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Round 7 AFL 2007 Premiership Season - Pre-game Articles - St Kilda Saints versus Sydney Swans
St Kilda's tempo footy 'taking time' St Kilda defender Jason Gram admits the Saints are making slow progress in adapting to the AFL playing style introduced by new coach Ross Lyon. Lyon's attempts to implement strategies for slowing games down, used successfully during his time as an assistant to Sydney coach Paul Roos for the past three years, were taking some adjustment, Gram said. "It's been pretty slow, we're six weeks in now and we're still probably not fully in it there," he said. "Maybe after the (mid-season) break I'm sure we'll be fully adapted to what Rossy wants us to do." Gram said aspects of Lyon's style required the Saints to go against their instincts. "Maybe because we're a very fast team and we want to play on as fast as we can and that sort of stuff," he said. The Article AAP/TheAge/11May07 The similarities are there: O'Keefe . . . O’Keefe rejected the notion that Lyon’s knowledge of the Swans from his time at the SCG would give the Saints the upper hand. "If he’s going to throw some tricks I’m sure we can deal with it," O’Keefe said. "A lot of stuff has been said about it being Roos versus Ross, but we’ve just got to get back to the way we want to play after last week’s hiccup." Gram said, however, that Lyon has a lot of information about the opposition. "He’s given us a lot more about the players but he hasn’t changed his ways," Gram said. "We still trained the same, but he’s just got a lot more knowledge about the players. I don’t know if he’s nervous yet. If he is, he hasn’t shown it but I’m sure he will be tomorrow." O’Keefe insisted that the Swans just wanted to make amends for their lost to the Kangaroos last week. The Article Catherine Murphy/AFL/saints.com.au/11May07 Pivotal match up for Saints . . . The midfield battles will be pivotal. Nick Dal Santo has been in great form the last two weeks and the Swans will look to tag him. The Swans rotate their midfield heavily and can use a variety of taggers through the game. The Swans are known for their tough, tight and close in play but were opened up early last week. The Saints have the skill and the toughness to do this as well. Dal Santo’s class and attacking flair set up the game early last week, with Robert Harvey continuing his amazing early season form. Luke Ball in his third game back from concussion won 25 possessions in his best performance for the season last week, while Leigh Montagna was only second to Dal Santo in possessions against Carlton. Montagna is one of the most improved players in the last couple of seasons. His skill level is matched by his work ethic and toughness around the contests. He can often be seen down back helping out the defence and when he gets the ball he is instrumental in setting up attacks. He also can often sneak down and kick goals so he is capable of hurting his opponent at either end of the ground. The Saints won the side’s last meeting in driving rain at the SCG by just two points. A crucial Nick Riewoldt mark in the dying moments ensured a St Kilda victory. St Kilda won the last match at Telstra Dome in Round 10, 2005 by 43 points. The Article Adrian Blades/saints.com.au/11May07 Saints aim to retain stars St Kilda is about to begin its most significant negotiations for 2007, with talks between the club and the management of Nick Riewoldt and Nick Dal Santo slated for next week. The signing of Riewoldt, particularly, is crucial, given the immense interest he has attracted from other clubs - including the Brisbane Lions and the Kangaroos - and the massive sums of money involved. There has been speculation about Riewoldt's intentions beyond this year, given his close relationship with sacked coach Grant Thomas and the anger the superstar forward voiced upon the coach's removal. But it is believed that his relationship with key club figures, including president Rod Butterss, is much better now, and the club believes that there will be no further fallout from Thomas' departure when the contract negotiations open with Ricky Nixon, who manages both Riewoldt and Dal Santo. While retaining Dal Santo and especially Riewoldt is crucial to the club's immediate future, the Saints also understand they need to secure the pair at a price that make it possible to surround them with sufficient talent to win a premiership. The Article Jake Niall/RealFooty/11May07 Saints no Swans clones St Kilda coach Ross Lyon's legacy lives on at Sydney but it may be two years before he instils the same disciplines at the Saints, according to his former mentor. David Parkin, the former coach and long-time football adviser of both Lyon and Paul Roos, also believes St Kilda's lack of midfield leg speed will prevent them from being cloned into the Swans. "I have spoken to Ross and he is pretty realistic