Round 22, 2002
St. Kilda vs Melbourne
Saturday 31 August
Venue: Docklands
Attendance: 34,185
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| St. Kilda | 6.1 | 8.3 | 13.8 | 18.9.117 |
| Melbourne | 3.1 | 9.9 | 13.12 | 20.15.135 |
Melbourne win by 18 points
Goalkickers: Brad Green 5, Steven Armstrong 3, Cameron Bruce 2, David Neitz 2, Russell Robertson 2, Peter Vardy 2, Michael Clark 1, Travis Johnstone 1, Luke Williams 1, Shane Woewodin 1
Brownlow Votes:
2 - Brad Green
Milestones:
Only game and First goal
Michael Clark
With their finals hopes resting on a one game and 2% advantage over the West Coast Eagles, the Demons went into the match against 15th placed St Kilda knowing that a win would guarantee their place in September no matter what.
Nick Riewoldt was Saints' best player, kicking a bag of goals at full-forward. He was initially opposed to Cameron Bruce, who had been forced into key defensive roles early in his career due to our lack of height. Clint Bizzell was later switched onto Riewoldt.
Stewart Loewe, playing his last game, kicked the first goal of the evening and the Saints led at quarter time but the game ebbed and flowed between the two sides. Melbourne opened up a lead of three goals at one point but by three quarter time the margin had been cut to four points.
The Saints led going into time-on in the last quarter, a margin that would have left the Demons finals aspirations vulnerable to big victories elsewhere, but they struck back to win and confirm their appearance in September. Peter Vardy booted two goals in the last quarter, and Steven Armstrong four to help their side over the line.
Green, Jeff White and Clint Bizzell were the Demons best. Matthew Whelan (calf) was replaced in the selected side by James McDonald and both Luke Williams and Nathan Brown suffered knee injuries.
Neale Daniher said "I was proud of the way our players fought back late in that game. Stewie Loewe and the emotion that went into that whole game, St Kilda were always coming out to play and they were going to be a tough opponent. When they got to a seven or eight point lead midway through the last quarter, I was really proud of the resolve of our leadership group and our group of players to get up and go away with the game. It was a good result. We've got the situation now where we're playing finals footy and we've won three of our last four leading into the finals series."
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Age - 01/09/2002
Age - 01/09/2002