St Kilda has now won its first four games for the first time since its one-and-only premiership year, 1966, after defeating the Adelaide Crows 18.5 (113) to 15.8 (98).
Mark Ricciuto was the standout for Adelaide with 33 possessions while Brett Burton was also prominent with 31 disposals and 10 marks.
Andrew McLeod started on a half-back flank and worked himself into some form – finishing with 24 touches.
Adelaide fought hard to snatch its first win of the campaign but could not match the aerial superiority of the Saints and was out-marked 111 to 76.
Fraser Gehrig kicked six goals and captain Lenny Hayes led from the front with 31 disposals and 11 marks.
Nick Riewoldt was well-held early by young Crow Trent Hentschel but finished strongly, taking 12 marks from centre half-forward.
Adelaide started brightly with livewire forward Graham Johncock bagging two early goals to his side to a 12-point lead midway through the first term.
Alarm bells were ringing for the Saints as Adelaide gained control of the midfield mainly through the good work of Ricciuto (11 disposals) and Burton (nine disposals).
However, the Saints held their nerve and went about reversing the trend – putting on a four-goal burst in five minutes – with Luke Ball and Brent Guerra each scoring two.
The Crows needed some inspiration and Burton provided it - his superb running goal quickly followed by majors to Tyson Edwards and Ricciuto to establish a seven-point lead at the first break.
The shootout of the first quarter quickly turned into an arm wrestle in the second with stoppages aplenty before St Kilda broke the shackles to put on another quick-fire scoring burst.
Guerra’s third was followed by goals to Stephen Powell and Trent Knobel as the Saints snatched the momentum.
Wayne Carey got into the action, marking strongly and converting for his first for the day, but at half-time it was the Saints by 11 points.
The Crows had been forced to battle hard for their goals in the first half but their first two of the third came inside the first two minutes – James Gallagher and Johncock doing the honours.
It was end-to-end stuff but the Saints looked more dangerous going forward with Fraser Gehrig the focal point, well-supported by Guerra in the opportunist role.
Both players added a goal to their tally during the quarter as the Saints saw off the Crows’ early challenge to increase their lead to 15 points at the last break.
Adelaide came at the Saints again as the last quarter got underway with a goal to Edwards narrowing the gap to nine points but plucky StKilda side was equal to the task and replied swiftly through Gehrig.
The Crows kept plugging away but it was Gehrig that proved the difference in the final term – scoring all of the Saints’ three goals for the quarter to see off the Crows’ challenge.
After the game, Adelaide coach Gary Ayres was philosophical about his, and the club's, predicament.
“Football is a journey – life is a journey – and you start off in March and we’re only halfway through April and there’s obviously another five months of football to go, so you can’t chuck it all in now even though we’re 0-and-4,” Ayres said.
“This competition … is pretty tight and if you lose sight of that, well, I think that you just self-destruct and you become very selfish and self-centred and I don’t want to see this group or this club do that.”
“All we can do is try and remain calm and sift our way through what we think is not up to standard and what we think is (otherwise) we will self-destruct.”
Ayres said it was vital that everyone involved at the club should stick fast.
“Obviously I’m at the top of the tree so I’ve got to make sure that these players have some sort of belief because it’s bloody hard in adversity fronting up all the time,” he said.
“You don’t like to be in this position (but) for whatever reason we are and we’ve just got to keep charging forward.”
ADELAIDE: 6.2, 8.3, 12.6, 15.8 (98)
ST KILDA: 5.1, 10.2, 15.3, 18.5 (113)
Goals: Adelaide: Johncock 3, McGregor 2, Edwards 2, Ricciuto 2, McLeod, Jericho, Burton, Massie, Gallagher, Carey
St Kilda: Gehrig 6, Guerra 4, Ball 2, Riewoldt, Milne, Voss, Knobel, Koschitzke, Powell
Best: Adelaide: Ricciuto, Burton, McLeod, McGregor, Johncock, Clarke. St Kilda: Hayes, Gehrig, Harvey, Dal Santo, Guerra, Riewoldt, Knobel, Jones
Injuries: Adelaide: Reilly (thigh) replaced in selected side by Bode, Bassett (ankle)
St Kilda: Nil
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Vozzo, Woodcock, Margetts
Crowd: 42,219 at AAMI Stadium
