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Jayden Attard will be out for nine months to a year after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament against West Coast on Friday night at Telstra Dome. Attard underwent scans on Saturday after injuring his left knee during the match, and the tests confirmed the severity of the damage. He will have reconstructive surgery in the next week. In a club statement, St Kilda said it was "extremely supportive of Jayden's rehabilitation" and it looked forward to him continuing his career. The Article AFL/saints.com.au/25Aug07 Attard's major knee blow Jayden Attard will be out for nine months to a year after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament against West Coast on Friday night at Telstra Dome. Attard underwent scans on Saturday after injuring his left knee during the match, and the tests confirmed the severity of the damage. He will have reconstructive surgery in the next week. In a club statement, St Kilda said it was "extremely supportive of Jayden's rehabilitation" and it looked forward to him continuing his career. The Article AFL/saints.com.au/25Aug07 Saints looking at long view St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says the club's premiership window will remain open for several years even if the club fails to make the finals this season. The Saints missed a golden opportunity to shore up the club's fourth straight finals campaign when it lost to West Coast, and now must sweat on rivals' results. While the Saints will drop out of the eight, fellow top-eight aspirants Adelaide and the Brisbane Lions have challenging Round 22 encounters, while St Kilda plays 16th-placed Richmond. Lyon said a barren run from Round 8-11 might ultimately cost the club dearly, but its form since the break showed it could be a premiership contender in years to come . . . While Harvey conducted a running session at Moorabbin on Friday and is a chance to play, Lyon said he would not be rushed back on the chance it was his last game of football. "You can't do that, it's not about sentiment," he said. "If Robert came to me this weekend and said it is his last game, we will hold a press conference and tell you, and we would love every St Kilda person to get there, but that hasn't happened. You all want to finish him up. We love him. I don't know if it is his last game. We have got months' post-season (to discuss it)." The Article Jon Ralph and Jackie Epstein/HeraldSun/26Aug07 Ball faces surgery St Kilda midfielder Luke Ball will resort to surgery to correct his groin problems, which he revealed were similar to those hampering Chris Judd. Ball said he had spoken to Judd about their problems and felt sympathy for the West Coast captain who was clearly suffering in Friday night's game. "I have got a lot of empathy with Juddy," Ball said on SEN yesterday. "I was speaking to him on the phone a couple of times in recent weeks" . . . Ball said he was sore during the game because of a corked thigh he suffered in last week's match, but he was more concerned about his groin condition. "I'm certainly not as bad as him," Ball said. "I'll certainly have to explore a few different options at the end of the year though. Realistically, I'll have to have some form of surgery that I haven't had thus far. Personally, I've tried all sorts of non-surgery type options in the past and now it might be time to go and see a different surgeon to see if he can put a stop to it." The Article Jackie Epstein/HeraldSun/26Aug07 Judd seeks 'magic' Martin Boulton/RealFooty/26Aug07 The Article Jason Phelan/saints.com.au/25Aug07 Loss to Eagles 'shattering', says Fisher The Saints gave their all only to fall desperately short in a thriller against West Coast on Friday night and Sam Fisher didn't hide his disappointment after the match. "It's pretty shattering really," Fisher said after St Kilda's finals destiny was yanked from its grasp. "There's not much more that you can say; I think the whole group's pretty shattered." But despite his obvious displeasure with the result, Fisher vowed the team would continue fighting until all hope was gone. "We can't control what the other sides do," he said, "but obviously we've still got another game next week to look forward to and we've got to reset our focus again for next week and come out just as hard and tough as we did against the Eagles. We can only put in a good performance against Richmond and hope that the other results go our way." The Saints put on a blistering first quarter that saw them lead a clearly rattled Eagles' side by 28 points at the first break and Fisher said it felt like his teammates were operating at a level rarely seen this season. "We got off to a good start and our pressure and our tackling and all those things that we pride ourselves on was just great all night, I thought, from the whole group," he said. "I reckon that was the best pressure and tackling and one-on-one footy that we've played all year and the boys were really on. There were some turnover goals that cost us in the end and, in the second and third quarters, we overused the ball a bit with handball and turned it over. The Article Jason Phelan/saints.com.au/25Aug07 Saints in a finals haze A subdued St Kilda squad gathered at Elwood Beach on Saturday morning for their after-match recovery session with the implications of the previous night's eight-point loss to West Coast still fresh in their minds. The Saints are hanging on to eighth place on the ladder but will be displaced by the winner of Saturday night's Adelaide/Brisbane clash - or both if they happen to draw. The bottom line is that, with one round to go, St Kilda's destiny is outside its control and the club needs other results to fall its way if it's to qualify for September. It's not the ideal scenario according to co-captain Lenny Hayes. "We're not out of it yet but obviously it's out of our hands," Hayes said. "We've got to beat Richmond next week and if results go our way we might be a chance, but it was disappointing last night. We've just got to concentrate on the Tigers and go from there. If we sneak in, that would be fantastic." Hayes firmly believes the team has some improvement in it and, in an even year, anything could happen in September. He said the Eagles will be hard to beat if they can secure second place on the ladder and were always going to finish strongly on Friday night but said the Saints made it easy for them at times. "We stuffed around with the ball a little bit and cost ourselves in the end so that was the disappointing thing," he said. The Article Angus Morgan/Sportal/25Aug07 RL POST MATCH INTERVIEW Saints still have a few years: Lyon . . . "You build premiership sides around Riewoldts and Koschitzkes, Lenny Hayes, and Sam Fisher and Maguire's only going to get better," said Lyon, who refused to comment on what heralded a pass mark for the club this year. "We've got enormous spine, we've got Gardiner and Goddard on the comeback trail. There's no doubt I'd like more run, a few more midfielders to run, a little bit of special talent at the feet of Riewoldt and Koschitzke beyond Stephen Milne. We've got a plan and we're going to get there. The window of opportunity for this group, if you add the right talent, is clearly open" . . . "I can't question my boys' effort and hardness," he said. "I thought our skill level and over finesse was really costly in the wash up. I think that's the lesson. When we were winning the ball really well and just that finesse, we wouldn't go forward under pressure. Our field kicking and just inventing handballs that weren't there that turned over. I thought they were really costly, invited them into the game." The Article Andrew Wu/Sportal/25Aug07  Ross Lyon Post-match Interview Sportal (audio file)
Eagles hold off dogged Saints Two goals needed to be kicked inside a minute for St Kilda to come from behind and win. Two goals were kicked inside a minute - with two seconds to spare. Unfortunately for the Saints, the Eagles kicked one of them. In a superb game of football, the Eagles booted the final goal of the game with seconds left to win by eight points and consolidate their place in the top four, leaving the Saints on the fringe of the eight. The Saints fumbled a perfect chance to all but claim a finals place after they led by 28 points early in the game but were overhauled by the Eagles, who made a significant statement of their own. While they might be without some of their stars, they are not a spent force yet. The Article Michael Gleeson/RealFooty/25Aug07 Eagles pass with flying colours Chip Le Grand/TheAustalian/25Aug07 Hamill the optimist St Kilda forward Aaron Hamill says he should know by December whether he is any chance of prolonging a career cut down by a degenerative knee injury. Hamill, 30 last Monday, has not played a game this year and had a third bout of exploratory surgery on the knee late last month. The former Blue said yesterday that while he was required to rest his knee for three months following the surgery, judgment day would quickly roll around. "I just have to wait and see now," he said. "The third operation went really well and they did what they had to. But there will come a point in time where I will have to get out of cotton wool and really test it. I just have to be patient, but I am hoping it is well and truly before Christmas. I will find out in November or December, when I start running, how it responds." While St Kilda has stated it will support Hamill, who has a season to run on his contract, it could know by early in the pre-season whether he will have played his last game. The Article Jon Ralph/HeraldSun/26Aug07 Lyon: Skills killed us St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says the Saints' season is still alive despite his team's September hopes taking a massive hit against the West Coast Eagles last night. The Saints blew a strong lead early in the match to leave their finals hopes precariously placed after their eight-point loss to the premier at Telstra Dome. St Kilda now faces a must-win match against bottom-placed Richmond at the MCG next Saturday, while relying on other results to fall their way. Lyon admitted the team's prospects were no longer entirely in their own hands, but had not given up hope. "It leaves us with a game to win and Richmond are playing really good football at the minute, they have really lifted," Lyon said. "It's a massive challenge to regroup mentally. The Article Rebecca Williams/HeraldSun/25Aug07 Saints' September bid suffers a blow . . . Lenny Hayes (30 possessions) was inspirational for St Kilda with his tireless work in close, while Nick Riewoldt was a shining light up forward with 21 disposals, 13 marks and four goals. The Saints roared out of the gate with their fierce tackling and constant pressure on the ball carrier clearly rattling the Eagles who turned the ball over frequently in the face of the fearsome opening onslaught. Adam Hunter got the job on Riewoldt, but the Saints' co-captain ran rings around him in the first term and was a major factor as the home side streaked 28 points clear at the first break. Quinten Lynch scored West Coast's only goal of the quarter after Brett Voss and Xavier Clarke put their side two goals up, but majors to Riewoldt, Luke Ball and Koschitzke asserted St Kilda's dominance around the stoppages. The reigning premiers regrouped during the break and came out firing in the second with two goals to David Wirrpanda helping slice the margin back to just eight points. Riewoldt rose to the occasion once again, however, and settled his team with his 250th career goal, followed by outstanding efforts from Aaron Fiora and Leigh Fisher to push the advantage back out to 26 points. Lynch and Mark LeCras chipped away for the Eagles, but Riewoldt's third of the evening saw St Kilda up by 22 points at half-time. The Article Jason Phelan saints.com.au/24Aug07 Cousins, Judd still in touch As expected, there was a late alteration to West Coast's side that met St Kilda last night. Unexpected was the name that was crossed out on the travelling side's team sheet: Mitch Morton. Until they ran onto Telstra Dome in footy boots to warm up with their teammates about 7pm last night, Chris Judd and Ben Cousins, both injured absentees last week, were in doubt. John Worsfold didn't muck around by hiding where Judd was at - from the first bounce, the competition's most brilliant midfielder was stationed in his side's goal square. Eighteen-gamer Sam Gilbert stood beside him. Cousins, kept out of round-20 action by a troublesome hamstring, started in the middle. Where the sidelined Daniel Kerr might have stood, West Coast placed a second ruckman. Cousins, Dean Cox, Tyson Stenglein and Mark Seaby formed West Coast's new-look starting centre combination. Cousins was manned by Jason Blake, who has a good engine but not so good that it would match Cousins at full tilt. At quarter-time, Judd had touched the ball three times, Cousins twice. St Kilda led 35 points to seven. The Article Samantha Lane/RealFooty/25Aug07 Eagles win over against Saints West Coast staged a stunning second-half comeback to score a vital eight-point AFL win over St Kilda at Telstra Dome tonight. Young Eagles midfielder Matt Priddis starred as his side won 16.10 (106) to 14.14 (98), putting the finals hopes of the eighth-placed Saints in jeopardy. St Kilda are half a game ahead of Brisbane and Adelaide, who clash tomorrow night at AAMI Stadium in another crucial round-21 match. Saints ruckman Justin Koschitzke goaled with 21 seconds left to reduce the margin to two points, but Priddis was again prominent at the next centre bounce and West Coast won the clearance through Ben Cousins. Mark LeCras then goalled on the run to seal the game. The Article HeraldSun/24Aug07 Desperate Eagles outlast Saints West Coast has taken St Kilda's destiny out of the Saints' hands after overcoming a 29-point deficit to record a thrilling eight-point victory in a gripping encounter at Telstra Dome on Friday night. Propelled by a five-goal haul by Quinten Lynch, the Eagles, who were unable to match the Saints' manic desperation early, grabbed the lead for the first time in the night deep in the third quarter then had to withstand one more charge by the Saints before winning 16.10 (106) to 14.14 (98). The loss was a devastating blow to the finals hopes of the Saints, who will begin round 22 out of the eight. They now need to beat Richmond and have other results fall their way to feature in the finals. The win also came at a cost for the Eagles, who had key forward Ashley Hansen hobble off the field with a hamstring injury with less than five minutes remaining in the game . . . For the Saints, Nick Riewoldt was again their best player, outrunning Adam Hunter for 13 marks and four goals, though to Hunter's credit the Eagle was not beaten in a genuine one-on-one marking contest . . . The Saints left the Eagles floundering in the intensity stakes early, tackling with purpose and playing with a selflessness which would have brought a smile to Ross Lyon's face. The normally brilliant Eagles midfield was cut to shreds by the Saints. While the Saints led by 29 points at quarter time, their return of 5.5 was perhaps one or two goals below what their dominance of general play deserved. Within 10 minutes in the second term, the Eagles had jagged three to reduce the margin to just eight points, but up stepped Riewoldt. The Article Andrew Wu/Sportal/24Aug07 No legal action on Baker St Kilda will let the Steven Baker matter rest because it has little chance of winning in the courts against "an 800-pound gorilla". Speaking before last night's game against West Coast at Telstra Dome, club president Rod Butterss confirmed the Saints would not take legal action. Baker received a seven-game suspension this week for rough conduct against Fremantle opponent Jeff Farmer and an appeal on Thursday night was unsuccessful. St Kilda looked at going to the Supreme Court, but received legal advice that their chances of winning were extremely slim. The Article RealFooty/25Aug07 Baker loses season on appeal Steven Baker's season is over after his appeal against a seven-week ban for an off-the-ball incident which left Fremantle's Jeff Farmer with concussion and a broken nose was last night rejected on all grounds. The result is a savage blow to St Kilda's finals aspirations and a sobering one for Baker, who effectively sowed the seeds of his own demise by admitting that he jumped into the path of Farmer and abruptly stopped when the pair was running through the centre of Telstra Dome, some 50 metres away from the ball, in last Saturday's match. Baker's legal team insisted he had done nothing reportable and at worst, the Saints tagger should have been penalised a free-kick for making contact with Farmer more than five metres from the ball. Appeal board chairman Peter O'Callaghan said he was "by no way convinced" that a tribunal jury could not reasonably decide this amounted to rough conduct. The crux of the club's appeal was that the tribunal had erred in law by allowing the jury to find Baker guilty on the basis of his own evidence, which varied considerably from the account offered by Farmer and a Fremantle trainer. Baker's counsel, Philip Priest QC, said it was procedure unfairness for the AFL to bring a case against Baker and then change it midstream. The Article Chip Le Grand/TheAustralian/24Aug07 Aggrieved Saints pondering next move ABCNews/24Aug07 Saints accept Baker ban Andrew Wu/Sportal/24Aug07 Docker pair call it a day Fremantle The Dockers will lose two of their most loyal servants at the end of the season, with veterans Shane Parker and Troy Cook announcing their retirements yesterday. The largely unheralded Parker is one of only two inaugural Dockers still at the club, while Cook started his AFL career with Sydney but returned to Perth to join Fremantle, becoming one of the club's most loved players. The Article RealFooty/25Aug07 Drugs claim rocks AFL The AFL illicit drugs policy was in crisis last night as confidential medical records identifying two players who had tested positive to illegal drugs were sold to a commercial television station. The documents contain explosive claims against two players from the same club and became the subject of a legal injunction last night, taken out by the doctor who is treating the two men. The documents also contain claims that other players at the club regularly use drugs. The legal action came too late to stop Channel Seven airing the allegations as part of its news bulletin. The report did not identify the players but did disclose their club, as well as details about the frequency and nature of their drug use. The club was scrambling last night to try to learn the names of the players from the AFL, damaged by the public leak of information that senior club officials were not entitled to be told. Under the AFL's controversial three-strikes illicit drug policy, clubs cannot be told of a player's drug use until he has returned a third positive test. That system - attacked by the Federal Government as too lenient in recent months - was in crisis last night. The Article Dan Silkstone/RealFooty/25Aug07 It's not us, says Saints boss Butterss St Kilda president Rod Butterss said last night he felt "sympathy" for the club facing the new drugs scandal, but assured guests at a function before the Saints-West Coast game that his side was in the clear. The Article Samantha Lane/RealFooty/25Aug07 List this, list that . . . Why are we suddenly deciding that our list is terrible? Last year all we needed was a decent coach, as our list was so good it coached itself to the top 6. Now, I think we all agree that this was nonsense. Our list isn't the best in the comp (as I've said for a while), but surely people are starting to realise a couple of things.... The best list doesn't mean squat. Imagine having 22 Tony Lockett's on your list? Awesome on paper. 22 of the best players to have ever played the game. However, we know how good they'd perform once they all stepped out on the park don't we. It's about balance. This is why I think it is so silly to compare lists, and list match-ups before a game to decide the result. It doesn't work this way. A backline is it's own team. A defender these days doesn't simply 'tag' his own man all day. They need to know where the small defenders will be when the ball hits the ground, they need to fill space, they need to block, they need to be able to grab the ball under pressure and slam it onto their boot knowing that one of their mates will be in that general vicinity. By simply matching up the opposition's forwards, you may prevent them from kicking bags. However you will often let through the 'easy' goals that frustrate the hell out of us - you also won't provide the drive that a team needs coming from it's back half. The forwards are the same. The midfield even moreso. This is why injuries hurt so much. You don't just need a big name player to go down to suffer. Anyone getting hurt during a game hurts as everyone has a role. We didn't have Max on Friday night - the best fullback in the comp. Forget Glass. Max has been doing it for years, and will continue to do so when his body gets right. We were forced to play Goose at FB (a silly move as Lynch doesn't actually use his strength that often so a smaller option would have been better - if we had one!) which left a gaping hole. So the consensus is suddenly that our list is poor and has holes everywhere. This stems from the same armchair experts who claimed we coached ourselves and once we had a decent coach we'd win the flag. Rather than concede that our coaching staff played a big role in our 'success' over the past 3 years, they're clutching at anything. The fact is, as someone stated, we have been in a winnable position in the just about every game! Very, very winnable positions too. Against West Coast twice, Sydney, Adelaide, Collingwood, Hawthorn and North. I think we've 'lost' games, rather than the opposition 'win' them too in most cases. Again, without Max, Harves, BJ, Hamill, Attard, Ball, Baker (plus Goose not being right and X with a limp) we only lost against the reigning premier due to easy missed shots at goal. Not the 'list'. Our poor kicking at goal, yet again, cost us. What people do, and it has always frustrated the hell out of me, is to be incredibly short sighted. 2 years ago, it was 'Sydney do this, Sydney do that, we need to be like Sydney' because they stole a flag. Last year it was 'rookie list this, rookie list that' because West Coast won a flag with rookies in their team. Now we're looking at Geelong. Let's look at Geelong. People are saying they've improved their list, that's the reason for them dominating. They re-jigged their coaching department. They recruited Selwood etc. etc. etc. Nonsense. None of the above hurt mind you, however the reason they're winning is very, very simple. They are all on the park and healthy. They all had awesome pre-seasons. Ottens is fit and blitzing. Wojo is back up and running. Steve Johnson's ankle is Ok, Chapman is injury free. Harley is back the backline and healthy. Their midfield put in massive pre-seasons. The reason Selwood is playing well, is that he's about 7th in line when the opposition look at who to stop! Because all they're good players are actually playing this year. Sydney won a flag because they had no injuries, and all the other teams they faced in the finals had terrible injuries - us included. They are a good side, but hell, who wouldn't be with an unchanged lineup for 10 straight weeks!! We had a terrible pre-season. We have had a honorific run with injury (and the tribunal), yet we kicked ourselves out of winning another 6 games for the year. There's no need to panic. Get fit, trim the fat from the list and get the young guys ontp the list. No need to trade dramatically. We have what it takes, it's just that 'it' has spent most of the season in the grandstands. I think Lyon will leave the list alone pretty much, and so he should. The Post by 'rodgerfox' saintsational.com NICK RIEWOLDT On the Couch Transcript by 'lovin_dal_santo' saintsational.com Q: You've been a bit disappointing this year, you have almost let this year go.. A: Yeah we've been disappointing and now we're in a unique situation, having to rely on other sides and supporting Collingwood this weekend. At this point in the year you want to be entrenched in the eight, got Richmond this week who have proved the be a good side beating Essendon last week. Q: The difference between the two halves vs Collingwood, Eagles, Adelaide? A: We've let 4-5 games go which is disappointing, against West Coast we showed good pressure and tackling but we just butchered the footy which you cannot afford to do against teams like West Coast, we just didnt play direct footy like we did in the first half. Q: Do you feel like you've thrown any games away, like the Western Bulldogs game? A: That and the Collingwood game, both times we let ourselves down. Q: Mental or physical? A: Ahh hard to say, this weekend definitely mental. Q: Alot of discussion about the new coach and comparisons between your style and that of Sydney? A: There isnt alot to compare, different coach and personel, we've just added a more defensive edge to our game and have worked on stoppages and pressure. At the start of the year it took a bit of time but we're starting to see results. Q: How do you feel as a forward, up there with Fraser Gehrig, about the more defensive game plan? A: Its becoming more instinctive now and we have improved compared to the start of the year when it was frustrating at times. Q: If you miss finals this year, have tou gone backwards? or are the extenuating circumstances? A: We've had some extenuating circumstances, new coach and personel, injuries [but you've had them..] for the past three or four years yes, but I dont think we've gone backwards, no. Q: Luke Ball, have you lost his high quality talent, he has admitted to having injury problems? A: Bally is a very proud guy, and a very good player. Not to sure on the minor details, im not a physiotherapist but he has a big heart and he'll soldier on. Q: [to Gerad] Will it affect his long term potential? A: I believe every game you play injured, robs you of your spirit, but he is a young guy so hopefully he has a long time to get it right. Q: Groin problem? A: Thats been identified from the start of his career, he won the b/f in 2005 so he was obviously able to manage it then. Q: Gehrig and Harvey, will they play on? and is Aaron Hamill finished? A: Aaron isnt finished, if anyone can come back from a long term injury its him. And for selfish reasons I would love Fraser and Rob to play on next year, 60 goal forwards dont grow on trees and to get delivery into the the forward 50 from Harvey is great. They havent decided but i would love them to play on. Q: Matty Maguire? A: Obviously not in the same form as when he first became injured, but you know he will always give you 100% Q: Do you have faith in the drug policy, given recent events? A: All in all its a good policy, and the players support it. But just remember the players volunteered for this, we were told it would be confidential and it was more of an educational role if there was drug taking found. If that trust were broken i think the players have every right to feel betrayed. Q: How many times have you been tested this year? A: Three times by ASADA, post game i've had to stay at the MCG until 1:00 in the morning sometimes! Q: Now no one doubts your work rate Nick, but at the beginning of the west coast game i noticed you hunched over and out of breathe, explain what happened there? A: [smirk] Um, am I going to get fined! Mike: I'll pay! Well alot of things happen on the footy field.. Gerad: Who was on him at the time? Mike: I believe Shannon Hurn was in the area! Ah yeah it was a minor incident off the ball, that should be enough to get him rubbed out for 6 or 7 weeks! Mike: Are we live!? The Thread '1989 saint' et al saintsational.com GO BACK TO PREVIOUS PAGE
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Round 21 Highlights