about where they are at and what their weaknesses are . . . one of their problems, they do not have the leg speed in the midfield," said Parkin, who was Roos' and Lyon's coach at Fitzroy from 1986 to '88. Lyon was also his assistant at Carlton. "If you haven't got the ability to run the ball forward because you haven't got the leg speed, you can't have a game plan based around that so they are in a bit of trouble to play the same game because they don't have the personnel to deliver that. So Ross is going to have to work around that, develop other people and recruit. They don't have the personnel to perform in the manner Ross would desire to deliver that at the moment." The Article Nikki Tugwell/DailyTelegraph/11May07 Roos has no tricks for Lyon Swans coach Paul Roos doesn't have any tricks up his sleeve to surprise former Sydney-sider Ross Lyon on Saturday, when the Swans face St Kilda at Telstra Dome on Saturday night. It will be the first time Roos has faced his former assistant coach and long-time friend as a rival senior coach. The two played together at Fitzroy, and Lyon was Sydney's midfield coach for three years . . . "I'm looking forward to it. It's something a bit different for me, coaching against one of my friends," said Roos. "But as I said, you never really coach against an opposition coach. You're really coaching against a team, and Rossy would take that same approach as well." When asked if he'd pull any rabbits out of his hat, Roos joked he had a big surprise planned for Lyon. "Yeah, (Barry) Hall versus (Fraser) Gehrig first quarter is something, but I don't want to let that out of the bag. It could be a pretty important tactical move, taking our best player out of the forward line and putting him down back. I'm sure Rossy would be very surprised with that," laughed Roos. "No, I haven't got anything up my sleeve," he added, more seriously. The Article Erin Riley/Sportal/10May07 SPORTAL MATCH PREVIEW . . . WHO'S HOT: Nick Dal Santo was back to his devastating best for the Saints against Carlton last week with 30 disposals, eight marks, eight inside 50's and six tackles in a brilliant all-round display. He was ably supported by Fraser Gehrig, who booted six goals in his best performance since round one. For Sydney, spearhead Barry Hall made a welcome return to form during last week's loss to the Kangaroos. Hall had booted just 11 goals in the first five matches but booted four last week to inspire the Swans' last-quarter fightback. WE THINK: This looms as a fascinating battle between Swans' coach Paul Roos and his former assistant Ross Lyon, in their first head-to-head meeting as rival coaches. And for both clubs it is a must win game with the Swans and the Saints each placed precariously at three wins and three losses after six rounds. So the loser here risks falling off the pace in what shapes as a tight race to reach the finals this year. Neither side has been consistent this year but the Saints look to be closer to their best form and will be boosted by the return of Fisher and Hudghton. So it's the Saints in a close one but not with much confidence. St Kilda by seven points. Full Review Paul Gough/Sportal/10May07 TRAINING REPORT Went down to training today Good news first. Sam Fisher looks like we will play this week as will Max but he will be at the Scorps. Bad News. Clarke didnt train and will not play and Jimmy did nothing at all as he is very sore and must be doubtful. Goose did stationary work with Sammy, Thommo, Geary and Jimmy. Lenny ran laps with Bally, CJ and Allen. Ferg also ran a few laps. That is all today. Everyone else trained fully. The Post 'plugger66' saintsational.com - Training session on Thursday was closed to public. WoM Harvey urged to play on St Kilda co-captain Nick Riewoldt has urged veteran teammate Robert Harvey to consider playing on in 2008. Writing for the St Kilda website, Riewoldt said Harvey was in his best form and was the club's most consistent player this season. "I don't want to pre-empt his future beyond this season," Riewoldt said, "but the type of form he's in at the moment, if he can continue that throughout the year and keep managing his body the way he does, then really there is no reason why he couldn't keep playing on next year." The Article RealFooty/10May07 Spit and polish It could be Fraser Gehrig limbering up before the opening bounce like Anthony Mundine on fight night. Brendan the rules: Occasional dummy spits and turns of match winning brilliance are both part of the Brendan Fevola package. Or maybe Brendan Fevola lapsing into a Benny Hill moment and turning his back on the play, Matthew Richardson sulking and pouting like Paris Hilton or Barry Hall giving us his Hulk Hogan impersonation. At some stage during a game these giants of the goalsquare will have exceeded the bounds of acceptable behaviour and caused anything from a riot on the field, apoplexy