{"id":262118,"date":"2025-11-04T14:25:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T14:25:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/262118\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T14:25:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T14:25:44","slug":"saints-disappointed-after-giving-up-home-final-in-shock-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/262118\/","title":{"rendered":"Saints ‘disappointed’ after giving up home final in shock loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n St Kilda is facing a trip interstate after giving up a certain home final in its loss to the Western Bulldogs\n <\/p>\n

Nick Dal Santo is seen during round 12, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n

ST KILDA may have had finals locked away heading in to Sunday’s match against the Western Bulldogs<\/a>, but coach Nick Dal Santo is \u201cdisappointed\u201d in his team\u2019s efforts, with the Saints giving up a guaranteed home final in the 45-point loss.<\/p>\n

The Saints entered the round in sixth spot, with a win against the Dogs granting them a home final next week. But the loss saw them at risk of slipping down to seventh on the ladder by round’s end, putting them at risk of an interstate trip.<\/p>\n

SAINTS V BULLDOGS Full match details and stats<\/a><\/p>\n

The Saints could still host Fremantle if the Dockers win their Sunday evening match against Adelaide by fewer than 20 points, while a bigger win by the Dockers or an outright win by the Crows would see the Saints hit the road for their elimination final.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we were disappointing today,\u201d Dal Santo said post-match.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought even from the very first centre square bounce, we give away a free kick. Two or three possessions later [the Bulldogs] are having a shot at goal. So, I thought our start was sloppy.<\/p>\n

\u201cFull credit to the Bulldogs, but we\u2019re probably a little bit disappointed with our 90-minutes of work today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just got beaten, particularly around the contest and we probably got what we deserved in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Saints were also without their fair share of key players due to a bulging injury list, with Paige Trudgeon and Nic Barr late outs too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They also had yet another in-game casualty, with Jaimee Lambert pulled out prior to the fourth quarter with a sore calf, but Dal Santo has confidence she\u2019ll pull up for next week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she\u2019s okay, I got a tap on the shoulder from the medical staff at three-quarter time saying that she was fatigued, and I said, \u201cwell that\u2019s enough then,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was all I needed to hear to say she was done for the day. We\u2019ll wait for more clarity on that, but I expect her to play next week.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In contrast, the Bulldogs had one minor potential injury to Heidi Woodley who went off choking in the third quarter, causing brief bench confusion as the Dogs were one player down for a couple of minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHeidi was choking on something,\u201d Bulldogs coach Tam Hyett said post-match.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to take her inside and smack her on the back and give her a little bit of relief.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut she\u2019s great.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although they\u2019ve missed their shot at finals, Hyett says they\u2019re now bolstered by today\u2019s win against a top eight finishing Saints to bring into the off-season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just beat a final\u2019s side, and that\u2019s the baseline for us now,\u201d Hyett said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing we are good enough, and now it\u2019s actually making sure we do all the things right in the off-season that sets us up for a strong pre-season and then start the season well next year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St Kilda is facing a trip interstate after giving up a certain home final in its loss to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-262118","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}