s really getting him confidence to attack pre-season. I thought his ability to get it to ground [was great].“

Jacob Weitering: “King got those first three. That shows the sign of who Jacob is. In the end I thought Jacob was a very important player for us, along with Liam Jones.”

Brett Ratten spoke about...

what went wrong: “We gave up 12 goals from turnover. That’s the second week in a row we’ve given up 9-12 per cent in kicking efficiency against the opposition. We were into the low 60s which is just not good enough. It’s really hurting us. We thought we had a ruck advantage tonight. That’s an area we thought we had an upper hand and we didn’t.

how disappointing the loss was considering the season was on the line: “No doubt about it, we got ourselves into a position that whether we made it or not, we had a chance but tonight we let ourselves down. We have to do a fair bit of work. Our pressure was OK but I thought Carlton handled our pressure a lot better than we handled theirs. The stakes for us were a lot higher and we didn’t deliver.”

Paddy Ryder: “He’s a bit sore but it will be a week by week thing. We’ll give him the full week to get up. If we get an extra day or two we might get him [up to play].

tonight’s injuries: “Dougal’s got a hamstring. It’ll be two ort three weeks, so it might be the season for him. Hunter got a knock to the head and has got concussion. He’ll miss one and maybe two depending on his recovery. I think he hit the ground. [No injury to jaw.]”

when changes need to be made to the game plan: “We’ve still got a fair bit of work to do. We’re doing this every week. We’re not parking it ’til the end of the year and waiting until pre-season.”

Stick with us, we’ll have quotes from the two coaches coming up soon.

First David Teague after his side’s outstanding performance tonight and then Brett Ratten following the Saints’ disappointing defeat.

Harry McKay says a review heading into this week got the best out of the players.

“It was mostly player-driven. The coaches got some clips organised but it was heavily player-driven,” McKay told Fox Footy.

“We showed some clips that weren’t acceptable as a Carlton Football Club and everyone put their hand up and said it wasn’t good enough.”

McKay leads the Coleman Medal count on 57, 11 clear of Taylor Walker on 46.

It was a really disappointing night for the Saints, who had a flicker left in their finals dream. That’s now dashed after the Blues brought the heat.

Much is spoken about the Saints when Paddy Ryder and Rowan Marshall play together, so clearly the late omission of Ryder didn’t help the Saints’ cause.

But the Blues were brilliant. McKay kicked five and was dominant inside-50, while Sam Walsh went about his business with a career-high three goals. Patrick Cripps flew under the radar with 26 disposals.

After Max King kicked three goals in the first term, the Saints lacked punch. Jack Steele was huge in the midfield, amassing 36 disposals and 13 tackles, but had few performers alongside him. The Saints had just 63 tackles, but actually had 51 inside-50s to Carlton’s 44.

Ultimately, accuracy helped the Blues who scored 18.4 to St Kilda’s 12.9, but the scoreboard somewhat flattered the Saints. When the game was in the balance, the Blues punished the Saints, especially early in that third term.

My votes would be: S Walsh 3, J Steele 2, H McKay 1.

A few injuries tonight. Tom De Koning was subbed out with a suspected pectoral injury and left the ground early. Dougal Howard pinged a left hamstring and then Hunter Clark suffered what looked like a concussion.

Marc Murphy puts a full-stop on the night with a goal on the siren; the Blues win by 31 points.

St Kilda Saints 3.1, 5.3, 7.7, 12.9 (81)

Carlton Blues 5.1, 10.1, 15.2, 18.4 (112)

Goals: Saints: Max King 4, Tim Membrey 3, Cooper Sharman 2, Jack Higgins, Zak Jones, Rowan Marshall.

Blues: Harry McKay 5, Sam Walsh 3, Josh Honey 2, Tom Williamson 2, Patrick Cripps, Charlie Curnow, Paddy Dow, Marc Murphy, Matthew Kennedy, Jack Silvagni.

Leading disposals: Jack Steele (36), Zak Jones (30), Luke Dunstan (29), Brad Crouch (28), Patrick Cripps (26), Sam Walsh (26), Jack Silvagni (25)

Cooper Sharman has his second major, taking a mark at the top of the goal square, although it could have been Jack Higgins’ kick.

The umpire called a push in the back free-kick to Higgins but ultimately let Sharman take the set shot from his mark.

There’s just 30 seconds left on the clock.

Saints 12.9 (81)

Blues 17.4 (106)

That’s 13 tackles for Jack Steele tonight, he’s been outstanding in an otherwise disappointing night for the Saints.

The most in a match (according to AFL Tables) is 19, a record shared between Tom Liberatore, Jack Ziebell and Jude Bolton.

Steele has previously had outputs of 18, 17 and 14 twice.

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