Up five goals at half-time after restricting the Saints to one, and then being confronted by a Saints' fightback to lead by just three points early in the last quarter, the Crows hung on desperately to win by 19.

Advertisement: Story continues below

For five minutes during this torrid finish a kid playing his first game, Jamie Cripps, who was a late replacement and the substitute, looked like being the saviour to the Saints' season when he kicked his second goal. Earlier he goalled with his first kick in the AFL to ignite a third-term comeback, but this fairytale was not to be. Knights, who had not had a huge impact on the game, buried St Kilda in those fateful 48 seconds.

St Kilda just could not keep the recovery going, especially without Nick Riewoldt, who was taken off the ground concussed after a heavy head-high knock from Graham Johncock late in the third term, and was not allowed to return.

Read more at The Age ....