Melbourne rising forward sensation Jacob van Rooyen has been handed a two-match suspension for striking after an attempted spoil gone wrong that led to Gold Coast defender Charlie Ballard being taken from the ground on a stretcher.
Geelong’s Brad Close and Hawthorn’s Tyler Brockman have also been offered one-match bans for rough conduct.
Jacob van Rooyen.Credit: AFL Photos
The incident with van Rooyen occurred during the fourth quarter of the Demons’ win over the Suns on Saturday night, with the young Demon colliding with Ballard, who was attempting to take a mark.
Match Review Officer Michael Christian graded the incident as careless conduct, high contact and high impact.
Ballard looked in immediate pain and was assessed on-ground by club medicos. He was later cleared of a concussion or neck injury.
Suns coach Stuart Dew said they were taking precautionary measures given the seriousness of any head injuries.
“He’s alright. He obviously got the one on the beak (earlier) and he was OK, just got the watery eyes. I think it was just his neck at the end there, I think it was just real precautionary,” Dew said.
“I think he said ‘felt my neck crack’, which probably fair enough after what happened. [It’s] just precautionary from the doctors, which is the right thing to do.”
Close’s rough conduct charge came from a fourth-quarter tackle on Adelaide captain Jordan Dawson during Geelong’s win on Saturday afternoon.
Christian graded the incident as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact.
Similarly, Brockman’s one-match sanction came from a tackle on Fremantle’s Brandon Walker and was also graded as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact.
Adelaide’s Rory Laird can accept a $2000 fine for rough conduct on Geelong’s Tanner Bruhn.
Fremantle forward Junior Rioli could also be in trouble after high contact with Essendon defender Jordan Ridley, which led to Ridley being subbed out of the game with concussion.
Saints march on in dour battle
Marc McGowan
St Kilda have emerged from one of the most unsightly first halves of the year with another win to continue their strong start to the Ross Lyon 2.0 era.
In another defensive masterclass, Lyon’s men maintained their top-four spot and inflicted North Melbourne’s sixth defeat in a row with a 30-point victory at Marvel Stadium on Sunday night.
Ben McKay is tackled by Jack Steele in Sunday’s clash.Credit: AFL Photos
The struggling Kangaroos threatened to cause a boilover when spearhead Nick Larkey kicked three goals in the third term, after they failed to kick a first-half major for the first time in 44 years.
But St Kilda responded with a flurry of goals to end the quarter and open a 25-point three-quarter-time lead before withstanding a brief North challenge in the final term.
The Saints have still not conceded more than 83 points in any game this season, with the Roos’ meagre tally the fifth time they have kept an opponent to 50 or fewer.
Lyon is probably the person who will care the least about the aesthetics of the match, but knows they will need to play far better in a week’s time against a much-improved Adelaide.
St Kilda’s Mattaes Phillipou (left) and Jack Higgins.Credit: AFL Photos
This was a forgettable contest, particularly a first half where the teams combined for three goals amid miskicks, dropped marks, fumbles and unsightly errors.
St Kilda kicked most of their goals in bunches to did enough to see off a North Melbourne team that made five changes as they search for a long-lost winning formula.
Saints captain Jack Steele was instrumental in his side kicking away in the third quarter with 11 of his 20 disposals and six of his game-high nine clearances, while Callum Wilkie was outstanding down back again with 12 intercept possessions.
Hard-running Ryan Byrnes paced St Kilda early, while usual suspects Mitch Owens, Bradley Hill, Brad Crouch and Hunter Clark all made good contributions.
Rising Star favourite Harry Sheezel was excellent for the Kangaroos, along with former captain Jack Ziebell and Larkey, who played a lone hand in attack. Griffin Logue was switched up forward in Charlie Comben’s absence.
Out-of-sorts veteran Ben Cunnington was subbed out of a match for the second time this season.
Ugliest of starts
Anyone who missed this match but plans to watch the replay might as well fast-forward to the second half. The teams were locked on three behinds each until Dan Butler finally smashed through a goal from close range in the final five minutes of the first term, giving St Kilda a 1.6 to 0.4 lead at the first break.
The tone was set early, with Jaidyn Stephenson and Logue dropping chest marks, but they were far from alone. Even Jack Sinclair shanked a kick under no pressure, but there were all sorts of errors, fumbles and bumbles in a dismal opening half.
Worst of all was Ben Paton and Brad Crouch going for the same mark in the centre in the second term, only to collide and turn the ball over to the Roos, who surged forward via Cam Zurhaar – but he predictably misfired.
North Melbourne went to half-time goalless, with a hooked Darcy Tucker set shot in the last minute registering their seventh behind. It was the Roos’ first time doing that since round 12, 1979, against Essendon.
Rare highlights
Jaidyn Stephenson and first-year Saint Mattaes Phillipou provided some aerial brilliance to give the fans something to cheer about.
Stephenson soared late in the first quarter to haul in a big grab inside 50 over Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and in front of intercept specialist Callum Wilkie, but his resultant set shot failed to make the distance.
With North Melbourne trying to mount a fightback in the last quarter, Phillipou jumped even higher than Stephenson – at new Roo Darcy Tucker’s expense – in another example of the teenager’s eye-catching talent.
ST KILDA 1.6 3.9 6.15 8.16 (64)
NORTH MELBOURNE 0.4 0.7 3.7 4.10 (34)
GOALS
St Kilda: Higgins 2, Butler 2, Owens, Wood, Sinclair, Sharman.
North Melb: Larkey 3, Stephenson.
BEST
St Kilda: Steele, Wilkie, Sinclair, Marshall, Byrnes, Owens, Hill.
North Melb: Sheezel, Ziebell, Larkey, McKay, Goldstein,
Davies-Uniacke.
INJURIES
St Kilda: Marshall (ankle), Gresham (knee).
CROWD
22,065 at Marvel Stadium.
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