in the coaching box, adjectival diarrhoea in the commentary booth, or, perhaps, just a few laughs all round. They might be unceremoniously hauled from the field, admonished by the boss, reported by umpires, suspended by the tribunal, psychoanalysed by the media and defended by their mums. And through it all, they will have been painted as wild-eyed mavericks whose lack of emotional control threatens the fabric of the team . . . Of course, Hall, the born-and-bred fighter among this lot, can't help but let his pugilistic instincts take over at times. But, these days, apart from the odd silly whack, he channels his natural ferocity into his attack on the ball, often with matchwinning results. Even Gehrig, who probably looks less eager than Hall, Richardson or even Fevola at times, is a fierce competitor for much of the time, as we saw when he opened up with that over-the-top slap to the face of Setanta O'hAilpin last Friday night. "He actually likes working hard, likes being involved," his coach Ross Lyon said. The Article Trevor Grant/HeraldSun/12May07 Sydney Official Site Match Preview . . . THE GROUND: Telstra Dome comes into play here - big time. Everyone knows how much the Saints love playing at this ground, although in recent years they haven't always come through with the goods in big games. Both sides will be primed for this one, so fans of both sides can expect a fierce battle. The ball pings up and down the ground at a rate of knots under the roof at the Dome, although the Swans might try to nullify the Saints' love of quick ball movement. THE KEY: The coaching box. The coaching battle should be absorbing viewing, and expect the cameras to zoom in on Roos and his counterpart pretty often throughout the night. Ross Lyon was the Swans midfield coach before taking the reins at St Kilda. Expect his knowledge of the Swans' engine room to play a big part, as this one looks destined to be won in the middle. THE QUESTIONS: Can Adam Goodes fire? Can Paul Roos stop Dal Santo? Can Lyon stop the Swans midfielders - the players he taught - from dominating the clearances? The Article Ben Broad/sydneyswans.com.au/saints.com.au/10May07 St Kilda Official Match Preview Matt Burgan/saints.com.au/10May07
. . . Since Lyon took the St Kilda job, Roos says a few subjects have been off limits. "I don't want to sound like a Nick-Know-It-All, telling him how to do his job or making unwarranted observations, so I probably try not to ask too much about his team," he says. "I don't want him to think I'm prying or to feel he has to hide things." The big question on Saturday night is whether Lyon's inside knowledge will give the Saints an advantage in a battle between two clubs sitting at 3-3 and desperate to get on the positive side of the ledger. As Swans' midfield coach, Lyon was given much credit - or, from the AFL, the blame - for Sydney's game plan, particularly its ability to create and win stoppages. Such an intimate understanding of the Swans' tactics and personnel would seem to provide a big edge. But Lyon claims he is the man who knows too much. "It might be a disadvantage because they've changed a few things this year and sometimes you can have too much information," he says. "Anyway, the whole world knows how Sydney play but not many teams beat them." Lyon says the one piece of advice Roos gave him before he left Sydney was to "be true to yourself". Yet many experts believe Lyon is trying to replicate elements of the Swans' game plan at St Kilda, particularly by making the Saints more accountable for opponents and competitive at stoppages. The Article Richard Hinds/RealFooty/10May07 Captains Column Harvey can play on: Riewoldt On Saturday night, we take on Sydney. The challenge for us is to string together consecutive victories for the first time this season. Each week represents different challenges and if you had the answers for every match you'd be a genius, but we understand we need to close the gap between our best and worst. In our wins this season, we know we've tackled well and been really smart with our ball use, but the times we've lost, we know we haven't achieved these tasks. It's a matter of executing our disposals well and being disciplined that will give us the four points . . . Robert Harvey has been unbelievable. This is my seventh season at the Club and to be perfectly honest, I've never seen him play better footy than he is at the moment. He'd be our best player so far this year and our most consistent. Either in our wins or our losses, "Harvs" has been outstanding. He's been in as good as form as I've witnessed first hand playing with him. It's just remarkable and mind-boggling to see him playing the football he is at 35 years old. The Article saints.com.au/09May07 Coaches Corner From Eddie: Is it a concern of the coaching staff that this year like the past 3 years, our forwards have not been able to capitalise on set shots? What is being done to help Reiwoldt, Kosi and the rest of our forwards kick straight? Stephen Silvagni: Capitalising on set shots is a critical part of football. At the moment, we are are fractionally over 50% in conversion for set shots from marks and free kicks. It is an area that has been continually addressed throughout the pre-season and in our review of games. I can assure you that measures have been put in place to accelerate our improvement in this area . . . The Article saints.com.au/09May07
