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Round 15 Pre-Match Articles - Page 2

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Round 15 Results and Post-Match Articles Page 1 - Page 2

Round 15: Melbourne vs. St Kilda MCG
Sunday 11th July 2004, 2:10pm (AEST)
Round 15 Math-Ups - Saintsational Fan Forum
Changes for Melb game !! - Saintsational Fan Forum

Maguire returns for Saints
Matt Maguire returns to the St Kilda line-up for Sunday's match against Melbourne at the MCG after missing two games with a groin strain. Maguire has been named in the back pocket while Sam Fisher, another new inclusion, is at full-forward to replace the suspended Fraser Gehrig. Leigh Montagna, Matthew Ferguson and Jason Gram have been added to an extended interchange bench that will be trimmed tomorrow.
The Article - Sportal - saints.com.au - 08Jul04
Teams and Interactive Match-Ups
All Teams Round 15 - Sportal - saints.com.au - 08Jul04

Penny appeal upheld
A relieved St Kilda can include key back Luke Penny in its side ahead of Sunday's important match against Melbourne at the MCG after he successfully overturned a two-match suspension for rough play at the AFL Appeals Board on Thursday night. Reporting umpire Justin Schmitt saved the day for the tall Saint, after he conceded at the appeal that Penny was always likely to contact Port Adelaide's Gavin Wanganeen during a marking duel at York Park last weekend.
The Article - Samantha Lane/Sportal - saints.com.au - 08Jul04
Game on - Saintsational Fan Forum

Saints sanctioned over comments
St Kilda has been sanctioned $5000 by the AFL for comments made by coach Grant Thomas following Tuesday night's tribunal hearings at which Luke Penny, Fraser Gehrig and Brent Guerra were suspended. AFL Football Operations Manager Adrian Anderson described it as a 'clear breach' of the rules regarding tribunal comment.
The Article - Sportal - saints.com.au - 08Jul04

Daniher warns soft Dees
Demons coach Neale Daniher says his players have suddenly gone soft since the mid-season break. And he has warned his men they are kidding themselves if they think the suspension of three St Kilda guns is a bonus for the Dees. The Demons (fourth) take on top-placed St Kilda at the MCG on Sunday and will join the Saints on 11 wins should they bounce back from their 72-point loss to Adelaide . . . And he said the worst thing that could happen was for his players to think the St Kilda suspensions would make their task easier on Sunday . . . Daniher argued. "Our supporters will be thinking, 'that's terrific, they're out', and the Saints supporters would rather they were in, and let's be frank they're very good players" . . . All the focus being on St Kilda's slump makes Daniher even more nervous. "They're not the No.1 team for no reason. They've got some youngsters who'll get their opportunity. We were worse than St Kilda. The focus is on them, but we couldn't get our hands on the footy; we had 80 less possessions."
The Article - Michael Horan - TheAustralian - 08Jul04
BJ as leading forward!! - Saintsational Fan Forum

Demons wary of weakened Saints
Melbourne is acutely aware of the perils of meeting undermanned sides, and will this week attack an apparently vulnerable St Kilda - presently its missing bookends and a handy utility - with a toughened resolve . . . But Demons coach Neale Daniher said his team had been lulled into complacency before it lost to a Brisbane side minus Alastair Lynch and Jonathan Brown in round ten. And he criticised Melbourne for a 'soft' performance against Adelaide, missing Wayne Carey, Nigel Smart and Ben Hart last week. "We thought 'oh yeah, that's terrific', and both times we got our biggest hidings of the year," he said before training on Wednesday.
The Article - Samantha Lane/Sportal - saints.com.au - 07Jul04

Penny free to play Demons after appeal
Luke Penny last night had his suspension quashed, with the appeals tribunal acknowledging he had endured an "agony-of-the-moment" decision in clashing with Gavin Wanganeen . . . The appeals tribunal, chaired by Peter O'Callaghan QC, found that evidence from reporting field umpire Justin Schmitt had changed significantly enough to warrant upholding the appeal. Fresh footage of the incident was produced by Penny's advocate, Sean Carroll, allowing Schmitt to view the contact from the reverse angle of what he saw live on Sunday and in Tuesday's first tribunal hearing. Schmitt conceded in last night's hearing that contact between Penny and Wanganeen had been inevitable.
The Article - Damian Barrett - HeraldSun - 09Jul04

