Saints provide another Docker shocker
Fremantle coach Mark Harvey looks set for an uncomfortable week in the AFL spotlight after his side produced another uncompetitive performance in an 83-point thumping by St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
While the Saints were all class as they marched to a fourth consecutive win to start 2009, the winless Dockers' freefall showed no signs of abating as they slumped to a 17.9 (111) to 4.4 (28) defeat.
St Kilda forward Nick Riewoldt spearheaded the win with five goals, while Nick Dal Santo tore the Dockers to shreds in the midfield with 31 possessions and two goals.
The Saints' victory came at a cost, losing key forward Justin Koschitzke with what appeared a hamstring injury early in the first term.
But it mattered little as the Dockers were held to just a solitary behind in both the first and third quarters - two appalling terms likely to put Harvey's future squarely in the cross-hairs.
Fremantle provided little more than a light training run for the Saints in the first quarter, mixing uncompetitiveness with sheer ineptitude in the apparent absence of any game plan.
The Dockers improved in the second term to match St Kilda's three goals for the quarter.
But they fell apart completely in the third as the Saints flexed their muscle to boot five goals to none - the Dockers matching their abysmal first-quarter effort with just one point in both terms.
The only positive for the Dockers was that a consolation goal to Paul Hasleby in the final term spared them the indignity of the lowest score in the club's history.
St Kilda have won their past two matches by a combined total of 180 points or 30 goals, stamping themselves a genuine premiership threat.
But Fremantle have lost their four matches this season by an average of 52 points - their defeat by the Saints their second this year by more than 10 goals.
Harvey was forthright and unflattering in his assessment of where the Dockers sit in the AFL pecking order after their insipid performance.
"We're not good enough in all areas of the way we're playing at the moment," Harvey said.
"There's a lot of hard work to be done by everyone at this football club ... probably what they (St Kilda) did last week and tonight shows how far we are away from being a good side.
"Sometimes when you go through a development year, you go through a lot of hard times.
"All we can do is give guys an opportunity to progress and get experience in what they do."
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said Koschitzke's hamstring injury appeared at the minor end of the scale and he would undergo scans on Sunday.
But he looks likely to miss at least Friday night's important clash with another in-form side, Port Adelaide, at AAMI Stadium.
"He's pretty positive. He'll get rehab and get back onto the field," Lyon said.
"He's in good shape to be able to recover from it."
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