St Kilda is almost certain to regain top defenders Max Hudghton and Sam Fisher, along with ruckman Barry Brooks, for Saturday night's showdown against Sydney at Telstra Dome. Coach Ross Lyon, who was assistant coach to Paul Roos at the Swans for three seasons, said he was 90 per cent sure his defenders would be fit to help negate the potent Swans forward set-up. "They're subject to fitness tests, but we're hopeful those two might play some footy," Lyon said. Hudghton has played only 20 minutes of football this season because of an injured quad muscle, while Fisher has missed the past three matches with a hamstring injury. In his three years with the Swans, Lyon witnessed some big showdowns against the Saints -- a win and a loss in finals in 2004 and 2005 -- and an epic battle last season at the SCG when Sydney pipped St Kilda by two points. The Article Michael Horan/HeraldSun/09May07 Swans face first date with former mentor Sydney's modest start to the season faces a new challenge on Saturday night when it confronts for the first time a St Kilda side coached by former Swans midfield mentor Ross Lyon. Lyon helped write the Swans' bible of stop and block accountability that took the club to its first flag as Sydney in 2005 and to within a kick of a second last season. Now Sydney will have to cope with Lyon using the Swans' methodology against it. Indeed, it has been obvious from the start of his reign at the Saints six games ago that Lyon has already been implementing at least part of the Swans' mantra. Despite a dreadful injury run and a season as inconsistent as Sydney's, Lyon has St Kilda playing a more accountable brand of football. Sydney midfielder Luke Ablett was one of the main beneficiaries of Lyon's contribution as an assistant coach of the Swans but does not believe the close relationship between Lyon and the Swans will be of any great advantage to him. "He's got a really good knowledge of the way we operate and what we're going to try and do," Ablett said before training at the SCG yesterday. The Article Malcolm Conn/TheAustralian/09May07 Saints look to fine-tune their game St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said yesterday that his team's focus on Saturday night would be on its own game, as well as putting pressure on Sydney . . . Lyon said key defenders Sam Fisher (hamstring) and Max Hudghton (quad) would have fitness tests. He said Raphael Clarke (back) would play with Casey Scorpions, while Barry Brooks (hamstring) was may play in the VFL. The Article Michael Cowley/RealFooty/09May07 Tribunal rule changed . . . St Kilda football manager Ken Sheldon said Jones's ruling was correct. Sheldon expressed surprise the AFL issued a media release which indicated Baker would have to serve a three-match ban if found guilty of the separate charges of rough conduct and striking. The Article AdelaideAdvertiser/10May07 Loophole exposes more cracks in tribunal system The AFL has devised a rule on the run to defuse a potentially embarrassing conflict with its tribunal chairman. It introduced a "suspended sentence" clause yesterday to accommodate the contentious ruling by former County Court judge David Jones on Tuesday night in the Steven Baker case. Football operations manager Adrian Anderson said the chairman's ruling, which defied the AFL's guidelines, would stand, leaving the Baker suspension at two matches. So, the St Kilda tagger will become the first AFL player to carry more than 100 residual points into a game when he resumes in Round 9. Anderson's media release late yesterday afternoon says: "Steven Baker will serve a two-match sentence, with a one-match suspended sentence for 12 months." The Article Mike Sheahan/HeraldSun/09May07 Baker cooked by Tribunal . . . Baker's player advocate Sean Carroll said the 155 points over the Saints tagger would serve as a deterrent towards re-offending. "That may be a good thing for this player to have that hanging over his head," Carroll told the tribunal. The tribunal's legal counsel Will Houghton, QC, believed Baker should have received a three-game suspension. "You can't have a situation where a player carries forward more than 100 points," he said . . . In the first case, (Baker) was found guilty of rough conduct in a collision with Carlton's Jordan Russell. Video footage showed an airborne Baker making front-on contact to Russell's chest and neck area. Baker