Penny free to play, but Thomas fined
While St Kilda's playing stocks were given a welcome addition last night with Luke Penny's two-match suspension for rough play overturned on appeal, off the field, coach Grant Thomas's comments about the AFL Tribunal cost him $5000. In overturning the two-week ban Penny received on Tuesday, appeals board chairman Peter O'Callaghan, QC, said Penny had been caught in an "agony-of-the-moment decision" when he chose to make contact with his left knee and leg to the back of Port Adelaide's Gavin Wanganeen rather than try to jump over him. In Tuesday's hearing, umpire Justin Schmitt said he believed Penny had the option to jump. But after viewing new footage presented to the appeals hearing that showed the collision from a reverse angle, Schmitt conceded it appeared to show that had Penny attempted to jump over Wanganeen, he would still have made contact with him either to the back or the head.
The Article - Lyall Johnson - TheAge - 09Jul04

Thomas costs Saints $5000
St Kilda has been slugged with a $5000 fine - and it could get worse for coach Grant Thomas. Thomas, who on Wednesday attacked the tribunal's lack of consistency, was yesterday lumped with a "please explain" letter from the AFL. The Saints were swiftly given the maximum fine under league rules in place to deter criticism of the tribunal. But under the regulations, there is no limit to a fine with which an individual player or coach can be hit. AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson wants an explanation from Thomas before deciding on any further sanction. "We've written to Thomas for his response," Anderson said last night. "The club has been sanctioned $5000 for a clear breach of the rules regarding tribunal comment."
The Article - Mark Stevens - HeraldSun - 09Jul04

Fisher's big chance
Sam Fisher is in line to be thrown into St Kilda's forward mix as coach Grant Thomas ponders life without Fraser Gehrig. With the AFL's leading goalkicker out suspended for two weeks, Fisher could find himself with a key forward role after a timely day out for Springvale in the VFL last week. Fisher, at 191cm and 88kg, kicked five goals and was named Springvale's best player in the Scorpions' loss to Geelong. The 20-year-old has played only one senior game, against Fremantle at Subiaco in Round 7.
The Article - Mark Stevens - HeraldSun - 08Jul04

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Saints tie for charity spirit
Key members of St Kilda's on-field engine room, Nick Riewoldt and Aaron Hamill, would rather dangle a premiership medallion around their necks. But in the name of charity, the standard Saints' match-day uniform ties fitted snugly yesterday. They each donated a tie to the Great Australian Tie Auction, to be held in Melbourne next Tuesday, to raise money for various Rotary-sponsored charities. Notables from Prime Minister John Howard to Prince Albert of Monaco, Lachlan Murdoch and Bert Newton have passed on their favourite ties to go under the hammer at the event, to be held at the Grand Hyatt.
The Article - Shannon McRae - HeraldSun - 08Jul04

Beveridge the toast of Saints' future
With a little Churchillian bluster, underpinned by a firm belief that the St Kilda culture must change, Saints coach Grant Thomas told his recruiting manager in no uncertain terms that the club had to continue its policy of investing in youth. "We have to hold our nerve and get kids - and kids is what our future will be based on," said Thomas. The message reverberated around John Beveridge's office and his network of recruiters and spies. But to Beveridge, the second part of Thomas's message was just as pertinent. "If you're the recruiting manager, then that's exactly what you are - it's your call, it's your business, just as if you were the head of finance or marketing," Thomas said. Beveridge is known as Gentleman John in the corridors of the Saints' Moorabbin administration, but to the footballing community, he is considered one of the most thorough and meticulous recruiters in the game. And it is Beveridge who, with the aid of a swag of top draft picks, brought to the club the likes of Nick Riewoldt, Justin Koschitzke, Luke Ball, Nick Dal Santo and Xavier Clarke.
The Article - Patrick Bartley - TheAge - 09Jul04

Club backs Saints on sex claim
Two St Kilda footballers were present when a woman was sexually harassed at Sorrento Hotel, the club said yesterday. But St Kilda president Rob Butterss said the players were not involved in the incident. In a statement released last night, Mr Butterss said about a dozen men were in the hotel toilet when a woman entered. He said one of the men "made some comment towards her" followed by another. "At which point the woman turned and hurried out of the toilet. At no time was the woman spoken to by a St Kilda footballer," the statement said.
The Article - Paul Anderson and Mark Moor - HeraldSun - 09Jul04

St Kilda rumours a sobering experience
It was meant to be a leisurely hit of golf, a couple of bets and a few drinks at the bar. It ended up in an anonymous tip-off to a radio station, a salacious interview with an unnamed friend-of-a-friend and two days of intense damage control by a football club still recovering from previous rape allegations. There is a degree of sympathy towards St Kilda as it fends off claims that a group of its players dragged a 30-something woman into the men's toilets of a busy coastal hotel and demanded oral sex. Unlike previous claims of sexual misconduct involving footballers, there has been no complaint to police, the club or hotel management. Even if the incident did take place as reported - which the club vehemently denies - it falls short of the kind of assault responsible for bringing unprecedented scrutiny into the clubroom and bedroom culture of footballers.
The Article - Chip Le Grand - TheAustralian - 09Jul04