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MID SEASON 2004 - Articles - Page 2

Saints find lost shield
A Wooden shield containing some of St Kilda's greatest names from early last century has been discovered in an amateur theatre company in Mordialloc. The A. M. Taylor Shield was awarded by the Saints to its best-and-fairest winners between 1914-29. But it hadn't been sighted at the club for more than 50 years and was presumed lost . . . The discovery of the Shield means St Kilda now has the most complete best-and-fairest list in the AFL. For example, Carlton's list goes back to 1934, and the Copeland Trophy at Collingwood started in 1927 . . . Another interesting fact to emerge was that Colin Watson did not win the best-and-fairest in his Brownlow year of 1925. Cyril Gambetta took the honour that year.
The Article - Jon Anderson - HeraldSun - 25Jun04

Explaining 'Kossy's' dislocation
When Justin Koschitzke stood up from his contest with Matthew Ball in the Saints-Hawk clash last week, the diagnosis of a dislocated elbow was clear to television viewers. Koschitzke was attempting to support his injured arm with the help of the team physiotherapist as he ran from the ground, the elbow joint clearly out of shape. We hear the term 'dislocation', but what exactly does it mean? The dictionary definition is 'a displacement of one or more bones at a joint'. Bones connect at joints, or more literally 'joins' . . . Reports of a return to play have ranged from six to 10 weeks, which seems an accurate timeframe given the injury involved and the possible complicating factors . . .
The Article - Paul Visentini/Sportal - saints.com.au - 29Jun04

Fitness tests for key Saints
St Kilda has several key players facing fitness tests ahead of Sunday's clash with Port Adelaide at Launceston's York Park, including Aaron Hamill and Matt Maguire. The Saints, already without Justin Koschitzke for possibly the next eight weeks due to a right elbow fracture, will be hoping Hamill, who has kicked 20 goals and taken 48 marks from 10 matches this season, will be declared fit to play. Hamill missed the win over Hawthorn with a back/hamstring injury. Maguire, who has been a cornerstone of St Kilda's defence this year, is carrying a groin problem and also didn't play against the Hawks.
The Article - Sportal - afl.com.au - 28Jun04
Murray: boken arm - jakes - Saintsational fan Forum

Injuries: Week off boost for contenders
Forward Aaron Hamill (hamstring) is a good chance to return for St Kilda's game against Port Adelaide in Launceston on Sunday, while much-improved defender Matt Maguire (groin) will also be tested.
The Article - AAP - HeraldSun - 28Jun04
Saints Injury list - this site

MID SEASON SQUAD REVIEW
Mid Season Review (Player Nos 1-11) - jakes - Saintsational fan Forum
Mid Season Review (Player Nos 12-22) - jakes - Saintsational fan Forum
Mid Season Review (Player Nos 23-33) - jakes - Saintsational fan Forum
Mid Season Review (Player Nos 34-44) - jakes - Saintsational fan Forum

Mid-year All-Australians
2004 mid-season All-Australian team
B: Austinn Jones (St Kilda), Matthew Scarlett (Geelong), Tom Harley (Geelong)
HB: Adem Yze (Melbourne), Chad Cornes (Port Adelaide), Matthew Lappin (Carlton)
C: Nigel Lappin (Brisbane Lions), Mark Ricciuto (Adelaide), Jason Akermanis (Brisbane Lions)
HF: James Hird (Essendon), Warren Tredrea (Port Adelaide), Chris Judd (West Coast)
F: Nathan Brown (Richmond), Matthew Lloyd (Essendon), Fraser Gehrig (St Kilda)
FOLL: Jeff White (Melbourne), Simon Black (Brisbane Lions), Paul Hasleby (Fremantle)
I/C: Barry Hall (Sydney), Michael Voss (Brisbane Lions), Adam Simpson (Kangaroos), Kane Cornes (Port Adelaide)
EMG: Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda), Peter Everitt (Hawthorn), Lenny Hayes (St Kilda)
The Article - Matt Burgan/Sportal - saints.com.au - 25Jun04

'Stand-alone' fixture considered
The AFL may work a second 'stand-alone' fixture into next year's home-and-away draw, after league chief executive Andrew Demetriou flagged the idea in Sydney yesterday. With tonight's 'stand-alone' match between Sydney and Collingwood expected to be a resounding success, Demetriou said AFL major projects manager Ben Buckley was investigating the possibility of another 'marquee' game, with the opening round of the season the most likely date. "That is something that we are keen to explore even further. There's a couple of options to look at one-off games throughout the season. You can obviously think of the bye round and there's probably one other window of opportunity," Demetriou said. When pushed for a specific time, Demetriou said: "It could be the start of the season."
The Article - Peter Ker - TheAge - 26Jun04

