2005 - AFL Home and Away Season
Round 11 - Pregame Articles
Round 11
St Kilda vs. Port Adelaide
Aurora Stadium Sun 5 June 2005, 1:10 PM AEST
TV: FTA Live - VIC, SA, WA, QLD, NSW
St Kilda plans to keep looking forward
. . . "I think revenge is a very poor form of motivation. And pulling tricks and showing videos and rolling out things like that, I just think that while it's a short-term thing that might get you over the line one week, I don't think it's sending the right message of responsibility and expectation among the playing group," Thomas said. "We had our chances last year and we lost, so why get mad six months later? I mean, it's gone, we've got to move on. We would have been better off getting madder that night and getting over the line, but we didn't". "I think there's only one opponent in the whole competition, as far as I'm concerned, and that's ourselves. And . . . if we are able to master that, I'm very satisfied that the playing group will be able to give 100 per cent effort. And if they do that, I'm happy to take whatever result it is" . . .
The Article Samantha Lane/TheAge/05June05
Josh Francou 'was never in doubt' TheAdvertiser/05June05
Power take in three ruckmen TheAdvocate/04June05
Port to keep Roger James in cotton wool Alan Shiell/Sportal/PAFC/saints.com.au/03June05
The two of us
(Former cricket official Malcolm Gray:) "When he (Andrew Thompson) was about 23, we are not racing people, but (daughter) Sophie introduced me to him at derby day. She introduced this boy Andrew Thompson who'd she'd been out with a few times. He would have been about 23. He hadn't really cracked it back then - he had been down at St Kilda, out at Footscray, then back at Old Melburnians. That's one of his great attributes - his persistence and dedication and being extraordinarily focused. That's his approach to everything. I don't know, but I suspect that he would be one of the dedicated trainers down there. He just seemed to be a good young fella. You very carefully look at boyfriends and I thought he's a good, clean-cut looking young fella and his approach was terrific."
Malcolm Gray Interview Michael Coulter/TheAge/05June05
Big brother
There was so much for Xavier Clarke to look forward to when his younger brother, Raphael, was drafted by St Kilda in 2003. Xavier had embarked on the same journey from one faraway pocket of Australia to another, and now had a family member, mate and brother, no less, join him at the same club. Xavier, the second child from a close clan of five, had coped well with his move from Berry Springs, an hour out of Darwin, after being the fifth pick of an extraordinarily talented bunch of 2001 draftees. He had successfully made his way in a foreign environment and found a regular place in his club's line-up, playing 38 matches in two impressive opening seasons. There were, however, some feelings that were not foreseen. Out of an instinctive desire to protect his sibling, whom St Kilda managed to get with the eighth pick of the 2003 draft despite talk he would go earlier, Xavier found himself thinking for two.
The Article Samantha Lane/TheAge/05June05
Brothers in arms
Not since the famous Krakouer brothers has there been an exciting pair of indigenous siblings capable of electrifying the field and exciting the fans. St Kilda's Xavier and Raphael Clarke came to Moorabbin with an air of excitement, their skills well known from their time at St. Mary's in the Northern Territory, a club famous for producing former Essendon legend Michael Long. Xavier was selected 5th pick in the 2001 National AFL Draft and had an impressive debut season. He played 16 games as a winger/half forward and displayed his scorching pace on many occasions. He was nominated for the Rising Star Award with four goals against Melbourne. In 2003 the 'X-Man' continued to rise as he and the Saints had a fantastic year. Xavier featured in every game, predominantly as a defender, and with his quick pace and loves for a long run, became a hard man to match up on.
The Article Luca Giacobello/saints.com.au/01June05
Spida's fine surprise Jon Pierik/HeraldSun/02June05
Brooks in for Aurora clash
Native Taswegian Barry Brooks will get a chance to impress in Launceston after being named in the Saints line-up to take on Port Adelaide on Sunday. Brooks, who was raised on King Island, and Robert Harvey come in for the injured Jason Blake and Raphael Clarke, who's been dropped. The Port Adelaide selectors have made four changes with Adam Thomson set to make his senior debut. Also included for Port are Dean Brogan, Shaun Burgoyne and Josh Mahoney. Ben Eckermann (concussion), Toby Thurstans, Damon White and Stuart Cochrane are the players to make way.
The Article and Teams saints.com.au/03June05
Harvey back
St Kilda has rushed back dual Brownlow Medallist Robert Harvey for Sunday's clash against Port Adelaide at Aurora Stadium in Launceston. Harvey has missed the past three matches with a hamstring injury. The Saints have also named ruckman Barry Brooks, forward Allan Murray and midfielder Andrew McQualter in their provisional line-up. Versatile Saint Jason Blake is out with a leg injury. Port Adelaide has added six players to its 25-man squad. Defender/forward Shaun Burgoyne is set to play his second match of the season after he injured his knee in the opening round of the season. He returned via the SANFL last round.
