2005 - AFL Home and Away Season
Round 10 - Pregame Articles
Round 10
St Kilda vs. Sydney Swans
Telstra Dome - Saturday 28 May 2005, 7:10pm AEST
Milestones:
Fraser Gehrig 200 games
A conversation with Fraser Matt Burgan/AFL/saints.com.au/27May05
Where's it all going, Gehrig? Mike Sheahan/HeraldSun/28May05
Mental strain could cut Gehrig's career AAP/HeraldSun/28May05
Steven Baker 100 games
An unexpected milestone Paul Gough/Sportal/saints.com.au/25May05
Radio: Melb. 3AW, 3MMM - 7.00pm
TV: Melb. Ch10 7.30pm - delay 30mins.
Greatness is Goddard's goal
When St Kilda lost to West Coast in Perth a fortnight ago, Brendon Goddard could at least walk from the ground with some sense of personal satisfaction. It was Goddard's 50th AFL game, and one of his best. Playing on a wing, he not only kept underrated Eagle Andrew Embley comparatively quiet, but racked up 26 disposals and took nine marks to boot. But you don't win largesse from a demanding football public when you're a No. 1 draft pick, and last week, after the Saints were thrashed by Adelaide and Goddard had a poor evening, the critics pounced. The 'hook' was a 50-50 contest Goddard pursued with Adelaide star Andrew McLeod, and won, but he was then stripped of the ball by the Norm Smith medallist. It looked bad, a potent symbol of the Saints' miserable second half, and in the search for explanations for the humiliating defeat it gave full voice to the doubts previously only muttered.
The Article Rohan Connolly/TheAge/28May05
Saints' highlights to lowlights
The night of St Kilda's preliminary final loss to Port Adelaide, Grant Thomas was in a surprisingly hospitable mood. With a wave of one hand and a drink in the other, Thomas invited The Australian inside the team wake. The players, raw with the emotion of finals defeat, were devastated. But the coach, while disappointed, could see the bigger picture. And it was bright indeed. Within a week a boxed DVD set landed on department store shelves titled: The Winning Streak. On the back cover, the breathless blurb read: "A 10 game streak that broke club records, established a new power side in the AFL and set St Kilda on the way to a new and exciting chapter in the history of this mighty side."
The Article Chip Le Grand/TheAustralian/28May05
Maguire, Clarke return for Swans clash
St Kilda has received a boost with Matt Maguire, Andrew Thompson and Xavier Clarke returning to action for Saturday night's clash with Sydney at Telstra Dome. Maguire (calf) and Thompson (shoulder) were both injured against West Coast in round eight, while Clarke has missed the past two matches with a hamstring strain. Maguire steps straight in to centre half-back in place of Luke Penny (knee), while Aaron Fiora will miss with a hamstring and Andrew McQualter has been dropped. McQualter is an emergency along with Troy Schwarze and Nick Stone. The Sydney Swans will welcome the return of midfielder Paul Williams and veteran ruckman Jason Ball.
Article & Teams Paul Gough/Sportal/saints.com.au/26May05
Angry Saints keen to atone for fadeout
St Kilda coach Grant Thomas yesterday said his players were angry and ready to atone for last round's embarrassing fadeout against Adelaide. In such an even competition where the smallest factor can affect the result of a game, Thomas is buoyed by the level of awareness among his players after a week of internal assessment at Moorabbin. "The guys are feeling very good about themselves now," he said. "They've got a good degree of anger about their performance, the fact that we didn't represent ourselves and our club well enough. We've spoken a fair bit about more specific things. The leadership group has had a lot more involvement this week with the playing group and we've focused less on opposition and more on ourselves."
The Article Bruce Matthews/HeraldSun/26May05
HeraldSun Previews AAP/HeraldSun/26May05
2005 debutants Champion Data/HeraldSun/27May05
Selection boost for Saints
St Kilda's injury woes are set to ease slightly with defenders Matt Maguire and Xavier Clarke looking set to return for Saturday night's crunch game against Sydney at Telstra Dome. Both came through a spirited practice match session - played without tackling in pouring rain at Moorabbin on Wednesday - but the Saints are likely to still be without key trio Aaron Hamill, Robert Harvey and Justin Koschitzke for a match they must win to get their season back on track. The star trio all made only brief appearances on the track, in contrast to Maguire and Clarke whose return will certainly boost a Saints' defence torn apart by Adelaide during last week's shock eight goal loss to Adelaide at Telstra Dome.