The mud and the blood and the beer
This is the ultimate experience of getting up close and personal: corporates wined and dined smack bang in the middle of St Kilda's Moorabbin locker-rooms. They eat and drink with boots, socks and jock straps around. The smell of liniment lingers. Diners are joined by club legends, including St Kilda and Hawthorn premiership coach Allan Jeans and the Saints' 1958 Brownlow medallist Neil "Coco" Roberts. St Kilda's marketing guru Russell Morris, who played for the Saints and under Jeans at Hawthorn, came up with locker-room lunch idea. "It's a warts an all experience and we make sure we don't clean the rooms," he said. Morris has also helped himself to the coaching notes Jeans devised during the '60s, 70s and 80s.
The Article - Daryl Timms - HeraldSun - 25Jun04

Footy's top 15 heavyweights
While the players remain the stars of the $400 million industry known as the AFL, the direction of the game is determined by people in a wide range of off-field roles. They are the policy makers, those responsible for the image, the fixture, the rules, game development, television coverage, the tribunal and a host of other things. The former North Melbourne and Hawthorn wingman Andrew Demetriou, the son of immigrants from Cyprus, heads that group in his role as AFL chief executive . . .
The Article - Mike Sheahan - HeraldSun - 26Jun04

Axe falls at top for season's also-rans
The exit sign is flashing and the AFL's cut-throat coaching turnstiles are starting to spin more quickly as the gap widens between the elite and the also-rans . . . Success on the field has added the league-leading St Kilda, second-placed Melbourne and rising star Geelong to the list of timely turnarounds . . . At this time last year, the respective coaches of those clubs - Grant Thomas, Neale Daniher and Mark Thompson - were all in the gun and in danger of losing their positions as their teams slid unceremoniously down the ladder, all failing to make the 2003 finals series. Centrebet, in 2002, rated Thomas and Thompson as 4/1 co-favourites in the "race" to be the first AFL coaches sacked. That pair are now receiving high praise for their roles in improving the two rapidly rising teams.
The Article - Steve Butler - WestAustralian - 29Jun04

AFL knickers in a knot
Female footy executives have criticised the AFL's decision to release a range of sexy women's underwear. Carlton board member Lauraine Diggins has labelled the skimpy G-string and frilly-knicker set 'inappropriate' . . . Collingwood board member Sally Capp agrees . . . All but three AFL clubs have opted to stock the 'For Her' range, which includes the G-string and a frill set, made up of a singlet top and frilly knickers, in club colours . . . Brisbane, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs boards decided not to stock the range, citing space limitations in club shops and lack of interest . . . Tania Buckley, wife of Collingwood captain Nathan, thinks the range is a good idea . . . Melbourne University Youth Research Centre director Professor Johanna Wyn says the AFL is promoting a view of women as sex objects. "I think it's most unfortunate timing that they are signalling this approach to women," she said.
The Article - Kim Wilsom - HeraldSun - 27Jun04

New Port deal won't please everyone
Port Adelaide overlooked a major sponsor's disapproval and yesterday extended coach Mark Williams' contract for two years. "It is the right decision," Port president Greg Boulton said when the Power ensured Williams becomes the longest-serving AFL coach in South Australia. His term since appointment in 1999 will extend to eight years.
The Article - Michelangelo Rucci - HeraldSun - 29Jun04

Vital asset of hope is coaches' stock in trade
In five years of coaching Richmond, Danny Frawley took his side to a preliminary final. Just two wins short of football's grandest prize. In five years at Adelaide Gary Ayres did the same. Dummies don't do that. Yet neither man will coach their respective clubs next year. Ayres was told that he was not required next season so he walked away mid-season. Frawley knew others had made a similar assessment of his future at Punt Road. So he won't put his hand up for another crack come the end of round 22. Collingwood have played in the past two grand finals but have garnered just four wins from this season and not even Pythagoras can find a way Eddie's boys can make the finals. Mick Malthouse is said to be coaching well. Kevin Sheedy has failed to get his Bombers to beat a half-decent team this year but the Essendon board will offer him a three-year contract renewal.
The Article - Patrick Smith - TheAustralian - 29Jun04

