In a spiteful affair, Essendon pressed hard for most of the night before St Kilda steadied towards the finish to win 13.16 (94) to 8.12 (60).
Both teams found it difficult to score under the intense physical pressure that was applied, with players often focusing on the man, rather than the ball.
Essendon had only two goalscorers – Scott Lucas and James Hird – until the 16-minute mark of the final term, when an unusually quiet Matthew Lloyd finally troubled the scorers and David Hille slotted home another, once the contest was over.
The loss was Essendon’s first against the Saints in a home-and-away match since round eight 1999 and just their sixth defeat in the last 37 clashes between the two sides.
St Kilda captain Lenny Hayes racked-up 29 possessions in the midfield.
Spearhead Fraser Gehrig was well held by Dustin Fletcher for most of the first three quarters, but Aaron Hamill and Nick Riewoldt were prominent targets, taking several strong marks and booting two goals each.
After Fletcher was moved onto Riewoldt, Gehrig slipped away in the final term to still finish with three goals for the night.
Hird played a loan hand for Essendon early, booting his side’s only two goals for the first quarter.
But while the likes of Dean Rioli, Damien Peverill and Adam Ramanauskas stepped up to offer support as the game progressed, the Bombers did not have enough winners on the night.
Lucas was the most effective forward on the ground, booting four goals from centre half-forward, but he also booted four behinds to blot an otherwise impressive showing.
The contest was littered with several fiery scuffles from the outset, with recently-appointed AFL video reports officer Ian Robinson likely to have a busy time reviewing the game.
Aaron Hamill and Bombers opponent Adam McPhee were involved in a scrap in the first quarter that resulted in Hamill leaving the field under the blood rule, while St Kilda goalsneak Stephen Milne and Essendon tough man Mark Johnson also engaged in a wrestle.
Of greater concern to the league, however, may well be a third quarter scuffle between St Kilda’s Heath Black and Essendon veteran Joe Misiti in front of the Bombers’ interchange bench that saw emergency umpire Colin Rowston accidentally knocked over.
St Kilda coach Grant Thomas said he had anticipated Essendon would come out hard against the rising Saints.
“I thought they were good in that regard,” Thomas said.
“Essendon obviously wanted to throw everything at us and we were really keen to give some younger guys at that and we started with Thompson, Peckett and Harvey on the bench for that reason – to give the young players as much experience and opportunity in that situation as we could.”
“And we’re really proud of the way they not only withstood it, but went on with the game.”
With runners Mark Johnson and Mark McVeigh aggravating hamstring injuries, Bombers coach Kevin Sheedy lamented his club’s inability to field its best side in the early part of the season.
They join Jason Johnson (hamstring) and Sean Wellman (foot) on the sidelines.
“I thought we worked pretty hard all night,” Sheedy said. “We just got beaten by a better side on the night in many ways. They’re probably on a high at the moment and we’ve got a bit of work to do.
“I thought there were times in the match where we nearly could have got level, but we didn’t. From that point of view it was disappointing.”
Essendon: 2.3, 3.5, 5.9, 8.12 (60)
St Kilda: 3.5, 5.10, 7.15, 13.16 (94)
GOALS: Essendon: Lucas 4, Hird 2, Lloyd, Hille 1
St Kilda: Gehrig 3, Peckett, Hamill, Riewoldt, X.Clarke 2, Thompson, Voss 1
BEST: Essendon: Hird, Lucas, Peverill, Rioli, Ramanauskas, Murphy
St Kilda: Hayes, Ball, Voss, Riewoldt, Maguire, Harvey, Hamill
INJURIES: Essendon: M.Johnson (hamstring), McVeigh (hamstring)
St Kilda: None
CHANGES: Essendon: J.Johnson (hamstring) replaced by Alvey
St Kilda: Penny (groin)
REPORTS: None
UMPIRES: McLaren, Nicholls, Ellis
CROWD: 44,876 at Telstra Dome