The Article Paul Gough/Sportal/saints.com.au/25May05
Fiora adds to the Saints' woes Len Johnson/TheAge/27May05
Saints anger makes 'task tougher'
Sydney coach Paul Roos would rather the Saints were eating popcorn than spitting chips. After three consecutive losses, St Kilda players have worked themselves into an angry state over their poor form, vowing to attack every contest when they meet the Swans at Telstra Dome tomorrow night. Roos believes that makes them a more difficult opponent than last year, when the unbeaten Saints had won 10 games on the trot and went to see a movie instead of training. "When we played them up here (last year) they were probably due for a loss," Roos said yesterday before a closed training session at the SCG. "It is hard in such an even competition to win nine, 10, 11 games in a row so we really probably got them at the right time last year. In that regard it is probably going to be a bit harder this time. A team with a lot of pride, a lot of talent, and losing three games makes them a much more dangerous foe than the one we faced last year."
The Article Jenny McAsey/TheAustralian/27May05
Williams back for devil of a job
If it's not broken, don't fix it - or so the saying goes. Yet after three successive wins, the Swans are hardly broken, but that hasn't stopped coach Paul Roos from tinkering with his team for tomorrow's clash with St Kilda in Melbourne. Roos has dropped three players from the team which bounded into the top eight with a victory over the Western Bulldogs last weekend. Sean Dempster, Jarred Moore and Jason Saddington make way for Paul Williams, Jason Ball and Adam Schneider. Williams (collarbone) and Ball (hamstring) will be making their returns to senior football from injury, while Schneider has been in great form in the reserves, kicking six goals last weekend. We are making three changes to a winning team, but a couple of them are really experienced players," Roos said of Williams and Ball. "And there's a couple of blokes in the seconds who are obviously in good form, which puts a lot of pressure on the guys playing senior footy at the moment which, from a coaching point of view, is terrific."
The Article Michael Cowley/SydneyMorningHerald/27May05
Missing the boat not the end of the world Michael Cowley/SydneyMorningHerald/27May05
Footy needs Barry Hall to unleash Mac's factor Gerrard Healy/HeraldSun/28May05
Roos: Some things magic can't fix Michael Cowley/SydneyMorningHerald/28May05
Fraser Gehrig 200 games
The G-Train arrived at Moorabbin in 2000 and has never looked back, fitting perfectly into the Saints line up. Gehrig last year earned All-Australian selection for the second time and was also awarded the Coleman Medal, becoming the first Saint to boot 100 goals in a season since Tony Lockett in 1992. Other playing honours for Gehrig include 2nd in the 2001 Best and Fairest; leading club goalkicker 2003/2004; AFL Rising Star nominee 1995; and pre-season premiership side 2004.
Steven Baker 100 games
Arriving at the Saints in 1998, Bakes has defined his role as an important tagger and solid contributor to the Saints backline. He has since grown in stature and is a key performer in the Saints team. Baker enjoyed another consistent year in 2004, which was recognized with an eighth-place finish in the clubs Best and Fairest. Bakers playing honours include 3rd Best and Fairest 2002; pre-season premiership side 2004.
Hurt Hamill likely to miss Sydney clash
St Kilda will go into its crucial match against Sydney on Saturday night again without Aaron Hamill. Hamill, who has missed three games with an ankle injury, was unable to complete yesterday's training session at Moorabbin and the club said last night that he was likely to miss at least one more game. The Saints have lost the three games they have played without Hamill and, after appearing to right their season after a slow start, are now outside the eight and desperately needing to put some wins on the board. St Kilda has listed Hamill's injury as an ankle complaint, but there was speculation when he was injured - in the Saints' win over Collingwood at the start of the month - that it might have been a small crack in the fibula. Before training yesterday, coach Grant Thomas said that Hamill had damaged ligaments in a hard-to-treat area between bones.
