Stingy Saints
You have to go a fair way back to find out the most recent time the Western Bulldogs scored only one goal in the first half — to 2003, in fact, when the Bulldogs were shellacked by St Kilda at Aurora Stadium in Launceston. The score at half-time was 7.11 (53) to 1.5 (11). The Saints went on to win by 65 points, 13.7 (95) to 3.12 (30), keeping the Dogs to their lowest against them. St Kilda finished 11th that season and the Bulldogs last. Bulldogs forward Daniel Giansiracusa kicked his team's second goal on Saturday night when he snapped truly on his left boot two minutes into the third quarter.

Spreading the love
Talk about sharing it around. There were 12 individual goalscorers (10 Saints and two Bulldogs) in the game before Nick Riewoldt accepted a handball from Nick Dal Santo 13 minutes into the third quarter and kicked his second goal. Not one to be left out of a party, Steven Milne became the Saints' 11th goalscorer when he kicked truly after the three-quarter time siren. Milne also kicked the Saints' two goals in the last quarter.

Pups struggle for impact
The Bulldogs' youth policy has a way to go if you look at tonight's performance from two young stars. Two weeks ago small forward Clay Smith was the talk of the western suburbs when he kicked four goals in his debut, against West Coast. Against the Saints, he had only 12 disposals while ruckman Ayce Cordy also had little effect, finishing with nine disposals and three marks. Cordy did, however, work hard against the odds.

Contrasts inside 50
Before the game, St Kilda was the best team for goal conversions after going into its forward 50. The Bulldogs, on the other hand, were the second worst in the competition for goal conversions after going into forward 50. Saturday night's game does nothing to disprove this stat. The Bulldogs had four more inside 50s (50-46) and yet the Saints won by 63 points.

Growing tall
Both teams went in tall, with two ruckmen and two tall forwards (Riewoldt, Koschitzke, McEvoy and Stanley v Minson, Roughead, Jones and Cordy). In terms of marking, St Kilda's tall timber clearly had the upper edge, taking 23 to the Bulldogs' 13. Rhys Stanley proved a revelation at the 20-minute of the second quarter when he plucked a mark from over a pack and then slotted a goal from the point of the 50 arc. Stanley took six marks in all and grew in confidence as the game wore on.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs