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NAB CUP PREVIEW: Collingwood v St Kilda afl.com.au
Coach says injured Pies won't fire early Adam Cooper/TheAge/22Feb06

Hamill rarin' to go
Inspirational St Kilda forward Aaron Hamill says he is "ready to go" in 2006 after a series of leg injuries last year, including problems to his shin, ankle and calf, forced him to miss 12 matches. But Hamill doesn't want to get too far ahead of himself at this early stage of the year.
The Article Matt Burgan/saints.com.au/22Feb06

Ball's ready to lead, Koschitzke next
. . . "I dare say without pre-empting everything he (Koschitzke) will captain the club next year," Thomas said. The Saints had the luxury of choosing between two natural-born leaders for the job under the rotational policy, but Koschitzke's injury concerns weighed against him. Ball, coming off a season in which he played every game and tied for the best-and-fairest, is considered ripe for the added responsibility. "Bally has got all of the qualities," Thomas said.
The Article Mark Stevens/HeraldSun/21Feb06
Young Saint a born leader Mike Sheahan/HeraldSun/21Feb06

Saints announce Ball as Captain for 2006
The St Kilda Football Club has today announced Luke Ball as the team's Captain for 2006. 21 year old Ball becomes the fourth player to lead the Saints for one year, under the Club's Captain rotation policy. Ball was selected at No. 2 in the 2001 NAB AFL Draft, and has since cemented his position as a courageous and talented player with significant leadership qualities. While Ball admits he questioned whether he was ready for the role, the support from his family and playing group made his decision clearer. "It was after speaking with Thomo (Coach Grant Thomas) and having a chat with my family, that I thought I may be the man for the job" said Ball at the Club's press conference this afternoon.
The Article Vanessa Gigliotti/saints.com.au/20Feb06

It's a new Ball game for the Saints
Polished midfielder Luke Ball will be the sixth-youngest captain in AFL history when he leads the Saints on to Subiaco Oval for the first round of the season after yesterday accepting the baton of St Kilda leadership. And Justin Koschitzke, after being overlooked despite declaring he wanted the captaincy, virtually has been installed as skipper for 2007. After witnessing Nick Riewoldt struggle through his season as captain, battling injury and missing eight games, St Kilda opted for the conservative choice of the durable Ball and tried to ease the pressure on Koschitzke, who is still battling injury and unlikely to play the early rounds of the season.
The Article Michael Gleeson/TheAge/21Feb06

Saints Wine Club Launched
The Wine Liquidation Centre, in conjunction with the St Kilda Football Club has officially launched the Saints Wine Club for 2006. St Kilda football stars Aaron Hamill and Robert Harvey were in attendance at The Wine Liquidation Centre in North Fitzroy on Tuesday evening, to help celebrate the Saints Wine Launch. Competition winners who had won double passes to the event by registering to join the Club prior to Christmas, participated in free wine tastings and were offered a range of wines at discounted prices.
The Article Vanessa Gigliotti/saints.com.au/23Feb06

Former Saint Penny starts chemo for injured knee
Former St Kilda full-back Luke Penny is having chemotherapy in an attempt to improve the debilitating knee problem that caused him to quit football last year. Penny has acute rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic and very painful disease of the muscular-skeletal system characterised by inflammation of the joints and caused by the body's immune system destroying itself. The 25-year-old is having three sessions of chemotherapy at the Cabrini Hospital in an attempt to arrest the progress of the disease. Chemotherapy, commonly a treatment for cancer that knocks out the body's immune system and stops it destroying itself, is also an established treatment for acute rheumatoid arthritis when other treatments have proved unsatisfactory.
The Article Lyall Johnson/TheAge/22Feb06

Ball ... Yes!!
. . . "I am very proud and honoured to be taking on the role of captain for 2006 of a club who has had many great captains before me," Ball said. "With the help and support of the other members of the leadership group, I look forward to giving my full commitment and effort to ensure the team performs to the best of its ability for the 2006 season." St Kilda coach Grant Thomas admitted the Saints were reluctant to give the captaincy to key position player Justin Koschitzke because of injury concerns. The 23-year-old has already been ruled out of the NAB Cup due to patella tendonitis in his right knee but he should return for round one of the premiership season.
The Article Sportal/saints.com.au/20Feb06

Injuries cost Kossy
. . . "Kossy was next in the pecking order but I have spoken to Justin about this and it's just essential that every resource at the club is put behind him getting his body in shape for him to play the kind of footy we need," Thomas said at Moorabbin on Monday after Ball had been named skipper for this season. "If, at the end of this year, Kossy has proven his body is no longer a question mark then I am certain he will be captain of the club as well . . . (But) he didn't need the extra attention of being captain at this point in time." Koschitzke has played just 71 games in five years while in comparison Ball has already wracked up 65 games in just three seasons.
The Article Paul Gough/Sportal/saints.com.au/20Feb06
GT Wrong!!! saintsational.com

Ball named Saints skipper
Midfielder Luke Ball has been named captain of St Kilda for the 2006 season. Ball, 21, succeeds key forward Nick Riewoldt in the role and he says he was "absolutely thrilled, proud and honoured" to lead the Saints. Ball led the Saints four times last year when Riewoldt was injured. Ball made his AFL debut in 2002 after he was the No.2 pick in the 2001 national draft. He has quickly established himself as one of the best on-ballers in the competition and last year was a joint best and fairest winner for the Saints, with tagger Steven Baker.
The Article news.com.au/TheAustralian/20Feb06

After a 2005 season marred by injuries to key players, Collingwood should have close to a full-strength squad for Sunday's clash. The notable exceptions are Sean Rusling who suffered a dislocated shoulder in an intra-club match in early February and Rhyce Shaw (knee reconstruction). Veterans Nathan Buckley and Scott Burns, who were both rested from a second intra-club match last Saturday, are poised to play while the clash may also serve as the return to competitive football for Anthony Rocca and Josh Fraser. St Kilda also endured a horror season with injuries last year and will be without key position player Justin Koschitzke (patella tendonitis) for the NAB Cup. Raphael Clarke is also suffering from patella tendonitis and won't play against the Magpies.
NAB CUP PREVIEW: Collingwood v St Kilda afl.com.au

No NAB Cup for Koschitzke
St Kilda is unlikely to have Justin Koschitzke for its NAB Cup campaign, with round one of the home-and-away season a more realistic scenario for the key Saint. The forward/ruckman, a leading contender to captain the Saints this year, is suffering from patella tendonitis in his right knee and St Kilda coach Grant Thomas confirmed after the club's intra-club clash at Moorabbin on Friday night that Koschitzke was an unlikely starter until the commencement of the premiership season. "No, I wouldn't think so (that he will be available for the NAB Cup). Maybe NAB four in the last week of the pre-season comp," Thomas said on Koschitzke.
The Article Matt Burgan/Sportal/saints.com.au/17Feb06
Bring on Saints: Malthouse Angus Morgan/Sportal/saints.com.au/18Feb06
Mick: Bring on the Saints Jon Ralph/HeraldSun/19Feb06
The regrowth of Guerra The Age RealFooty/21Feb06

Promising signs for Saints
. . . Speaking after the game, Thomas said he was pleased with the performance of his new players and said they all showed signs of promise. "The new boys did well. They did enough to show that they will all play senior footy at some stage" said Thomas. Tall forward Fergus Watts was a standout, and drew attention from Thomas. "I think Fergus is brave, and he does what we want. Given that, he may play against Collingwood next week." Thomas also said Fergus Watts was a possibility to play senior football in the NAB Cup pre-season competition. As well as his young guns, Thomas was also pleased with the performance of the Saints' four veterans, Robert Harvey, Andrew Thompson, Justin Peckett and Stephen Powell. "They were perhaps our four best players" he said.
The Article Vanessa Gigliotti/saints.com.au/17Feb06
Veteran Saints prominent Matt Burgan/Sportal/saints.com.au/17Feb06
Intraclub Match Reports 1 saintsational.com
Intraclub Match Reports 2 saintsational.com

St Kilda veterans stand out
Stalwart Robert Harvey showed he is still among the AFL's best midfielders with a dominant display in St Kilda's intra-club match at Moorabbin yesterday. Harvey, along with veterans Andrew Thompson, Stephen Powell and Justin Peckett, shone in a game littered with budding stars. Coach Grant Thomas praised the experienced quartet. "The four best players were probably Harvey, Peckett, Thompson and Powell," Thomas said. "Andrew Thompson had 30 touches and Peckett wasn't far behind. More than anything else they showed that they mean business this year. They know their time is running out and they just want to make the most of it."
The Article David Hastie/HeraldSun/18Feb06
Intra-club pratice match report: St Kilda. Lyall Johnson/TheAge/18Feb06

Cycling Saint faces pre-season music
It is only an intra-club game; that curious, pre-season ritual famously likened by Allan Jeans to dancing with your sister. But as clubs prepare to play among themselves over the next few days, there will be one player hoping the music never stops. St Kilda's Leigh Fisher has not played a game of any kind since May 2004, when he turned in fast pursuit of a West Coast opponent at Telstra Dome, heard a popping sound and felt a searing pain in the back of his right leg. He had not so much torn his hamstring as murdered it. In a freak injury specialists are still at a loss to explain, the then 21-year-old severed his main hamstring muscle from its adjoining tendon at the top of the leg. Fisher was told it is not uncommon in sumo wrestling. In football, however, it is almost unheard of. Exactly why it happened, no-one could say. Questions were asked of his body-type and inquiries made of his family history. Scans were taken and tests run, both in Melbourne and at the AIS in Canberra, yet no consensus was reached. Could it happen again? Fisher answered that one for himself at training a year later, when he sustained the exact same injury in the opposite leg.
The Article Chip Le Grand/TheAustralian/16Feb06

Fisher comes full cycle
The medicos still shake their heads and look at Leigh Fisher as a freak of nature. When the St Kilda defender tore muscle away from the tendon below his right hamstring in 2004, the experts could barely recall another case in Australia. Imagine their disbelief when Fisher suffered exactly the same injury in his left leg last year. "I think it occurs with sumo wrestlers in Japan, but they hadn't seen much of it in Australia," Fisher said yesterday. Fisher hasn't played since Round 9, 2004. He had a delicate two-hour operation on his right leg; the left allowed to heal on its own. "I went through three or four different opinions. They didn't actually have a cause for how it happened," Fisher said. "I still don't know to this day really." The recovery has been punctuated by weeks on end in bed and an enlightening experience after the Tour de France.
The Article Mark Stevens/HeraldSun/16Feb06

Fisher on the front foot
He may not have commanded the same attention as Aaron Hamill and Justin Koschitzke, but many Saints fans will tell you the absence of Sam Fisher was just as costly on that fateful Friday night against Sydney in last year's preliminary final at the MCG. After starting the 2005 season with only seven games to his name, the 23-year-old South Australian improved to such an extent that he was an integral part of the Saints defence come finals time. Fisher played the first 20 games of the season before succumbing to stress fractures in his right foot.
The Article Paul Gough/saints.com.au/14Feb06

Ackland set for harder year
St Kilda ruckman Cain Ackland concedes 2006 will be an important year for him, and he is fully aware he needs to back-up his impressive first season with the Saints. Ackland, who played 22 of a possible 24 matches for the Saints in 2005, was pragmatic about the upcoming season. "I think this will be a harder year, because it's always hard in the second year. You've got to back up and I had my knee operated on at the end of the year. It's coming along pretty well, but hopefully I can back up and give it another good shake," Ackland said in an exclusive interview. Although considered to be St Kilda's No.1 ruck option - allowing potential 2006 captain Justin Koschitzke to be played up forward - Ackland said he still needed to work hard to claim the first ruck mantle.
The Article Matt Burgan/saints.com.au/15Feb06

Saints bandwagon filling fast
The optimism that is surrounding St Kilda heading into the 2006 season is translating into an off-field boom for the club as long-suffering Saints fans clamour to become members. With the start of the pre-season still more than a week away, the Saints already have more than 21,000 members, around 2000 more than the same time last year. And with 1000 additional members usually equating to around $100,000 in additional revenue, it is a huge boost to the once struggling club - whose financial performance off the field has improved just as much as its on-field performance in recent years. Such is the growth in St Kilda membership in recent years that this year the club signed up some 18,000 members before Christmas, which was more than its entire membership of 17,696 in 2002.
The Article Paul Gough/saints.com.au/14Feb06