The Article Sportal/saints.com.au/02June05
Hamill to be kept on ice
St Kilda coach Grant Thomas says forward Aaron Hamill is unlikely to resume for the Saints until after the mid-season break. Hamill is battling a serious ankle injury and Thomas said the best solution at this stage was to rest him until after round 13. "We'll probably just leave him until after the bye," Thomas said at Moorabbin on Thursday. "It's not bone damage. There's outside ligaments and there's inside ligaments and there's a middle ligament that goes in between the bones and it's the slowest healing ligament in your body and it causes enormous problems with players when they have it. (Stephen) Powell had it last year and it cost him five weeks and it can cost anything up to 12 weeks, so it's a very slow healing painful, pain in the backside injury, because it feels OK, but when you get down to the guts of it, it's difficult to speed it along."
The Article Matt Burgan/Sportal/saints.com.au/02June05
Three ruckmen on the cards PAFC/saints.com.au/02June05
Saints admit Hamill injury will take time Len Johnson/TheAge/03June05
Hamill on hold for another three Mark Stevens/HeraldSun/03June05
Aaron Hamill Chat Transcript Noddy/saints.com.au/01June05
Round 11
St Kilda vs. Port Adelaide
Aurora Stadium Sun 5 June 2005, 1:10 PM AEST
Classic variety hour farewell
With reminiscences, tunes, gags and more gags, friends and fans staged a party for the king of TV. It was, we all agreed, a bloody good show. Tight, beautifully written, nicely staged, the perfect balance of corn, naughtiness, pathos, a touch of anger and just a few tears. Vintage Kennedy. So, one last time, we sent him on his way with heartfelt applause. It was never going to be a funeral, said his great friend Noeline Brown. "It's not sad. It's a happy farewell, a little party, a small party for Graham." And it was a family party, she insisted. His old mates might have been in the front row, but this was for his real family, his Australian audience. So it was fitting that it went out on TV as a little bit of IMT - In Mittagong Today - live from the stage of the Mittagong Playhouse and Memorial Hall, in the main street of a pretty little town in the NSW Southern Highlands.
The Article Gary Tippet, Mittagong/TheAge/01Jun05
Tribute Graham Kennedy
In the light of scurrilous and unproductive publicity the St Kilda Football Club wants to declare its love for TV super star Graham Kennedy. Apart from being an avid life long fan, he was our number one ticket holder in an era when it certainly wasn't fashionable to publically patronise an unsuccessful football club. He held that position for ten years and as a young man spent many hours at the Club on training nights at the Junction Oval. He even cleaned players' boots! As players we tried to include him in our social events where he socialised freely and generally enjoyed himself. We saw the non-thespian side of him, though he often seemed overawed. He was a public figure and spoke incessantly about his support for the Saints. His death will be felt by the whole of Australia but particularly here at St Kilda. We look back and consider ourselves indeed fortunate to have had his company and his undying support . . . vale Graham.
The Article Neil Roberts/saints.com.au/31May05
Saints pay respects to Kennedy
St Kilda has chosen captain Nick Riewoldt and senior players Aaron Hamill, Fraser Gehrig and Luke Ball to join club president Rod Butterss and coach Grant Thomas as pallbearers at the funeral today of television great Graham Kennedy. The club's No. 1 ticket-holder, trucking magnate and former club president Lindsay Fox, has organised to fly the St Kilda delegation to the 11am service in Mittagong, NSW. The funeral for Kennedy will be broadcast live by Channel Seven. Butterss said he had been "in shock" when the club received a request at the weekend from Kennedy's long-time friend Tony Sattler to act as pallbearers. But the club was touched that it could pay tribute to the entertainer who supported it during its years in the football wilderness. "Footy clubs have these groups of people who make enormous contributions over periods of 10 or 20 years and then they move on. In many ways, they get lost, particularly if they haven't been a former player. So to get a call 30 years later from the family to say that this is what Graham wanted, I think just puts in place the indelible impact that football clubs have on human beings," Butterss said.
The Article Melissa Ryan/TheAge/31May05
TV Saint goes marching out
An intriguing mixture of football and showbusiness came together yesterday at the small theatre in country NSW. Fittingly, the send-off to Graham Kennedy, the king of Australian television, was captured nationally and live in what deserves to be remembered as one of the most perfect and moving ensemble performances in the history of the medium. More surprising was the appearance at the end of the service of six of the AFL's famous faces - St Kilda's key leaders Grant Thomas, Rod Butterss and Nick Riewoldt, along with the star trio Luke Ball, Fraser Gehrig and Aaron Hamill - who responded to a request from Kennedy's closest friends to act as pallbearers. This was despite the fact that only Thomas could recall ever meeting the television host and film actor. Some observers found this a little strange. Others versed in the oddities of fame would have remarked on the sight of Riewoldt standing back from Kennedy's coffin to allow some of the legends of film and television to mouth their final goodbyes.
