The Dogs led the entertaining contest from start to finish and accelerated away from the tiring Saints in the last quarter, winning 2.13.8 (104) to 0.9.10 (64) in front of 42,381 fans.
As he has throughout the pre-season campaign, Hall gave the Bulldogs a menacing presence in attack. His physical play set the tone early and five last-quarter goals sealed the result, earning him the Michael Tuck Medal for best afield.
"It's not going to happen like that every week - I realise that," a smiling Hall said after the match.
"I'm going to have quiet periods and quiet games, and there are no expectations from my point of view or the coach's and they're constantly telling me that."
There were plenty of willing hands in a Dogs' engine room that had the edge on St Kilda's talented band of runners, thanks mainly to the work of Adam Cooney, Matthew Boyd and Ryan Griffen.
The trademark tackling pressure of the Saints under Ross Lyon was absent for long periods on a night when the Bulldogs layed 20 more tackles than their opponents.
"They bring their pressure to the fore every game and we were able to answer that. That will stand them in good stead in tight games," Dogs' coach Rodney Eade said.
"We certainly wanted to win once we made it. We had plans going into the NAB Cup at the start but going into any game, we want to win it whether it's a grand final or not.
"I think it gives you good experience. It's not like a normal finals series but there were 40-odd thousand here against a quality side that wanted to win."
Watch Rodney Eade's post-match press conference »
Nick Riewoldt kicked four goals for the Saints, but he was forced to take too much on his own shoulders up forward with Justin Koschitzke, Stephen Milne and Adam Schneider unable to exert an influence for long enough.
The Dogs were simply unstoppable in the first quarter with Hall kicking the first two goals and setting up another to help his side to a 22-point lead at the first break.
Disappointing for Saints fans was the sight of Sam Fisher limping from the ground after being flung in a tackle early in the first quarter. The important defender took no further part in the game after sustaining an ankle injury although Lyon was confident he would be available for round one after the game.
The Saints were stung into action in the second with Riewoldt leading the charge, but seven points were as close as they could get before a Mitch Hahn super goal eased the margin back out to 22 points at half time.
Hahn's night took a turn for the worse, however, with a heavy collision with a hard-leading Hall seeing him sent to hospital.
He spent the night in hospital and scans cleared him of any further damage. The club released a statement on Sunday morning confirming Hahn was still under consideration for round one.
Nathan Eagleton was subbed out of the game after suffering a back-related hamstring spasm but Eade said it wasn't serious.
St Kilda mounted a charge that saw them close the gap to just two points early in the third quarter, but the Hall-inspired Dogs were not to be denied with their final term leaving Lyon to lament an uneven performance.
"In the last quarter I was disappointed that we petered out," Lyon said.
"It was disappointing that they dominated that last quarter. I would have liked to have seen a sustained effort throughout the course of the game."
Watch Ross Lyon's post-match press conference »
Western Bulldogs 0.4.5 1.5.6 2.7.7 2.13.8 (104)
St Kilda 0.1.1 0.3.5 0.7.10 0.9.10 (64)
GOALS
Western Bulldogs: Nine-point goals: Hahn, Higgins Goals: Hall 7, Higgins 2, Akermanis, Everitt, Griffen, Murphy.
St Kilda: Nine-point goals: Nil Goals: Riewoldt 4, Milne, Gram, Geary, Goddard, Koscitzke.
BEST
Western Bulldogs: Hall, Cooney, Boyd, Giansiracusa, Griffen, Higgins, Gilbee, Cross.
St Kilda: Riewoldt, Montagna, Goddard, Dal Santo, Gram, Blake,
INJURIES
Western Bulldogs: Nathan Eagleton (back), Hahn (head knock)
St Kilda: Sam Fisher (ankle)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Rosebury, Stevic, Chamberlain
Official crowd: 42,381 at Etihad Stadium
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
