Insult added to injury as banged-up Saints lose to Dogs and Wanganeen-Milera flips ‘the bird’

St Kilda were hit hard by the Western Bulldogs, harder on their injury list, and Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera is likely to come under scrutiny from the AFL after a costly defeat for the Saints on Sunday.

Coming from the ground during a 44-touch game the Dogs did well to absorb, Wanganeen-Milera twice flipped the bird at a vocal segment of opposition supporters, in an exchange that Saints coach Ross Lyon admitted could result in the league’s attention.

“We like a bit of theatre,” Lyon said after the Saints lost by 22 points – 12.11 (83) to 8.13 (61). “Do we like the bird? We’re about to find out.”

Now nursing a 6-9 record heading into their bye, St Kilda may also have lost co-captain Jack Sinclair for the season with a serious calf tear, while Tom De Koning will need a scan to check for cracked ribs and a punctured lung. Fellow ruckman Rohan Marshall will also be scanned after suffering a stung shoulder.

Watched intently by his uncle, the 1993 Brownlow medallist Gavin Wanganeen, Wanganeen-Milera put on an exceptional show by even his high standards, racking up 25 possessions to half-time in his customary role across half-back, then adding another 12 in the third term and trailing off with seven in the last.

For all of Wanganeen-Milera’s brilliance, the Dogs had a bigger spread of contributors across the ground, consigning St Kilda to a fourth loss out of five games. They are a game out of the wildcard spots, while the Bulldogs, at 9-6, can look ahead with far more optimism.

The Dogs’ Rolls-Royce, Marcus Bontempelli, had plenty of impact, including 13 clearances and one sublime crumbed goal from a one-handed pickup in the second term. Will Lewis, Rory Lobb and Aaron Naughton kicked two apiece for the Dogs.

After getting jumped by the Crows last round, the Dogs were intent on avoiding a similar start this time, and a trio of goals from their first five forward entries, including two from Lewis, ensured they would not be trailing by much at quarter-time.

Even so, the Saints would have expected to do more with a +19 differential in contested possessions for the quarter, as they sought to rebalance a run of five losses in six games against the Bulldogs.

St Kilda’s physicality was underlined by an old school but utterly fair bump by Liam Ryan that floored James O’Donnell on the wing, but the Dogs made their attacking forays count, through Naughton, Bontempelli and a long set shot by Matt Kennedy near half-time.

A 16-point advantage grew further when Lachlan McNeil goaled inside two minutes of the second half, and the Saints used up many of their dwindling petrol tickets to prevent the Dog from running away.

Campbell Lake’s long shot drew a raucous response from Saints supporters, but their momentum was more or less scotched when Max Hall slotted a quick follow up from the pocket, only to be penalised – rightly – for running too far.

From there the Dogs were more polished and certainly fresher for greater interchange numbers, meaning they were not threatened in the last.

Even Wanganeen-Milera’s prolific afternoon slowed, leaving him with a new career mark but six touches short of the half-century that had seemed well within reach.

Dogs coach Luke Beveridge said his side had budgeted for a certain amount of productivity from Wanganeen-Milera, so long as he was not too influential in scoring terms.

“He had a lot of the ball, a lot of metres gained, but he only had five score involvements,” Beveridge said. “We were content that he could have 65 if he wanted, but we were just going to keep playing in a systematic way.

“Ultimately, there was a message or two to make sure we catered for his counter-offence and overlap run, which we didn’t necessarily do too well all the time.”

North back on track in wildcard hunt

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Having consigned their Fremantle debacle to history, North Melbourne are putting themselves back on track to break their finals drought.

Cooper Trembath was the difference on Sunday, kicking four goals as the Kangaroos beat Richmond by 25 points in a scrappy, ugly clash at the MCG.

Beating the Tigers 10.13 (73) to 6.12 (48) gave North back-to-back wins after the Dockers tore them apart by 124 points.

North last made the finals in 2016, finishing eighth. They are 10th in the first season of the top-10 wildcard format.

“We were pretty happy to put that in the rear-vision mirror, five minutes after that game,” coach Alastair Clarkson said of the Fremantle loss.

“It (Sunday) was a tough slog and neither side set the world on fire … but we’re really pleased.

“This club hasn’t been 7-7 … for well over a decade, I don’t think.

“To still be in the season, and grind out wins like we did today … we were pleased we were able to restrict their danger in the last part of the game.”

Noah Balta kicked successive goals in the last term to give Richmond a sniff, but North were able to close out the game after also having troubles in the final quarter last week against West Coast.

Harry Sheezel had 31 possessions to lead the Kangaroos midfield and James Trezise was solid for the Tigers.

Despite sunny conditions and little breeze, the start of the game seemed to take inspiration from the soccer World Cup.

There was no score until nearly 10 minutes in, when the Tigers pounced on a defensive turnover and Sam Banks kicked a goal on the run.

It was one-all at the first break after George Wardlaw responded.

Richmond coach Adem Yze was left lamenting North being able to take 46 uncontested marks in the first quarter, which set the tone for the game.

“We used all our energy on defence and then our execution on offence, it was affected by it … death by a thousand cuts,” Yze said, adding it was one of the most frustrating games he has coached.

“I felt so sorry for our forwards.”

Playing his first game since round two, Richmond captain Toby Nankervis was up against Trembath in the ruck at the centre ball-ups.

Trembath would then immediately go forward and Tristan Xerri or Taylor Goad would do the ruck work around the ground.

“It’s always good to have him back,” Yze said of his captain.

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