The Article Len Johnson/TheAge/26May05
Penny Out? Saintsational Fan Forum
Captaincy will help: Thomas
St Kilda coach Grant Thomas says he has no doubt Nick Riewoldt will become an even better AFL player in the years ahead thanks to the experience of being captain of the Saints in 2005. Far from believing the recent hype that making Riewoldt the Saints' captain this year at just 22 had affected the form of one of the game's best players - Thomas believes it can only benefit him. Riewoldt has yet to lead the Saints to victory in his four games as captain to date and played one of the worst games of his 79-game career during last week's 46 point loss to Adelaide. This led to even dual Brownlow Medalist Greg Williams suggesting the Saints had given Riewoldt the burden of being captain too early in his career.
The Article Paul Gough/Sportal/saints.com.au/25May05
For the Love of the Jumper - Number Two
For the Love of the Jumper - The Red White and Black.
Saints who have worn the Number 2 Guernsey for the St Kilda Football Club
Following the chronicle of Saints players who have worn the Number 1 jumper during their career, this is a list of those who have worn the Number 2. I have named a Saints team comprising only those who have worn Number 2, and have selected a top 3 of those players . . .
The Article Allan Grant/saints.com.au/25May05
Saints look inwards to turn the tide
St Kilda coach Grant Thomas yesterday conceded his players had an attitude problem against Adelaide last Friday night. But unlike the Kangaroos, whose similarly humiliating loss against Geelong has triggered a series of early morning training runs and self-flagellation, the Saints have turned inwards for a week of lengthy meetings and quiet contemplation. The results of the contrasting approaches will be known on Saturday night, when the Kangaroos visit Brisbane at the Gabba and St Kilda hosts the Swans at Telstra Dome. In the meantime, Thomas said the mysterious 'player well-being index' used at Moorabbin to assess the morale and energy levels within the playing group was showing no cause for concern. It was this time last year, before St Kilda's streak-breaking loss to Sydney, that a worrying WBI prompted Thomas to cancel training altogether and send his players to the cinema.
The Article Chip Le Grand/Theustralian/26May05
Think not what your club can do for you . . . but what you can do for your club!
rodgerfox/Saintsational Fan Forum
Dual record-holders
In an echo of racing's Fine Cotton ring-in scandal, former St Kilda coach Stan Alves yesterday confirmed his match committee considered playing Darryl Wakelin, then under suspension, in place of his injured and identical twin brother, Shane, in a crucial game late in 1998. The extraordinary switch was discussed after the Saints' round-21 match that year, at a time when the club was struggling and Darryl had been reported for charging against West Coast and suspended for two games. In desperation, St Kilda considered swapping the twins for the final-round match against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba but decided not to, realising the serious implications and repercussions. The Saints lost the Brisbane match, and their two finals, to finish sixth.
The Article Ashley Porter/TheAge/25May05
Hayes keen to stay a Saint
Former St Kilda captain Lenny Hayes says he will reject overtures to return to his home city Sydney to play with the Swans next year, even if that means accepting a lesser offer to stay with the Saints. With Hayes just one of a group of St Kilda stars coming out of contract at the end of season and the club facing a major salary-cap squeeze, the former Pennant Hills junior shaped as an obvious target for the Swans - particularly given their renewed interest in recruiting home-grown talent. But having spent six years with St Kilda, Hayes is eager to be part of what is expected to be a successful era for the Saints and he believes several teammates will also knock back lucrative offers in the hope of playing in a premiership team.
The Article Richard Hinds/TheAge/26May05
Sydney's Saint won't be a Swan
Sydney-born midfielder Lenny Hayes says he will reject any overtures to return to his home city to play with the Swans next year even if it means accepting a lesser offer to stay with St Kilda. With Hayes just one of a group of St Kilda stars coming off contract at the end of season and the club facing a major salary cap squeeze, the former Pennant Hills junior shaped as an obvious target for the Swans - particularly given their renewed interest in recruiting home-grown talent. However, Hayes, who has spent six years with St Kilda, is eager to be part of what is expected to be a successful era for the Saints and believes several teammates will also knock back lucrative offers in the hope of playing in a premiership team. "It's not something we really talk about that much, we're more concentrating on our footy at the moment, but I'm pretty confident from what has been said that when the time comes we'll all want to keep the group together," he said. "Everyone knows you are worth more out [of the club] than in, but a lot of us were pretty young when we came here and we all want to have some success with this club."
