Sydney has buried St Kilda by a whopping 71 points in the third annual Pride Game, with an explosive nine-goal opening quarter laying the foundation for what was an absolute thrashing.
Despite being back on their home turf after two weeks on the road, the Saints were unable to negate the rampaging Swans, with Lance Franklin leading the way with four goals.
While Sydney had no shortage of contributors - with Josh Kennedy, Callum Sinclair and George Hewett all playing pivotal roles for their side - the Saints struggled to find many highlights, with Seb Ross and Jimmy Webster the major ball-winners with 25 and 24 disposals respectively.
The Swans now leap to third position on the ladder, and will remain there at the end of the round should Collingwood defeat Melbourne in Monday's Queen's Birthday clash.
St Kilda were absolutely obliterated from the outset and were unable to take any positives out of the term, with Sydney's electric nine-goal first quarter from just 13 entries unequivocally tearing the Saints apart.
Struggling so much as to win a clearance in the opening stanza (6-18), the Saints were utterly destroyed through the middle of the ground as the likes of Oliver Florent, Luke Parker and Jake Lloyd racked up disposals and clearances at will.
The devastation upon the Saints couldn't be contained, and with the midfield unable to lay a touch on the Swans' midfielders, the St Kilda defence could do little to repel the Sydney siege.
Parker got the Swans' onslaught underway just two minutes into the term, before directly setting up Callum Sinclair with his first of the evening just moments later to further punish the Saints' lack of intensity.
It only got worse for the home side, with Tom McCartin and Sinclair putting the visitors four goals up after just 13 minutes of play, leaving the Saints ravaged and struggling for a response.
But it was Franklin who was the most damaging, with the superstar forward finishing with two goals for the term and giving Alan Richardson's men headaches which would soon develop into migraines.
Although drawing St Kilda defenders to him like a magnet - which Franklin cleverly employed to afford Isaac Heeney the sixth goal for the Swans - the Sydney big forward couldn't be restrained, with his physicality and huge presence overpowering the back six.
It only continued to rain goals as Tom Papley and Zak Jones brought the final tally to nine goals, before second-gamer Josh Battle put a much-needed major on the board to put the margin at a whopping 48 points by quarter-time.
Fittingly searching for pride, the Saints were able to muster some together courtesy of Battle, whose tackling pressure and ferocity at both ground level and in the air set the standard for the quarter.
The Saints needed a miracle to turn the tables, and Jack Sinclair did his best to emulate some divine intervention with a classy left-foot snap on the boundary which dribbled in-between the big sticks.
St Kilda managed to halt the Swans' manic ball movement in the initial stages of the term and slow the tempo of the game to some degree, even finding themselves on top of the clearance and inside 50 count for the quarter (9-8 and 13-11 respectively).
But the home side's run had to come to an end, with Josh Kennedy kickstarting the Swans' next siege, with another four goals following the skipper's major.
Although Paddy McCartin presented strongly and put through the Saints' second for the quarter, it was to no avail in terms of cutting back the margin, with Franklin kicking his third before setting up Will Hayward's maiden major of the evening.
The 19-year-old managed to go back-to-back in the final minute of the term, and it looked to be the last score for the half.
Yet another deft touch from Franklin gave Sinclair his third in the dying seconds of the quarter, propelling Sydney to a 61-point lead at half-time.
While the goals didn't come as thick and fast in the third term, the Swans' three for the term easily outscored the Saints, who cobbled together just the one major through Maverick Weller.
St Kilda managed to ward off the Sydney attack for the first few minutes, despite the loss of Nathan Brown to concussion in the second term, but it didn't take long for Gary Rohan to inflict the opening blow.
It would be another 10 minutes before the visitors secured their second through Papley, yet in-between, the Saints strung together their most fluent passage of play for the game.
But despite racking up 16 inside 50s for the term and adopting a far more attacking mindset up their end of the ground, the Saints only managed to squeeze through the 1.2 for the term, opposed to the Swans' 3.4 from 13 such entries.
Although improved in their approach around the stoppages - keeping the Swans to just 0.2 from the zone following their 9.3 opening half - St Kilda weren't able to prevent Rohan from putting through his second after the three-quarter time siren, with the margin resting at an incredible 75 points at the final change.
Pride on the line and desperate to avoid a demoralising 100-point victory, the Saints were unable to stop Franklin from opening the scoring account in the final term with his fourth.
With the Swans refusing to expend much more energy in the final term, the Saints cashed in with Tim Membrey and Jade Gresham finally kicking true for the home side.
The air taken right out of the game, Parker attempted to breathe some life back with his second of the night, before Battle slotted through the final major of the game to cut the margin back to 71 points.