said he had no alternative and raised his arms to protect himself to avoid a clash of heads, while Russell said he suffered a bruise on his chest and had trouble breathing after the incident. In the second case he was reported by emergency umpire Matthew Head for striking talented Carlton youngster Marc Murphy. Head told the tribunal he saw Baker swing his left arm and make contact to Murphy's stomach with a clenched fist. But Baker said he used an open hand to push Murphy away, a tactic the tagger had employed throughout the game. "I swear on my mother's life it was a palm," Baker said in his evidence. The Article Jordon Chong/AdelaideAdvertiser/09May07 Baker’s suspension to stand The AFL has confirmed the two-game suspension handed to St Kilda’s Steven Baker will stand after reviewing the decision made by AFL Tribunal chairman David Jones on Tuesday night. But AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said the league will clarify its rules to ensure that, from now on, all demerit points incurred in one game counted towards a player’s suspension. The Article saints.com.au/09May07 Baker loophole to close Michael Gleeson/RealFooty/10May07 AFL upholds Baker's suspended suspension Greg Denham/TheAustralian/10May07 Lighter sentence for Saint Michael Horan/HeraldSun/10May07 Lyon looks forward to Swans clash . . . Lyon (said) the team’s focus would remain on trying to win the ball and putting pressure on Sydney. "The win against Carlton put us in good stead, so that will be the focus, worrying a bit more on ourselves and trying to get our own game right" he said. The Saints have been hit early with injuries this season, however Lyon said key defenders Sam Fisher and Max Hudgthon were progressing well. "Sam and Max are subject to fitness tests and we’re hopeful these two may play some footy soon" he said. Raph Clarke will make his return to football this weekend and play for St Kilda’s VFL aligned side, the Casey Scorpions while Barry Brooks is also a possibility to line up this week. Lyon said his approach in the lead up to a game is focused heavily on preparation, where the team is committed to training and practicing the basics. "We review our own game and then prepare the opposition’s game, we watch a lot of tape and edits and have meetings with our players" he said. The Saints will clearly be aiming for a victory over the Swans, which would add some consistency to the team’s performances this season. "We have been up and down a fair bit, which is fair to say, so we’re looking for some consistency in our approach" Lyon said. The Article Vanessa Gigliotti/saints.com.au/08May07 No tricks needed: Lyon St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has played down the benefits derived from his three seasons as an assistant coach at Sydney in the build-up to Saturday night's clash with the Swans at Telstra Dome. Asked on Wednesday if he had any tricks up his sleeve, Lyon, whose humour is drier than Melbourne's catchments, replied: "No tricks - all the trick coaches are out of a job. We'll just focus on trying to win the ball and putting some pressure on Sydney. It was a clear focus last week against Carlton and put us in pretty good stead, so that would be the focus - just worrying a bit more about ourselves and trying to get our own game right. We've been up and down a bit it would be fair to say, so we're looking for some consistency in our approach." Lyon agreed that he knows Sydney's game style, but was mindful of subtle changes the Swans had made since his departure. He said that he'd been too busy so far this week to get excited about the prospect of taking on Paul Roos. "You're reviewing your own game and then you're preparing the opposition. I tend to get nervous game day, the morning, that's when the anticipation builds," he said. "There's no pressure on at the minute, it's Tuesday. But you walk through the door on Saturday night and the roof is closed and hopefully there'll be 40,000 Saints fans there and you feel that responsibility. So, yeah, I'm only human." The Article Angus Morgan/Sportal/08May07 Everitt 'Bloods' forefather Peter Everitt's first AFL coach says the triple all-Australian ruckman is partly responsible for creating the Bloods culture at Sydney that so many doubted he would fit into. Nine years before the Bloods' brothers raised the 2005 premiership cup, St Kilda under Stan Alves decided they were sick of being perceived as a rabble. Everitt had been a central figure in their not-so Saintly exploits, a reputation he tried to shake at Hawthorn that caused many to ask how he would ever become a " Blood" at the Swans? But Alves revealed yesterday St Kilda developed a Bloods-like culture at the start of 1996 with team-building guru Ray McLean that Everitt was instrumental in pioneering. Seven years later McLean transformed the Swannies into Bloods. "I never had any doubt he would fit hand in