The Article Richard Hinds/SydneyMorningHerald/26May05
Hamill hopes rising
St Kilda's form and injury woes may receive a boost this week, with key forward Aaron Hamill nearing a return. Saints coach Grant Thomas said last night Hamill, who has missed two games with an ankle injury, was a chance to play against Sydney at Telstra Dome on Saturday night. "He's a better chance than he was last week," Thomas said. "He's by no means a certainty, but he's a better chance. We'll monitor him each day and see how he goes. Hopefully he can do a bit of training on Wednesday and we'll take it from there." Thomas said Xavier Clarke (hamstring) and Matt Maguire (calf) would also be considered after Friday's embarrassing loss to Adelaide.
The Article Rebecca Williams/HeraldSun/24May05
Goodes takes centre stage saints.com.au/23May05
Carey stands by Saint Nick
One of the greatest captains of all time, Wayne Carey, has urged St Kilda's Nick Riewoldt not to change his game because he is skipper. As pressure mounts on the struggling Saints and Riewoldt, including criticism from Carlton champion Greg Williams, Carey demanded critics slow down on the All-Australian forward. "Definitely ease up on him," Carey said yesterday. "Part of the job of being captain, which is not so great, is when the team's not playing well and you've got to play when you're injured and if you don't play well you come under that criticism. He'll learn from that." Both captain at 21 -- Carey in 1993 and Riewoldt this year -- Carey said Riewoldt had to forget the role of captaincy and do the things that made him skipper in the first place.
The Article Mark Robinson/HeraldSun/25May05
'Patron Saint of the future'
If football was to be one day inhabited by robots, then Luke Ball would be the perfect prototype to base your ideal player. He has the perfect physique, intelligence, hardness and hunger for the football and at age 20, Luke Ball has established himself as one of the premier on-ballers in the AFL. He has the perfect gene pool for football also. His father Ray played for South Melbourne and Richmond, brother Matthew plays with Hawthorn while his grandfather Felix Russo played for St. Kilda and his uncle Peter Russo played with St. Kilda and Hawthorn. If that isn't enough of a football pedigree, he has blood ties to the former coaching legend John Kennedy. Luke was taken by St. Kilda in the 2001 National Draft with the 2nd overall pick, sandwiched in between Hawthorn's Luke Hodge and West Coast's Chris Judd, perhaps the best trio ever selected with the first three picks of any draft . . .
The Article Luca Giacobello/saints.com.au/23May05
"GT brung us to the dance, don't ever forget it." Riccardo/Saintsational Fan Forum
Thomas sees silver lining
St Kilda coach Grant Thomas yesterday told Saints fans to deal with the one-time premiership favourite's form slump and be proud of the team. "Rightfully so we've been smashed by the media during the week, we've been smashed by our supporters and the general public and I think that's a terrific thing because it's vindication that we are on track, we're actually heading in the right direction because you don't expect to see that performance we gave on the weekend," Thomas said. He said fans should be proud of the club. "You turn up to work one Monday and you get a smack in the gob because we performed pitifully. Well deal with it - we are and everyone else is - and be proud of the fact that we are on the right rack and that we have had one very, very poor performance in the first nine games this year. . ."
The Article Stathi Paxinos/TheAge/25May05
Swans need Williams to combat fleet-footed Saints
They may not be in the type of form most would have tipped for the early premiership favourites, but St Kilda still have one of the best midfields in the AFL. So it's no wonder Sydney are keen to get injured midfielder Paul Williams into the line-up for Saturday night's game at Telstra Dome. Taking on the likes of Lenny Hayes, Nick Dal Santo, Luke Ball, Aussie Jones, Brendon Goddard and Adam Fiora presents one of the enormous challenges facing the club. Another is that the Saints are outside the eight on four wins and five losses, have dropped three in a row, and desperately need a win. "They [the midfield] present an enormous challenge," Swans assistant coach Ross Lyon said. "Their run, their hardness and their skill is enormous and they have proven that over two years now. Everything you read is about St Kilda having their backs to the wall at 4-5 and with us trying to get to 6-4, on their home ground, it's going to be enormous. But it's an exciting time for the club and you want to be in these games. We've worked hard to win three in a row and come up against a good team with such a reward at stake."
