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Wizard Regional Challege Series
Melbourne: 2.2, 5.4, 8.8, 14.9 (93)
St Kilda: 3.6, 6.7, 9.9, 12.11 (83)
Goals - Melbourne: Holland 3, Moloney 3, Green 3, Miller, Sylvia, Robertson, Bruce, Davey
St Kilda: Koschitzke 2, Murray 2, Stone 2, Harvey 2, Milne, Thompson, Ackland, McGough
Best - Melbourne: Moloney, Miller, McLean, Green, Sylia, Read
St Kilda: Thompson, Harvey, Dal Santo, Koschitzke, Blake, McQualter
Umpires: M Ellis S Jefferies J Quigley A Davis
Injuries - Melbourne: Yze (collarbone), Robertson (back)
St Kilda: Montagna (hamstring), Voss (back)
Reports: Nil
Crowd: 12,157. At Lavington, NSW

Thomas keeps faith with assistants
Grant Thomas will hand match-day duties to his assistant coaches for a second week when St Kilda completes its pre-season next weekend. Thomas sat in the back of the St Kilda coach's box as his team was over-run by Melbourne on Friday night in Lavington, allowing Matt Rendell and Nathan Burke to take charge while he contemplated the broader red, black and white picture three weeks out from the start of the season. The Saints shot to a healthy second-quarter lead over the Demons despite missing at least 10 first-choice players, including captain Nick Riewoldt, Aaron Hamill, Lenny Hayes and Luke Ball, but were ultimately rolled by Melbourne forward Ben Holland's three-goal final-quarter cameo. "Matt Rendell and Nathan Burke coached tonight and I didn't really have anything to do with it. I might have to get them to do it more often, because they seemed to get some spirit back into the boys," said Thomas after the 10-point loss.
The Article Emma Quayle/TheAge/06Mar05

Saints on right path: Thomas
Saints coach Grant Thomas says his players will be in better physical shape coming into the premiership season after an early exit from the Wizard Home Loans Cup, than they would have been had they made it through to the Wizard Cup grand final. After claiming Wizard Cup honours last year, St Kilda enjoyed a 10-match winning streak in the subsequent home-and-away series, but Thomas said a fortnight on the practice match circuit enabled better preparation for the season proper. "Now that we're out of the competition, it allows us to then take the further step of resting players and managing the players, which is best for the team for the year," Thomas said on Monday.
The ArticleSamantha Lane/Sportal/saints.com.au/07Mar05

Once more with feeling
St Kilda fans will get one last chance to farewell Moorabbin as a match venue on Friday afternoon with senior AFL action to return to one of the Melbourne's most popular grounds. The Saints will take on the Kangaroos in a Wizard Regional Challenge match at their former home ground on Friday afternoon in what will be both club's last major hit-out of the pre-season. And it could be the last time Saints' fans get to watch a major match at Moorabbin - which was famous for its atmosphere and unique "animal enclosure", a small standing room area between the St Kilda race and the umpires' race - as there are plans afoot to re-develop the Saints' administration and training base. The last time the Saints' hosted a practice match at Moorabbin was also against the Kangaroos in March, 2002 - when around 6000 fans saw what turned out to be Wayne Carey's last game for the Roos.
The ArticlePaul Gough/Sportal/saints.com.au/07Mar05

Saint's two-year injury plan
Key St Kilda defender Matt Maguire will be on a restricted training program for the next two years to ensure the bout of osteitis pubis that hindered him last year does not recur. The 21-year-old starred in St Kilda's 10-game winning streak at the start of 2004 but the symptoms and pain increased to the point where he could not run, and he missed eight matches in the second half of the season before playing in the finals. He had surgery just before Christmas to alleviate stress on the pubic bone because of tight adductor muscles, and Maguire said it was now a matter of monitoring and "re-strengthening the muscle that has been cut". "I was having all the pain-killing injections and tablets and everything you can do to try and stop the pain which is telling you, look, you shouldn't be doing it. Once you stop those things you realise how bad the actual injury is. When I did that I realised I needed time to heal and the surgery was the best thing for it," Maguire said.
The Article Melissa Ryan/TheAge/09Mar05