The Article Caroline Wilson/TheAge/01Jun05
Dal talks to 'The Advocate' (Launceston)
St Kilda won't be taking struggling Port Adelaide lightly in their match at Aurora Stadium on Sunday, according to St Kilda star Nick Dal Santo. Reigning AFL premier Port was a club in shame after last Sunday's match against West Coast, which the Power lost by 117 points. It was the first time Port Adelaide had lost an AFL match by more than 100 points and the moment wasn't lost on Power coach Mark Williams. "We're very, very disappointed I thought it (the defeat) brought a lot of shame to our club the way we capitulated," Williams said after last Sunday's match. But Dal Santo was wary of the wounded Power, which sits 12th on the ladder and is in danger of missing the finals, likening its slump to St Kilda's own form dive a few weeks ago when the Saints lost three matches in a row before beating Sydney last week . . . " We're obviously getting compared to last season, and there's no comparison," Dal Santo said. " We've just got to focus on where we are now . . . " We've been a little bit up and down. We've had a disappointing past three weeks."
Power will find switch The Advocate/03June05
Time to turn off the Power
Mention the words Port Adelaide to any Saints supporter and two other words will immediately spring to mind: what if. The preliminary final night of September 17 at AAMI Stadium seems a long time ago now, but it will take a lot longer to forget. What if Brent Guerra had got his right boot to the ball ahead of the scrambling Shaun Burgoyne and put the game into extra time? What if Gavin Wanganeen hadn't produced that breathtaking, almost unbelievable, goal on the run to give the Power a six-point lead? What if that small, yet significant, section of St Kilda fans hadn't charged onto the field when Fraser Gehrig notched his 100th goal of the season?
The Article John Murray/saints.com.au/01June05
It's the Port Adelaide Power Senior Citizens Club
Port Adelaide has the AFL's oldest list and is now compelled to rejuvenate it with youth. No one factor, but several - a loss of hunger from its players, injuries, suspension, wrong decisions with its ruckmen, a lack of options in the midfield - have all combined to accelerate Port's inevitable fall from the AFL's top four. Now the debate on how the Power plans its revival concentrates on one issue - the age of its list. The average age of the Port list today is 24 years 177 days. No other AFL squad has an average age of more than 24 years. By contrast, the AFL's best two teams - Geelong and West Coast, which rebuilt with youth after hitting the bottom four from 1999-2001 - have two of the game's youngest squads. Attention to the age of Port's list will bring telling assessments of eight Power players - those aged more than 30 or turning 30 this season. They are former captain Gavin Wanganeen, Brett Montgomery, Matthew Bishop, Josh Francou, Roger James, Adam Kingsley, Matthew Primus and Darryl Wakelin.
The Article Michelangelo Rucci/TheAdvertiser/01Jun05
Play Brogan or risk losing him Michelangelo Rucci/TheAdvertiser/01Jun05
Port needs a victory boost: Cornes Alan Shiell/Sportal/PAFC/saints.com.au/01Jun05
Thomas clarifies Aurora comments
St Kilda coach Grant Thomas has said he's been taken out of context in reports in the Tasmanian media that he declared Aurora Stadium was not St Kilda's home ground and never would be. Thomas, whose Saints take on Port Adelaide at Aurora Stadium on Sunday said: "It was a simple answer to a very simple question" . . . "I think they're very proud of their ground and very proud of everything and that's fantastic - it's one of the best surfaces in the competition and they said, 'does it feel like a home ground here'?" . . . "I just simply outlined as best I could that we play at Telstra (Dome) 12 times a year and that's our ground and we only play there (at Aurora Stadium) twice a year and in reality you can only ever have one home ground."
The Article Matt Burgan/Sportal/saints.com.au/02June05
Saints don't call Tassie home Brett Stubbs/HeraldSun/02June05
Tassie Screwed! Saintsational Fan Forum
No place like Dome Sam Taylor/The Advocate/03June05
Port in Damage Control
It's over - Port Adelaide's premiership defence, its campaign to reach this year's AFL finals and, most telling, Power coach Mark Williams' patience with his players. After weeks of threatening to swing an axe - and reneging to stay loyal to his premiership players - Williams last night returned from the record 117-point thrashing from West Coast in Perth to declare his noted gold passes at Alberton have expired . . . Williams last night confirmed he is not only looking for a new team for Sunday's clash with St Kilda at Aurora Stadium in Launceston but at his list for next season.
