Having trailed for the first 95 minutes of tonight's game, and looking about as threatening in attack as an arthritic, toothless poodle, St Kilda somehow managed to conjure the last three goals of the night to deal the Western Bulldogs their most crushing defeat for many a long season.

In those last five minutes, Stephen Milne, then David Armitage and finally Sam Fisher, who found space to curl through a snap from 30 metres, kicked the goals that put the Doggies to the sword. In the process, they almost doubled the Saints' score cobbled together from the previous 95 minutes.

It was an extraordinary end to an otherwise deeply tedious contest that showcased the worst of the modern game. It was dour and defensive, turgid and tedious as both teams - but especially St Kilda - threw numbers behind the ball and tried to steal goals on the break.

In the previous 474 games at Etihad Stadium (nee Colonial Stadium, nee Telstra Dome) no two teams had failed to score more than 100 points in total. Yet St Kilda and the Bulldogs managed that feat with some ease, the Saints' score of 7.7 (49) eclipsing that of the Dogs (6.10) by three points.

Even the Channel Seven commentators, well-drilled at talking up even the most inane and lopsided contest, just didn't have it in them to spruik this one. Dennis Cometti wondered aloud what overseas visitors would make of the game if they'd been taken along by locals promising a memorable spectacle.

The Saints' half-time score of 2.3 (15) was their lowest in eight seasons. In Nick Riewoldt's absence, they lacked any targets up forward. Justin Koschitzke was taking up a position in the goalsquare, in the same way that Nelson's Column takes up a position in Trafalgar Square. And the two small guys assigned to the crumbing work at the fall of the ball, Stephen Milne and Adam Schneider, were about as ineffectual as the pigeons that roost on said column.

Midway through the last quarter, the Saints had posted just four miserable goals. And then came the fireworks, three majors in five minutes that turned the game on its head - and broke the Bulldogs' spirit.

It was a shattering result for the team that beat St Kilda seven weeks ago on the same ground to win the NAB Cup grand final. That result prompted bookies to reel in the Dogs to premiership favouritism. Barry Hall kicked seven that night and was seen the length and breadth of the western suburbs as the saviour, the man who could solve the club's goalkicking problems that had been around since Kelvin Templeton left the Western Oval 30 years ago.

Tonight, though, Hall was virtually unsighted and had to be dragged from the ground by coach Rodney Eade after his frustrations threatened to spill over in the first half.

With Riewoldt missing, and Jason Gram also out injured, there was never a better chance for the Bulldogs to get one over St Kilda and really start to build some momentum after a faltering first five rounds. But now the sons of the west sit at 3-3 going into May, and with a huge task ahead of them to regroup.

Tonight, they made the mistake of playing into St Kilda's hands, content not to take the game on and break it open (with the notable exception of Jarrod Harbrow), but just to do enough to build that 17-point lead at three-quarter time. If they thought that was enough to see off these super-resilient Saints, they were sadly mistaken.