St Kilda have staged a massive AFL upset, beating top side Sydney by two points in Melbourne.
For the second week in a row, Swans forward Logan McDonald missed a late shot on goal and the Saints held on 13.6 (84) to 11.16 (82) on Sunday at Marvel Stadium.
Sydney star Isaac Heeney’s Brownlow Medal hopes also might be dashed after he collected opponent Jimmy Webster high in an incident off the ball.
The Saints were five goals down in the third term, but stormed home with nine of the last 11 goals in the game.
Ruckman Rowan Marshall and defenders Jack Sinclair, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Callum Wilkie were among St Kilda’s best, while young gun Mattaes Phillipou had an awesome final term in the midfield.
Last week, McDonald missed his shot after the final siren at home and Sydney suffered an upset loss to Fremantle.
This time, his long-range shot late in the final quarter looked good off the boot, but it faded late for a point, which proved the last score of the game.
Sydney’s notorious slow starts looked like continuing when the Saints kicked the opening two goals.
But the Swans quickly steadied and scores were level at quarter-time.
With Sydney star Chad Warner kicking two goals, his team broke out to a 25-point lead in the second term and the game looked like going to script.
The margin extended to 30 points early in the third, before the game exploded to life.
The Saints drilled four goals in six minutes to trail by only six points.
Then Sydney went forward and as Heeney took a mark, Webster was on his knees behind him, holding his face.
Replays showed Heeney swinging his arm back and breaking away from Webster to take possession.
Heeney ran over to Webster immediately after kicking the goal.
The Swans star kicked another goal two minutes later and Sydney had a 19-point buffer at the final change.
But the Saints kicked four goals to nil in the final term to snatch an improbable win, a few days after losing key forward Max King for the rest of the season with a knee injury.
It also comes a week after Port Adelaide beat them by less than a goal at the same venue.