Many of the Saints' highlights came from the final term, with the last few goals allowing the home side to post a respectable score on the board.
But save for the final scoring surge and winning the final quarter, the Saints had little to hang their hats on after what was an absolute dismantling at the hands of the Swans.
St Kilda will be searching for their second win when they travel to Metricon Stadium to take on an equally demoralised Gold Coast on Saturday afternoon, while Sydney return to their home turf in an attempt to bring down a reinvigorated West Coast in six day's time.
ST KILDA 1.1 3.8 4.10 7.13 (55)
SYDNEY 9.1 14.3 17.7 19.12 (126)
GOALS
St Kilda: Battle 2, Membrey, Sinclair, Weller, P. McCartin, Gresham
Sydney: Franklin 4, Sinclair 3, Rohan 2, Hayward 2, Parker 2, Papley 2, T. McCartin, Heeney, Jones, Kennedy
BEST
St Kilda: Battle, Ross, Webster, Dunstan, Rice, Austin
Sydney: Franklin, Sinclair, Lloyd, Florent, Heeney, Kennedy, Hewett
INJURIES
St Kilda: Brown (concussion)
Sydney: Nil
TALKING POINTS
1. THAT FIRST QUARTER: SUPERB FROM THE SWANS...
Prior to tonight, the Swans averaged just over three majors in their opening quarters in season 2018.
But the Swans tripled their yearly average, with a monumental nine goals from seven different goalscorers to completely blow the Saints out of the water.
What's the most extraordinary from Sydney wasn't just the sheer amount of goals, but the unbelievable efficiency, with their 55 points for the term resulting from just 13 entries inside 50.
Fierce and fast, the Swans took delight in tearing apart their lacklustre opposition, and were ultimately rewarded in the end with a seven-point percentage boost.
Although now sitting at 8-4 for the season, the Swans had yet to show a truly impressive win margin-wise - save for a 59-point flogging of Fremantle - with their average winning margin just 21 points.
But tonight showed the Swans are just as damaging as West Coast or Richmond, and perhaps the fact they are underrated could be their biggest advantage come September.
2. ... AND ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING FROM THE SAINTS
On the flipside, St Kilda were absolutely deplorable in their opening term, conceding the first nine goals before Josh Battle finally prevented an unmitigated disaster from turning into a cataclysm.
The Saints were torn to shreds through the midfield, with the Swans' tripling their clearances (6-18) which subsequently put the backline under immense pressure.
Even the returning veteran in Nathan Brown couldn't limit the Swans' offensive, with the Saints close to helpless for the excruciating 30 minutes of the first quarter.
St Kilda were fittingly met with venom from Alan Richardson, who condemned his side's atrocious performance for the quarter - their efforts and impact on the game barely improving throughout the remainder of the game.
Even more disappointing considering how commendable the Saints had been over the past two weeks against Richmond and West Coast.
3. WELL THAT SUMS IT UP
One last-gasp push from the Saints to salvage some respect once again showed some humiliation after a blunder up forward.
With the ball in the square, Jade Gresham found himself with hands on the ball and went for a snap around the body to bolster his side's poor score.
Instead of sailing through the big sticks, the footy rocketed upward, before crashing back down into Paddy McCartin's hands.
Unfortunately, the big forward wasn't able to capitalise, with his kick quick coming off the side of his boot and cannoning through the behinds, much to the delight of the Sydney cheer squad.
If you're looking a summary of St Kilda's night, that five second patch just about does it.
4. HORRIBLE HISTORIES
The beauty of history is that one can learn from the past and subsequently use the knowledge to progress in the future.
If that analogy holds true, there's no way known any tipster will be backing St Kilda when the two teams meet again next year.
Tonight marks the ninth consecutive time the Saints have failed to knock off the Swans, with their last victory coming in 2012.
What's almost worse is that in the past three games at Etihad Stadium, St Kilda have lost by an average of 12 goals - and tonight was no exception following their 71-point flogging.
Not a record to be proud of if you're a Saints fan.
5. WOBBLY WEBSTER?
Alex Rance came under heavy fire last week for his staged dive in last week's Dreamtime at the 'G, yet Jimmy Webster might also find himself under the microscope after some slight exaggeration.
The St Kilda half-back took a tumble a little too easily after receiving a light shove in the front of the chest in an attempt to perhaps gain a 50m penalty for his side.
It's lucky the decision wasn't reversed to get Sydney another major to bury the Saints even further and humiliate them even more.
To be fair, you can't blame Webster for trying.
But if the AFL want to crack down on staging, Webster should expect a fine come Tuesday morning.
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