glove into that Sydney culture," Alves said. " I don't want to be silly about this but the Swans culture was built on the culture that was created at St Kilda (start of 1996)." The Article DailyTelegraph/09May07 My wasted Saint years If I had to sum up the time I spent at St Kilda, probably the words that fit best would be "underachieving" and "wasted years". Don't get me wrong, there were some good times in my six seasons with the Saints, a preliminary final win against the Kangaroos, a grand final in 1997, and then in my last game for the club, a come-from-behind win against Hawthorn. I kicked the winning goal after the siren. Then there were the other times, the bad times . . . and there were plenty. That's why, when I look back on my time at St Kilda, I feel it was wasted. Certainly that's not the club's fault. I take full blame. Even some of the good years I had - the last three years, I played pretty well - there were silly reports and inconsistent games. Pretty much my whole time there was up and down, and it's not surprising there were times the club wanted to get rid of me. There were a couple of occasions that I was skating on thin ice, one being after the 1998 season. A story came out that the Saints were getting rid of me, and I don't know if it was a draft tactic or whether it was reality, but it saved my career. I reckon it was fair dinkum because I was really underperforming. I'd played three years at that stage and I found out that you can have as much potential as you like, but you have to do something with it. I wasn't doing what I needed to do, and wasn't going forward as a footballer. The Article Barry Hall/RealFooty/11May07 Bevan returns to top level The Swans' rugby league bloodlines will be strengthened this weekend with the expected return of promising young defender Paul Bevan for Sydney's crucial clash against St Kilda. It will see the grand-nephew of Brian Bevan - rugby league's greatest ever tryscorer - playing AFL alongside Kieren Jack, the son of Balmain league great Garry. It will be the first time Bevan and 19-year-old Jack, who made his AFL debut last round, have played senior football together for the Swans . . . Swans coach Paul Roos is also hoping Amon Buchanan will be right to play the Saints at Telstra Dome on Saturday night after the tough midfielder had arthroscopic surgery three weeks ago. "We are looking seriously at Paul Bevan and Amon Buchanan but we will make the call after training (today)" Roos said. Roos believes the addition of Bevan will help shore up Sydney's defence, which conceded seven goals in the opening quarter in the Swans' disappointing 16-point loss to the Kangaroos. The Article Tim Morrissey/DailyTelegraph/10May07 Swans need an attitude check Tim Morrissey/DailyTelegraph/10May07 St Kilda coach Lyon claims his inside information on the Swans is out of date . . . "We've probably been on the phone on a weekly basis for 20 years," said Lyon of a friendship that endured Roos's move from Fitzroy to Sydney. But as they prepare to meet for the first time as rival senior coaches when the Swans play St Kilda at Telstra Dome on Saturday night, Lyon is not expecting much pre-game banter. "We'll probably just go about our own business," he said. "We might see how the kids are going. If we do talk we'll have a bit of a chuckle about how everyone is building it up." Lyon acknowledges that his new job has slightly altered the dynamics of the relationship. "You have to be a bit more cautious sometimes about the things you can and can't say," he said. For his part, Roos said he would probably call Lyon later in the week. "I feel like our friendship overrides anything else," he said. That doesn't extend to a few subjects that have been off-limits since Lyon joined St Kilda, however. "I don't want to sound like a Nick-know-it-all telling [him] how to do his job or making unwarranted observations, so I probably try not to ask too much about his team," he said. "I don't want him to think I'm prying or to feel he has to hide things." The big question on Saturday night is whether Lyon's inside knowledge of the Swans will give the Saints an advantage. The Article Richard Hinds/RealFooty/08May07 Roos seeking Sydney redemption . . . "I was able to go and watch (St Kilda) play (on Friday) and they're very similar to a lot of teams at the moment, they've got some good players missing, along with ourselves," he said. "But unlike us on the weekend I thought they played very, very well from start to finish. They really put some pressure on, their intensity was up and they did the job so we're looking forward to hopefully redeeming ourselves from last week." The Article AAP/TheAge/07May07 Lyon unfazed by taking on old boss Roos . . . Lyon, who still regularly consults Roos for advice, said Saturday night's encounter with the Swans at Telstra Dome would hold no special significance for him. "Special? It