Wallace in market
Terry Wallace last night confirmed he was in the market for an AFL coaching job. The former Bulldogs coach is regarded as the frontrunner, with ex-Swans coach Rodney Eade, for the Richmond job to be vacated by Danny Frawley. While comfortable with his current role as a football commentator and newspaper columnist, Wallace admitted the fire to coach still burned in him. "Nothing has changed whatsoever for me," Wallace said yesterday when told that Frawley would stand down. "I am comfortable to speak to anyone when the appropriate time comes. I would like to get back into coaching, but only if I believe the right opportunity is available."
The Article - Scott Gullan - HeraldSun - 29Jun04

Frawley to leave Tigers
Another coaching scalp has fallen, with Richmond coach Danny Frawley notifying the club that 2004 will be his last season at the helm. A statement issued by the club said Frawley will remain coach until the end of the season. "It has been a tough call to make because of how passionately I feel about my coaching role at the club," Frawley said in the statement. "By taking this course of action now it gives the club the best possible chance to actively enter the market place for a new coach without any constraints."
The Article - Jordan Chong/Sportal - afl.com.au - 28Jun04

Eade tipped for Frawley's job
Rodney Eade is the man most likely to succeed Danny Frawley as senior coach of Richmond, after Frawley announced yesterday he would step down at the end of the season. Eade is the foremost of three candidates with the experience the Tigers want in their next coach. It is believed the subcommittee formed to select Frawley's successor has not discounted the prospect of hiring a first-up coach but has established that it is unlikely to do so. Eade, the former Sydney coach who took the Swans to a grand final in 1996, and Terry Wallace, the ex-Western Bulldog coach who took his team to successive preliminary finals in 1997 and 1998, both offer the requisite experience and are atop Richmond's list of potential replacements for Frawley.
The Article - Stephen Rielly - TheAge - 29Jun04

First and last
Gary Ayres' sacking . . . reminded me of Malcolm Blight's sacking in my debut year. Not because the circumstances were the same, but because a young player in Fergus Watts was playing his first game in what would be Ayres' last. This was the same situation I faced with Blight's sacking in 2000 . . . After two losses it was great to chalk up a win against Hawthorn at Telstra Dome on Friday night. Instead of our usual Saturday morning recovery, the squad went to Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula because of the split round . . .
The Article - Nick Riewoldt/MX Newspaper - saints.com.au - 28Jun04

Thomas could be coach, until he's not
Grant Thomas is to be re-appointed coach of St Kilda by next week but not necessarily on the conventional terms of a contract by which a professional football coach is customarily hired these days. The St Kilda board met last night and discussed the possibility of retaining Thomas in the way that a typical company employs its staff - on an indefinite basis - and doing away with a fixed-term contract. The Saints, in recent times, have earned a reputation for unorthodoxy, introducing among other things to football the rotating captaincy and the wellbeing index. St Kilda president Rod Butterss said last night that with the inevitable speculation that surrounds AFL coaches and their contracts, he isn't sure it remains the best way for clubs to hire their leading men.
The Article - Stephen Rielly - The Age - 30Jun04
Thomas rewarded with new contract - Mark Robinson - HeraldSun - 30Jun04

Eating our words over cereal winner Cornflakes
. . . Now, the club is turning in a $1 million profit, Butterss has the ear of the AFL heavies, Waldron has left the coach's box, and Thomas is the coach of the year with 11 wins, two losses and top spot on the ladder. We shall never call him "Cornflakes" again for now he is a cereal winner about to have his contract rightly renewed. No, our work at St Kilda is done. It took some time and angst but the club is on the verge of powerhouse status as clubs like Richmond and Carlton fiddle and diddle about.
The Article - Patrick Smith - TheAustralian - 30Jun04
What can I say ??????? - Saintsational fan Forum

Managing our list!!!
2004 - Mid-season list review - 2005 Preview
GT and the match committee would have been combing through the list over the break, looking at how to improve it going forward before the championships. I thought I would have a look at our list going forward . . .
The Article and thread - st.mart - Saintsational fan Forum
Our fringe players . . . - Saintsational fan Forum

Sheedy prepares for final phase of his Bombers pattern
. . . Essendon are in sixth spot, three games away from pace-setters St Kilda. The Bombers have been able to bully teams below them but have not conquered teams with legitimate hopes of playing significant roles in the finals. It is unlikely this collection of Essendon players could win the premiership. Sheedy needs to find a strong key defender to hold the monster forwards like Warren Tredrea, Jonathan Brown, Barry Hall and any one of the four St Kilda might throw at him. He needs to find pace to drive the midfield in all its rotations. And a replacement for Hird. He has given himself three years to do it. A fool would bet against him
The Article - Patrick Smith - TheAustralian - 01Jul04