Live: Pies coach confirms major injury blow, as Saints host the Lions

After ages of virtually nothing happening in the attacking sense, we’re going end to end now!

This time Hipwood takes the unopposed mark from the kick from the centre circle after his opponent slipped over.

Lions out by 18 and Hipwood is looking dangerous.

This time it’s a nice bit of attacking work from Max Hall that sees the ball end up with Jack Higgins in a marking contest.

Higgins decides to play on and snaps truly.

Lions by 12.

Disappointing for the Saints that.

Hipwood roves a chaos ball inside the F50 and hooks a beauty on the run, having just missed a pretty simple set shot.

Lions back out to 18 points.

They’ve played incredibly ugly footy so far, but St Kilda’s first goal comes from a beautiful string of footy.

Mason Wood spoils in a marking contest on the defensive side of the wing and roves his own work, before hitting up Lance Collard on a lovely long pass. Collard is wide open, and he kicks long to Rowan Marshall in the goal square who dribbles it through.

Beautiful footy.

I am still here, we’ve just gone a looooong time without a major.

A lovely bit of roving from Zac Bailey in the forward pocket sees him handball to a free Kai Lohmann, who gets it back to Bailey, who snaps truly on the run.

It’s been messy so far and the Lions have all the territory.

Brisbane by 17 points.

It’s taken six and half minutes but we’re finally on the board.

It comes from a really risky kick from Rohan Marshall out of the ruck that goes backwards from about 20m out directly in front. Two Saints defenders then clash in the air, as Lachie Neale stayed down and collected the crumbs.

Lions lead by 7.

Mitch Owens has taken a beauty on the wing and held it to the ground, but the umpire called touched off the boot so the mark doesn’t count.

It’s disappointing because it’d be a contender in a year that so far doesn’t have any stand out grabs.

Still no majors six minutes in but the Lions are winning the geography battle.

If you’ve missed it, Jack Payne is out of this game with illness and has been replaced by Darcy Gardiner.

Like-for-like but that’s a tough start for the Lions.

Here’s how they’re lining up today.

The Anzac Day ceremony has been acknowledged and we’re good to go at Docklands.

A huge blow for the Magpies here, with Craig McRae telling the ABC Sport team this morning that Dan McStay will be sidelined with a knee injury for six to eight weeks.

“Dan’s got a grade three medial strain,” McRae told the call team this morning.

“It’s about a six to eight week injury.

“No operation required, just some rehab and in a brace for a period of time.”

So it could be worse, but structurally that’s a big one for Collingwood to deal with in a run that includes the Cats, the Dockers, the Hawks and the Crows.

Good afternoon footy fans and welcome to ABC Sport’s live online coverage Saturday’s AFL action.

My name is Kyle Pollard and I’ll be getting the ball rolling today before being joined by the magnificent Marnie Vinall later in the day.

Today starts with the Saints trying to overcome the might of the Lions at Docklands from 1:20pm (AEST), before Port hosts North Melbourne from 4:15pm on the east coast (3:45pm in Adelaide), before the day finishes off with GWS and the Bulldogs from 7:35pm.

Let’s get into it.