will be special if we win," Lyon said. "No, it's not any different, I had a wonderful three years there and next week they're an opponent that needs to be beaten." He dismissed the idea that his inside knowledge of the Swans' gameplan would assist the Saints. "The world knows how Sydney plays, not too many beat them," Lyon said . . . Lyon said their ability to steady after the Blues' surge was a good sign. "We did take a couple of steps forward with our ball use through that period, a little bit of tempo footy, I suppose, which was a positive," he said. Lyon said the Saints' extreme flooding tactics had initially given some of their defenders a false sense of security. "Everyone just relaxes a little bit, the trap is not defending your direct opponent," he said. "Once they realise 'even though I've got 10 around me I still have to defend' . . . it's a nice structure to have, because if you win the ball you're coming forward into a lot of space." The Article AAP/TheAge/05May07 Allen to climb back from injury low Less than four months after being drafted by St Kilda, Allen now finds himself on the long-term injury list with a return unlikely until after the halfway point of the season. After being snapped up by the Saints at pick number 59 in last year’s AFL draft, Allen was flying and living his dream, quickly earning the respect of his peers with an impressive pre-season. But things turned pear-shaped for the versatile forward in the last practice match while playing for the St Kilda’s Victorian Football League affiliate the Casey Scorpions against Sandringham. Allen was wrapped up in a tackle after laying a brilliant smother, but upon landing his arm hyper-extended forcing his elbow to pop out.A visit to the surgeon revealed he had not only dislocated his elbow, but had also torn the ligament off the bone on the inside of his arm."As soon as it happened I thought something was wrong and I was in a fair bit of pain straight away," he said. "It was disappointing because I was loving it and everyone around the place was saying I had had a pretty good start." "My fitness levels were pretty good and I didn’t really miss a session, so it was all going well." "I did okay in the praccy matches and I was really keen to get in there, so it was a bit of a setback." But hopefully I can work hard and get back out there in the second half of the year." Allen had a final surgery on his arm last Wednesday and will need to wear a brace for another three weeks before he can start physiotherapy. He will slowly be guided through getting full range of movement back and into competitive work, but a likely return to the field is hard to predict. The Article Mark Murray/HumeStar/08May07 ABC Radio kicks ratings goals The ABC is the big winner of the radio ratings for the first five rounds of the season. Ratings figures released yesterday showed ABC 774 was making inroads into the dominance of commercial stations 3AW and Triple M. Newcomer SEN 116 was happy with its results. But the ratings survey, for a 10-week period, was clouded because it also included the five weeks before the season started. The next survey, released in June, will show the results of a full 10-week period of football. And the different time slots when games are being played will also make it difficult for any particular station to claim the outright ratings title. 3AW and Triple M both agreed to pay $900,000 a season for the next three years to broadcast AFL games. One radio executive said yesterday rating figures would need to improve to justify the enormous outlay. Meanwhile SEN general manager Barrie Quick said the survey showed a significant increase in listeners when its weekend footy coverage kicked off at 5pm on Fridays and ended at 10pm on Sundays. The Article Daryl Timms/HeraldSun/09May07 Eagles rookie guilty of burglary Another West Coast player has picked up a criminal record with rookie Llane Spaanderman pleading guilty to aggravated burglary. Former Brisbane Lions player Spaanderman, 21, was fined $3000 and ordered to pay $370 in restitution after pleading guilty in the Perth District Court. The ruckman admitted his role as a standover man during a violent altercation at a house party in Perth's southern suburbs in 2005. Spaanderman's two co-offenders, armed with a baseball bat, assaulted several people at the party, smashed a glass door and damaged parts of the house's interior. The Article NewsLimited/FoxSports/09May07 AFL stars join Tripple M's Storm vs Bulldogs call Hawthorn legend, Jason Dunstall and former St Kilda and Fitzroy player, Michael Roberts will both take on special guest roles in Triple M Melbourne's first-ever call of a Melbourne Storm game . . . Roberts, now a member of the Triple M AFL commentary team, is a Melbourne Storm Ambassador. The Article rleague.com/11May07 GO BACK TO PREVIOUS PAGE
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