The Port five who should be axed Michelangelo Rucci/TheAdvertiser/31May05
Williams loses patience Michelangelo Rucci/HeraldSun/31May05
Primus: I'm not safe Michelangelo Rucci/TheAdvertiser/31May05
Even skipper is under threat Michelangelo Rucci/TheAdvertiser/31May05
Power Injury Update
Six Power players face fitness tests this week to confirm their fitness or otherwise this weekend, including gun on-baller Roger James. The Power injury list for the week beginning Monday 30 May is as follows (brackets indicates when injury sustained)...
Troy Chaplin - Ankle (19.5.05) - Test
Fabian Deluca - Ankle (19.5.05) - Test
Ben Eckermann - Concussion (Rnd 10) - Test
Roger James - Knee (Rnd 9) - Test
Steven Salopek - Knee (Rnd 8) - 2 weeks
Darryl Wakelin - Ankle (Rnd 10) - Test
Peter Walsh - Ankle (Rnd 10) - Test
Michael Wilson - Knee (Rnd 8) - 2-3 weeks
Elijah Ware - Ruptured ACL (SANFL Rnd 4) - Season
Power gets early start
Port Adelaide made an early start to Wednesday morning by holding a 6.30am training session in response to the record loss to West Coast on Sunday. The full Power squad, including rookies, were at Largs Bay before sunrise for a swimming session. Captain Matthew Primus, supported by the eight other players in the leadership group, was behind the unusual starting time. Mark Williams called a similar early start last month after the Power's big loss to Richmond at the Telstra Dome. Port Adelaide backed up that 56-point loss with its most convincing win of the season - by 47 points over the Kangaroos at AAMI Stadium. The Power will be hunting win No. 4 on Sunday when they travel to Launceston in Tasmania to take on St Kilda. The Power is unbeaten from three matches in Tasmania.
The Article PAFC/saints.com.au/01Jun05
Williams loses patience
Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams has lost patience with his premiership side and will wield the axe for Sunday's clash with St Kilda in Launceston. After weeks of threatening to drop senior players, Williams says he no longer has any option in the wake of Sunday's 117-point humbling by West Coast at Subiaco Oval. "Once you play uncompetitive football, you've crossed the line for me," Williams said yesterday. "Now we'll look very closely at who is pushing to get into this side." The subjects for the long-overdue shake-up at Alberton are easy targets - ineffective tagger Stuart Cochrane, Brisbane recruit Aaron Shattock, young forward Damon White, misused forward Brett Ebert and team favourite Josh Francou.
The Article Michelangelo Rucci/HeraldSun/01Jun05
Injury concern sees move to dump the bump
Football may soon be played in a manner that it never has been before. The laws of the game committee is considering one of the most fundamental rule changes since the game was invented in the 1850s. The bump may be about to be given the bump. At its last meeting, the laws committee began to consider a recommendation that players could not bump opponents when they had their head over the ball. Under the proposed new rule, players trying to take possession of the ball could only be tackled. Any attempt to bump would be penalised. Presently, under law 15.4.3, players can apply hip-and-shoulder bumps provided the ball is no more than five metres away. Law 15.4.5 states it only becomes illegal if contact is above the shoulders. The new law would have the bump banned if the player had bent over to take possession.
The Article Patrick Smith/TheAustralian/02Jun05
Ablett enters Hall of Fame Michael Gleeson/TheAge/02Jun05
The Article PAFC/saints.com.au/31May05
Pluggermania and its legacy
In honour of the clash between St Kilda and Sydney we highlight a man who played with both clubs and made an impact in his distinguished career, the legend that is Anthony 'Plugger' Lockett. Perhaps the most gifted forward ever to play AFL football; he possessed an amount of talent that few could match as well as a volatility that few could contain. Beginning in 1983 as a skinny kid from Ballarat, Lockett was one who didn't like the publicity and wanted to go about his craft of playing football. His awesome size, bulk and strength ensured no defender could out muscle him nor try and defend him from behind. Before his arrival at Moorabbin he was destined to become a Saint, playing twice in their little league and given Ballarat fell under the zone of the Saints, it was only a matter of him wanting to play league football. Upon his arrival, he became a sensation. It was clear from the word go Lockett possessed a strong mind and add that to his powerful physique, was anointed for greatness early on.
The Article Luca Giacobello/saints.com.au/31May05
AFL wants second Sydney side
A second team in Sydney's western suburbs and a premiership for the Swans were targets for the AFL as it tried to develop the code in the rugby league-dominated market, league chief executive Andrew Demetriou said yesterday. Demetriou was in Sydney after a difficult week for the Swans in which they were again severely criticised for their "ugly" style of play and after The Age revealed their game last Saturday night was out-rated at times by a Japanese cooking program on SBS, The Iron Chef.
The Article Michael Cowley/TheAge/01Jun05
Negative Newman suspended Mark Robinson/TheAustralian/01Jun05
Ugly play blamed on skill errors Michael Gleeson/TheAge/01Jun05
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