Saints overhauled in Lavington
After having led throughout the first three quarters, the Saints were overrun in the final term of the Wizard Regional Challenge Series match against Melbourne at Lavington on Friday night. Leading by seven points at three-quarter time, the Saints were outscored six goals to three as the Demons prevailed 14.9 (93) to 12.11 (83) in a high-standard affair. St Kilda, without superstar captain Nick Riewoldt, Coleman Medalist Fraser Gehrig, Lenny Hayes, Aaron Hamill, Brendan Goddard and Xavier Clarke, welcomed back key centre half-back Matt McGuire after a pre-season plagued with oseitis pubis, while veterans Robert Harvey and Andrew Thompson were outstanding in the middle and in brief stints up forward. Stand-in skipper Justin Koschitzke was impressive up forward, while skilful midfield Nick Dal Santo impressed on the ball along with rookies Andrew McQualter and James Gwilt. "You come here for a win so obviously it's disappointing to lose," St Kilda assistant coach Nathan Burke said. "But there was more positives than negatives although we lost and Matt McGuire and the back six stood up pretty well I thought."
The Article AFL/saints.com.au/04Mar05

Cotton wool for Gehrig
Fraser Gehrig will be missing again tonight as St Kilda continues its cautious approach to the star's back injury. The full-forward joins rested teammates Nick Riewoldt, Luke Ball, Lenny Hayes, Brendon Goddard, Max Hudghton, Stephen Powell and Aaron Hamill on the sidelines for the clash with Melbourne at Lavington. Gehrig is yet to have a practice hitout, but the Saints are hopeful they can select him for at least one before the blockbuster season-opener against Brisbane. Saints coach Grant Thomas said yesterday Gehrig was a "70-80 per cent" chance of playing in the club's final practice match tomorrow week. If he misses that outing, the Saints hope to give him a run with Springvale the weekend before the Lions clash. "We'd be really surprised if he didn't get at least one match in before the first round - hopefully he'll get two," Thomas said.
The Article HeraldSun/04Mar05
Wizard Cup teams HeraldSun/04Mar05

New Saints on show
St Kilda will enter its Wizard Regional Challenge Series match against Melbourne at Lavington on Friday night without several big names, including newly appointed skipper Nick Riewoldt. Along with Riewoldt, key Saints players Aaron Hamill, Lenny Hayes, Luke Ball and Stephen Powell will not play in the match. Fraser Gehrig (back), Max Hudghton (concussion), Luke Penny (knee) and Xavier Clarke (quadriceps) are also unavailable. The Saints will trial all five players acquired via last year's trade period and National Bank's AFL Draft - Aaron Fiora, Mark McGough, Cain Ackland, Andrew McQualter and James Gwilt.
The Article Sportal/saints.com.au/04Mar05

Leigh Montagna: Hamstring
The Saints' main injury worry was Leigh Montagna, who damaged his hamstring in the second half and could miss up to three matches. Andrew Thompson, Robert Harvey, Nick Dal Santo and Justin Koschitzke were prominent for the Saints. "You come here for a win so obviously it's disappointing to lose," Saints assistant coach Nathan Burke said. "At the end of the game we had about 17 fit blokes so we just tried to hang in there in the last quarter. There were more positives than negatives even though we lost."
The Article David Johnston/HeraldSun/05Mar05

Our style of footy
IMHO the whole team should play the brand of footy we want to play all year in very game whether it is wizard wok or an intra-club and whether key players are in or out . . . Otherwise bad habits creep in. I can honestly say that the only games that we have lost in the past year (except the Port thriller) have been where we have played stop / start footy against a flood or where we were playing stop / start footy because of intimidation i.e. the two games vs Brisbane in Brisbane. Surely that is enough proof that we simply need to keep playing attacking footy and take risks Even if it means some turnovers. One would hope that turnovers can be reduced not by changing our brand of footy but by players becoming more experienced with our brand and learning each outing how to move it on quickly and put the ball to our forwards advantage.
The thread BackFromUSA/Saintsational Fan Forum

MCG concedes it will host fewer matches in 2006
The MCG has virtually given up hope of securing extra AFL matches late in the 2006 season to compensate for the lack of games in the opening six rounds when the ground will be unavailable because of the Commonwealth Games. The MCG is contracted to host 42 matches each season but that number will be severely reduced next year. MCG chief executive Stephen Gough yesterday conceded it was almost impossible for lost games to be recouped later in the year. With the MCG generally hosting between two and three matches a weekend in the opening six weeks of the season, it means the loss of between 12 and 18 games. It is a further blow to MCC members, who will already miss out on the Anzac Day clash next year because of the unavailability of the ground. Although the Commonwealth Games will finish before the start of the season, substantial work will be needed to remove the athletics tracks and other facilities and then bring the ground back to AFL standard.
The Article Karen Lyon/TheAge/05Mar05
Umpires give up on Sam Newman Mark Fuller/TheAge/04Mar05

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