2005 - AFL Home and Away Season
Round 7 - Results and Post-game Articles
Geelong 4.1 7.5 11.8 18.11 (119) d
St Kilda 5.2 10.6 13.9 15.11 (101)
Goals: Geelong: Kingsley 4, Milburn 3, Ottens 2, Thurley 2, Bartel, Kelly, Playfair, Ablett, Chapman, Enright, Ling. St Kilda: Riewoldt 2, Koschitzke 2, Guerra 2, Milne 2, Baker, Voss, Goddard, Fiora, Fisher, Ackland, Harvey
Geelong Best: Ling, Milburn, Enright, King, Harley, Ablett, Byrnes.
St Kilda Best: Ball, Koschitzke, Riewoldt, Dal Santo, Hayes, XClarke
Injuries Geelong: S Johnson (calf) replaced in selected side by Thurley. Chapman (ankle).
Injuries St Kilda: Jones (calf), Harvey (hamstring), Koschitzke (hamstring).
Changes - Geelong: - S. Johnson (calf), replaced in selected side by Thurley
St Kilda: Hamill out (inj), replaced in selected side by McGough
Report - Nil
Umpires - James, Jeffery, Goldspink
Crowd - 44,814 at Telstra Dome
St Kilda Hitouts: 25
St Kilda 50m Penalties: 1
St Kilda Goals: Free 4; Play 2; Mark 9
St Kilda Distance of Goals: 0-15m 0; 15-30m 4; 30-40m 4; 40+m 7
Replacement players for Round 8 ? Saintsational Fan Forum
Undermanned Saints down to Cats
Geelong has the won the battle of Victoria's two best teams, but St Kilda can consider itself desperately unlucky as the Saints ran out of fit players at Telstra Dome on Saturday. The two beaten preliminary finalists from 2004 both showed they are again legitimate contenders in 2005 as they turned on a classic encounter in front of 44,000 fans and for most of the day it was the Saints who looked the likely winners. The Saints, with skipper Nick Riewoldt making a great return from the serious collarbone injury he sustained in round one, led by as much as 27 points late in the second term and still held a 13 point lead at the final change. But Mark Thompson's Cats' finished all over the tiring Saints in the final term to win 18.11 (119) to 15.11 (101) with Darren Milburn inspirational and Gary Ablett delivering the goods when it most counted after struggling for much of the game
The Article Paul Gough/saints.com.au/07May05
Riewoldt thrives on rugged welcome Jon Ralph/HeraldSun/08May05
Riewoldt avoids the carnage Greg Baum/TheAge/08May05
Ball reflects on leadership Samantha Lane/TheAge/08May05
Cats must improve: coach Melissa Ryan/TheAge/08May05
Saints, Cats mine the old gold Chip Le Grand/TheAustralian/08May05
Comeback Cats ambush Saints ABC Sport/07May05
Saints run out of legs
As the buoyant Geelong players gathered for their three-quarter-time huddle, 30 metres up the Telstra Dome wing at least half a dozen of their St Kilda opponents lay face down on the turf having their weary legs massaged by trainers. Shifts in momentum are often subtle in football, but if ever such a message was writ large on a match, that was it. With Robert Harvey and Austinn Jones on the sidelines since the first quarter with hamstring and calf injuries, and then Justin Koschitzke out of action for most of the last with hamstring problems, the Saints had no way of rotating players off the bench for a rest. Their dynamic midfield was forced, almost literally, to run itself into the ground. And even if coach Grant Thomas, somewhat bewilderingly, refused to blame it after the match, it was clear the attrition rate - as much as Geelong finding, then capitalising on, the run and space that had been St Kilda's for much of the match to that point - determined the outcome.
The Article Lyall Johnson/TheAge/08May05
Thomas: We need to toughen
. . . While the Saints were clearly hampered by their lack of options, coach Grant Thomas said his side had not been mentally tough enough to overcome that obstacle. "There wasn't a time in the game we didn't have 18 fit players on the ground, so we have got no excuses whatsoever," he said. "Geelong were just far too good in the end. They finished the game off really well. Maybe there was an opportunity for us to be farther ahead in the game, but we didn't take our chances and they always remained in touch and were far too good in the end. We pressured them and worked really hard and I was proud of the guys' effort, but for about a 15-minute period in the last quarter we put our heads down a bit and allowed them too much freedom."
The Article Jon Ralph/HeraldSun/08May05
Saints fitness staff get a rocket
St Kilda has been rocked by injuries that are set to keep three of its star players out for at least a month, with coach Grant Thomas concerned at the injury recurrence rate among his players, as dual Brownlow medallist Robert Harvey and Justin Koschitzke had soft-tissue problems yesterday. But Thomas refused to blame the Saints' 18-point loss to Geelong on the mounting injury toll during the match, even though they were down to only one fit player on the bench in the last term as the Cats stormed over the top. "It has nothing to do with any of that," Thomas said. "Injuries are a part of the game and we always had 18 players on the ground. The only time that becomes an issue is if you're left with 17 on the ground. We didn't have the luxury of rotations, we didn't have the luxury of using other players, but that's footy, that's how it happens, and full credit to them."
The Article Melissa Ryan/HeraldSun/08May05
Thomas keeps injuries in perspective Paul Gough/saints.com.au/07May05
Tackling a thrill for fans
The art of tackling, a cornerstone of football of yesteryear, returned with a vengeance to highlight the Geelong and St Kilda clash at Telstra Dome. In contrast to the many games that resemble basketball, the ball ricocheting from end to end without opposition contact, both Geelong and St Kilda displayed tough and relentless tackling skills that made for an engrossing contest. In several passages of play, combatants hurled themselves at opponents, dislodged the ball and forced another relentless surge of players. Players were run down and caught, players risked limbs as they crashed into opponents and nobody gave or asked for any quarter. The 44,814 fans loved it - the vigorous tackling, second and third efforts, pressure applied on the player with the ball.
The Article Rod Nicholson/HeraldSun/08May05
Clash of Contrasts
While the timing of Geelong's and St Kilda's push towards the top of the AFL ladder has been identical, the Cats and Saints haven't arrived there by the same means. The Saints' resurgence has been based around the talents of up to half-a-dozen of the best young talents in the game, Geelong's more about the evenness of its best 22. Yesterday's clash at Telstra Dome was easily one of the best games played so far this season. But if this was a clash of football ideologies, Geelong, in steaming home to win by 18 points, might have taken the philosophical, as well as the match, points. That's no disrespect to St Kilda, which was already behind the eight ball before the game after losing key forwards Fraser Gehrig and Aaron Hamill, and in even deeper trouble after losing key runners Aussie Jones and Robert Harvey before half-time, then big man Justin Koschitzke, but which, until the last quarter, still looked likely to hang on for what would have been a gutsy win. It probably still would have been a win against just about any other opponent, too. But as gamely as the remaining Saints engine room players such as Luke Ball and Lenny Hayes battled, they were powerless to stop a new wave of Geelong running players coming over the top.
The Article Rohan Connolly/HeraldSun/08May05
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