The Article Michael Cowley/SydneyMorningHerald/25May05
Look out for Saints, says Thomas
St kilda coach Grant Thomas yesterday began answering the questions suddenly being asked of his team with a prediction of a bullocking revival in the second half of the season. "If anyone underestimates us they do it at their own peril," Thomas said. "The enforced lay-offs for quite a few of our blokes won't be a bad thing. (Nick) Riewoldt can only play 14 home-and-away games this year. (Matthew) Maguire, (Justin) Koschitzke, (Robert) Harvey, the Clarke boys, if we get them right they won't be exhausted. They will be fresh come the business end of the year. Absolutely, we've got to get there first and that means we've got to win more games but if we do that, look out."
The Article Stephen Rielly/TheAge/24May05
Luke Penny Chat Transcript Noddy/saints.com.au/18May05
The summing up
. . . I'm a GT fan but I am also embarrassed at some of our recent performances. His strength has always been his ability to motivate the players and get the best out of them. He's obviously not the most astute tactician in the league but he's not the worst either. My point is when St Kilda put in gutless performances like they did last Friday night we all start to wonder WTF is happening. Our form this year is worrying. Injuries aside, whatever happened to those one percenters that made us one of the hardest teams in footy early last year. It's like they've been reading too much press about how good they are. This is GT's biggest challenge to date.
The Article Richard Hinds/Saintsational Fan Forum
Swans must meet greater expectations
. . . Even though St Kilda are coming off two abject defeats and the Swans are in winning form, it will not be an easy task. It is just nine months since the Swans entered a final against St Kilda as warm favourites - the Swans had beaten West Coast at Telstra Stadium and the Saints had been thrashed by 80 points in Brisbane in the previous week's play-offs - only to be thumped by 51 points. This time they face a St Kilda team again seemingly low on confidence, beset by injuries and smarting from criticism of its recent poor form. It is the type of backs-to-the-wall stuff that maligned Saints coach Grant Thomas should be able to use in his favour. On the grounds of sheer talent, motivation and the advantage the Saints enjoy on the slippery, rock-hard Telstra Dome surface, the Swans face a tough task.
The Article Richard Hinds/SudneyMorningHerald/24May05
Saints struggle to stop their slide
. . . Even before Friday's match, an apparent rift between coach Grant Thomas and his fitness and conditioning staff was revealed - Thomas clearly unhappy that stars including Aaron Hamill, Robert Harvey, Matthew Maguire and Austinn Jones have been sidelined by soft tissue injuries. The coach won't have been pleased that Nick Riewoldt limped from the ground after a quiet night against the Crows. Riewoldt has been under fire, some questioning his leadership after he wept on the sidelines when injured in the opening match against Brisbane and later made controversial claims that umpires were not qualified to give votes for the Brownlow Medal. Certainly the star forward does not seem to have shown the same resilience in the role as his predecessors in the Saints' unorthodox captaincy rotation system, Lenny Hayes and Hamill. Also in the gun is erratic forward Fraser Gehrig, who was well held by unheralded Crows defender Ben Rutten and has struggled since returning from a one-week suspension. For all that, the general belief remains that the Saints will get back their injured stars, their brilliant young midfielders will break free of their new-found taggers, the potent Riewoldt/Gehrig/Hamill attack will begin to fire and the team will rediscover the barnstorming form that saw them win their first 10 games last season. Inevitably, the man under more pressure than any is Thomas, the unorthodox, inexperienced coach who introduced business speak to Moorabbin, talking of how his "systems and processes" would deliver a second flag for the least successful of the AFL's eight original clubs. Lose to the Swans this week, however, and the critics who have questioned Thomas's confusing double-speak and seeming lack of tactical acumen will be out of the woodwork.
The Article Richard Hinds/SudneyMorningHerald/23May05
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