IT TOOK Justin Koschitzke seven years to get to last night, his 100th senior game. And his milestone game, much like the beginning of St Kilda's round-three match and indeed the start of the career of the key forward from Brocklesby, began brilliantly.

Within five minutes of the opening bounce, Koschitzke had marked the ball twice, kicked it twice and had two goals to his name. His Western Bulldogs opponent, Cameron Wight, looked out of his depth far earlier than even the greatest Bulldogs sceptics would have thought.

Everything for Koschitzke and his team was going to plan and the 37-point margin at the first break was testament to it. At that first break, there was an especially ominous look about St Kilda's goalkickers' list — its towering trio of Nick Riewoldt, Fraser Gehrig and Koschitzke were all on the board.

It was something that, for all their talents, they did not manage even against lowly Carlton last weekend. In round two, Koschitzke had been held goalless, Riewoldt kicked two in the final term, and Gehrig and Stephen Milne were the side's leading goalkickers, bagging four apiece.

Did it say more about St Kilda's midfield? Perhaps. But coming into round three, the expectation was that, against a blue-collar and unheralded Bulldog forward line, the forward department at St Kilda, which boasts an abundance of riches, would be leaving Telstra Dome about 10.30 o'clock last night having greatly boosted its stocks. It looked that way on paper; it had been that way in the past. And not long after the clock had struck eight, it was looking that way again.

Quarter-time: Riewoldt, five touches, two goals; Koschitzke, five touches, two goals; Gehrig, one touch, one goal. Saints by a smidgen over six goals.

If the stats were replicated for the next three terms — even without the help of the Saints' goalsneak forwards Milne and Adam Schneider — a third win in three weeks was in the bag. Simple. Height and power in the key positions would always win out against a fleet of smaller and faster footballers, right? Wrong.

Second-quarter stats: Riewoldt, three touches, no goals; Koschitzke, two handballs, no goals; Gehrig, three kicks, also goalless. St Kilda with a buffer of 18 points at the break but the Dogs with all the momentum.

Surely this was a mere blip.

Third-quarter stats: Riewoldt, two touches, no goals; Koschitzke, one kick, no goals; Gehrig, one kick, no goals. Dogs up by seven points. Five goals to one for the term.

Rubbing salt into the wound was the fact that many of the Bulldogs' minnows — and not even the club's most dependable scorers — had chimed in with the majors that changed the complexion of the game. Ryan Griffen had booted two, Jason Akermanis and Mitch Hahn ditto. Brad Johnson was goalless.

At the other end of the park, Dale Morris, Brian Lake and Wight were by now clearly on top of their three more esteemed Saints opponents: Riewoldt, Gehrig and Koschitzke, respectively.

Full-time stats: Riewoldt, 10 touches, two goals; Koschitzke, 10 touches, three goals; Gehrig, five touches, goalless. And the result? An uncharacteristically and unexpectedly poor return from the Saints' forward line, and more critically, a shock Saints loss.