2005 First Preliminary Final
Pre-game Articles
Qualifying Final
St Kilda: 1.0, 6.3, 10.5 (65)
Adelaide: 3.3, 3.5, 5.7, 8.9 (57)
Goals - St Kilda: Harvey 3, Riewoldt 2, Gwilt 2, Ball, Milne, Blake
Adelaide: McGregor 4, Shirley, Goodwin, Welsh, Johncock
Best - St Kilda: Harvey, Dal Santo, Hayes, Jones, Fisher, Ball, Gwilt, Peckett
Adelaide: Rutten, Bassett, Goodwin, McGregor, Edwards, McLeod
Changes - Adelaide: Bock (Ill) Replaced In Selected Side By Massie
Injuries St Kilda: Maguire (hip) replaced in selected side by Gwilt.
Peckett (hamstring tightness), Montagna (back), Fisher (foot). Adelaide: Bock (flu) replaced in selected side by Massie.
Umpires - Vozzo, Mcburney, Ryan
Crowd - 48,768 At AAMI Stadium
Odds to win Premiership:
$2.20 St Kilda, $3.50 West Coast, $6.50 Sydney
$8.00 Adelaide, $10.00 Port Adelaide, $16.00 Geelong
(Source: Centrebet/AAP/HeraldSun)
Jones keeping the lid on
. . . Jones was asked if there had been a particular focus at Moorabbin in the week leading up to the clash. "It's probably getting a bit boring for people hearing about St Kilda, but it's just effort," he said. "If our 22 blokes out there put in an effort where they can walk off the ground, hold there heads up high and look their teammates in the eye then we accept any result and I think we did that tonight."
The Article Jason Phelan/saints.com.au/04Sept05
Perseverance paid: Thomas
. . . "If you start thinking about Grand Finals well you'll get beaten in a Preliminary Final, so we've got four hard tough quarters in front of us. It's a massive advantage for the Preliminary Final, but that's it - we've got to deliver and perform in that game as well. You don't get any credits, you don't get a five-goal start because you've won a final here against Adelaide - it'd be nice, but you don't get it. The job's not done, we haven't achieved anything other than won a very tight game of football in a manner that sends a message to the rest of the competition that we've still got a lot to offer and we've got a very committed group of players that are prepared to do whatever it takes to win games of football."
The Article Jason Phelan/saints.com.au/03Sept05
Super Saints stun Crows
St Kilda has stunned minor premier Adelaide and ended its 10-match winning streak with a thrilling eight-point win in a hard, slogging first qualifying final on a soft, slippery AAMI Stadium surface on Saturday night. Inspired by the brilliance of veteran Robert Harvey and young gun Nick Dal Santo, the Saints won 10.5 (65) to 8.9 (57) after withstanding a brave Adelaide revival which yielded 3.2 to 1.2 in the final quarter. The Saints' achieved their third victory in 12 duels with the Crows at AAMI Stadium despite ace forwards Fraser Gehrig and Aaron Hamill being well blanketed by Ben Rutten and Nathan Bassett respectively.
The Article Alan Shiell/saints.com.au/03Sept05
Veteran, rookie almost able to put smile on Thomas's face Patrick Smith/TheAustralian/05Sept05
Harvey the hero as Saints down Crows
Saint Kilda held off a final quarter surge from Adelaide before emerging with a slim eight-point win in their qualifying final at Football Park on Saturday evening. The Crows kicked three straight goals and a behind to lock the scores up in the final term before tireless Saints veteran Robert Harvey goaled to open the decisive margin with less than 12 minutes to go. The injury-hit Saints won 10.5 (65) to 8.9 (57) to earn a week's break before their next preliminary final. With key players set to return from injury, Grant Thomas's troops must now be considered very serious contenders for premiership honours. Meanwhile the Crows face a semi-final against the winner of Sunday's game between the Kangaroos and Port Adelaide. Around 49,000 fans watched a game that was shaped by patchy performances from both sets of defenders and the Crows' initial lack of options up front. That the Saints eventually prevailed was in no small part down to a superb performance from Harvey, who played a pivotal role in a five-goal second term spree which set up the win.
The Article ABCSport/03Sept05
Banger saintsational.com
Saints fend off rabid Crows
. . . Harvey played a mighty game and stitched up several opponents, while Nick Dal Santo, Leigh Montagna and Justin Peckett were also prominent. Nick Riewoldt played a solid game after a slow start, while youngster James Gwilt played the cameo of the match with two third-term goals and a handy point in the last quarter. St Kilda's unheralded backline got the better of the Crows' forwards, keeping Adelaide to only two goals between quarter-time and three-quarter time.
The Article news.com.au/TheAustralian/04Sept05
Adelaide pays price
Take a power nap and drop your workrate in this game and you pay the price. That's what happened to the Crows last night. After a very good first term and with the game set up - provided of course they continue with their high workrate, strong tackling and finding loose players - it should have been all over at half-time. But the second quarter belonged to St Kilda. It destroyed the Crows with power running and selecting better options.
The Article Neil Kerley/HeraldSun/04Sept05
Saints hang on to beat Adelaide
Harvey played a mighty game and stitched up several opponents, while Nick Dal Santo, Leigh Montagna and Justin Peckett were also prominent. Nick Riewoldt played a solid game after a slow start, while youngster James Gwilt played the cameo of the match with two third-term goals and a handy point in the last quarter. St Kilda's unheralded backline got the better of the Crows' forwards, keeping Adelaide to only two goals between quarter-time and three-quarter time . . . St Kilda responded through an unexpected cameo from rookie James Gwilt, who kicked two opportunistic goals in a minute to silence the AAMI Stadium crowd.
The Article AAP/HeraldSun/03Sept05
The visitors' rooms, Moorabbin
. . . Until Moorabbin was closed as a league venue in 1992, the visitors' rooms were considered among the most inhospitable in the competition. The biggest bugbear was the cold showers. After almost every game during the 1980s and early '90s, Moorabbin curator Brett Sullivan was called to the rooms about 20 minutes after the match to try to get the hot water going.
The Article Paul Daffey/TheAge/03Sept05
Lively Milne sneaks up on the greatest
Little Stevie, he's one of those thrill-a-minute, impossible-to-catch footballers guaranteed to up the heart rate, even if you do follow St Kilda! Love him or hate him, though, it's impossible to ignore Stephen Milne once he crosses the white line. He's flat out, taking those tiny steps, evading opponents and snapping goals and celebrating like there's no tomorrow.
The Article Ken Piesse/HeraldSun/04Sept05
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