The Saints have now lost eight games on the trot, with their last win back in round five against Essendon. Last season the Saints had a similar losing streak, dropping eight consecutive matches in a row from round 14 to 21. The last time the Saints lost nine games in a row was back in 2001, and if the club wants to avoid another repeat they will need to overcome another struggling side in Richmond next Saturday.

 

The Saints have been one of the worst starting sides in the competition in 2014, having won just one first term this season prior to Sunday's game. But thanks to a brilliant first quarter from Jack Billings the Saints won their second first quarter of the year. The 18-year-old, who has yet to kick more than two goals in a game, bagged three in the first term and had nine disposals. Unfortunately for the Saints, they were unable to win another quarter in the game, eventually losing by 33 points. Billings finished as one of the Saints' best players for the day with 25 disposals, six inside 50s at 100 per cent efficiency, and is most definitely a player of the future.

 

Versatile tall Jeremy McGovern continued to capture the attention of Eagles and football fans alike with another great performance in attack. The 22-year-old has been impressive since being recalled into the side in round 12 against the Hawks after making his AFL debut back in round six. For the third game in a row, McGovern was again in fine form up forward, prompting North Melbourne champion Wayne Carey to declare the young Eagle would soon be regarded the best mark in the competition. McGovern finished the game with three goals and four marks, making it 24 marks and eight goals in three games. 

 

It has been an up and down season so far for the Eagles. The win against the Saints, their seventh for the season, was vitally important for their finals chances. The Eagles sit just outside the top eight, and are within reach if they can find some consistency in the back half of the season. They've now won their past two games and will be looking to take some confidence and momentum into next weekend's derby against Fremantle.

 

After last weekend's 96-point thrashing at the hands of Geelong, the Saints faithful could have been forgiven for staying away, and it certainly looked as though they had. Fifteen minutes before the first bounce, the crowd at Etihad Stadium was shockingly thin, prompting football scribes and broadcasters to rifle through the record books. The lowest AFL home and away crowd at Etihad was 12,542, recorded in 2003 when the Western Bulldogs hosted Fremantle in round seven. Luckily by half way through the first term more supporters had filtered into the stands to boost the official crowd figure to 17,317 - enough to avoid a re-write of the history books. However that figure is the lowest crowd between these two sides in their past 11 encounters.