Keith stayed in the finals race after they inflicted Kingston's first loss of the season on Saturday. The Crows were desperate to keep their finals alive as they lined up with arguably their best team for the season. Kingston, having already sealed their finals spot, was looking to continue its winning run. The Saints had quite a few changes from their best team as an illness swept through a few of the players, and so the Kingston coaching team had to make quite a number of changes to their named team.
The Crows jumped out of the blocks quickly as they looked sharp in their ball movement. Lewis Hender scored the first goal, and soon Riley Wilsdon added two in a row as the home team was flying along. Riley, in particular, was looking dangerous as he got on long leads, and the Saints' defenders couldn't go with him early. Aaron Young, Will Schreiber, and William McMurray were in a lot of the early plays for the Crows. Kingston worked their way into the game as players like Harry Tunkin, William Watts, Jack Armfield, and Brandon Tapfield started to get more of the ball. The Saints got a goal through Zac Hatch as the visitors were on the board. The Crows closed the quarter with a goal by William McMurray as the home side was ahead by 23 points at the first change.
The Crows continued to heap the pressure on the Saints during the second quarter. Riley Wilsdon, Lewis Hender, and Blake Read were looking dangerous anytime the Crows got the ball forward. Riley Wilsdon opened the second quarter with the first goal, as Lewis Hender and Will Schreiber followed up with two more before Riley scored again as the Crows pushed ahead by 49 points. The ball was buzzing around as the Crows looked very sharp with their ball movement. Aaron Young, Seb Schreiber, George Johnson, and Will Schreiber were giving the Crows a lot of great work around the ground. Riley Wilsdon scored again as the Crows extended their lead to 55 points. The Crows worked hard and held Kingston goalless during the second quarter. The Saints tried hard to get some scoring chains going, but the Crows covered them pretty well. Cam Craig was doing a great job at directing the Crows' defence around. Saints players such as Alex Barns, Ben Warner, Jack Armfield, Oliver Clarke, Harry Tunkin, and Will Watts worked hard all quarter long. They were under a lot of pressure most of the time due to the Crows not giving them much space. The Crows led by 55 points at halftime.
The Saints made a few changes to the team at halftime, and it worked early in the third quarter. Connor Nutting was moved to the forward line, and it took under two minutes before he scored the first goal of the second half. The Saints soon had another after James Siviour kicked straight, and Kingston was getting back in the contest. Harry Tunkin, Alex Barns, and William Watts were doing some great work around the ground and the clearances for the Saints. Kingston tightened up in defence, where Tyler Baker, Oliver Clarke, and Orestis Gambranis were doing some good defensive spoils and battling hard. The Crows swooped back into action again as they piled on four goals through Lewis Hender, Riley Wilsdon, Aaron Young, and Blake Read. Will Schreiber was proving hard to stop with his running game. Seb Schreiber, George Johnson, Riley Wilsdon, and William McMurray continued their consistent output during the quarter. Kingston scored a late goal through Connor Nutting as the margin was cut to 65 points in favour of the Crows by three quarter time. Kingston battled hard during the third quarter as Harry Tunkin, William Watts, Alex Barns, Tyler Baker, Connor Nutting, and Jack Harding were prominent during the quarter for the Saints.
Kingston started the last quarter with lots of running and carrying the ball around the ground. The Crows' defence was hard to crack, but the Saints eventually were able to score the first two goals of the quarter through Connor Nutting and Hugo Lyon. The Saints were not going to give up the fight. Players such as Lachlan Worthley, Alex Barns, Ben Warner, Brandon Tapfield, Jack Armfield, and Todd Lockwood were running the game out well for the Saints. The Kingston midfield duo of Harry Tunkin and William Watts continued their output for the Saints. The Crows lifted once again and continued to add to the score as Blake Read added two goals in a row and Lewis Hender kicked his fourth goal. Will Schreiber continued to show his impressive running and kicking skills as he was dominant in his play for Keith. Aaron Young, George Johnson, Lewis Hender, Riley Wilsdon, and Blake Read finished the game off strong for the Crows. The home side proved too strong on the day as they kept their finals hopes alive.
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