Round 6 Post Game Articles Go to Pre-Game

Saints go outside coach's manual
St Kilda's unattractive, fiddly, lockdown first half against Port Adelaide last Saturday night prompted coach Ross Lyon to express bewilderment as to why his side had played in a manner for which it was unpractised and uninstructed. It was not the first time, however, that the players had swayed from instruction in this way and was the reason why yesterday's match review at the club would have been a searching affair. Club president Greg Westaway is cautious to remain within his province of knowledge and not tread in football matters beyond his expertise, but he felt the football department would be reviewing how it was that the players had again strayed from instructions. "It is a coaching thing and they are saying, 'Fellas, did we practise this at training? No, we didn't, so why are we doing this?' It is not a matter of getting used to something because they were playing well in the last half of last year and they should be used to the coach by now. "They should know what he wants, so why (is it) not transferring? The pressure of the game makes people do things that they do automatically instead of following the plan," Westaway said. "The board's view is always we are going to back the coach 100% until we have got a reason not to back him and we don't have a reason not to do that at this stage. We are not over the moon because we are three and three; we would like to be better than that. But the sky has not fallen in. "There's enough happening for us to say, well, maybe we should have another look at how we are going about this and I am sure that is what Ross will do."
We're not Sydney: Lyon
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has ferociously rebutted claims his team is a defensively minded bore. He said it was "mischievous" and "garbage" to suggest his team played lock-down football similar to the notoriously defensive game style of the Sydney Swans. "Anyone who says we are playing lock-down footy is kidding themselves," Lyon said. "We don't play lock-down footy, we are lucky to target one player a week. That's inaccurate." Asked who was driving the perception, he said: "I don't know, who's in the media that's perpetuating it?" Grant Thomas? "No, I don't think it is. But I think there is a perception we play like the Swans. What a load of garbage. It couldn't be further from the truth. They have 100 stoppages a week and we have 60." Ask any (of my) players. I'd think they'd say in the first half of last year, yeah, but since then, no way, impossible." Thomas, who was sacked by the Saints and replaced by Lyon at the start of last year, yesterday inflamed the Saints debate by asking: "Ross, what is your game style?" He said the Saints under Lyon were too defensive and content to have a "Mexican stand-off" with inferior opposition. Lyon said his method was simple: "There are three phases - contest, attack and defence and play them all equally." Letting his team down, he said, was winning the contested ball. There's a common theme. When you can't get on top in the midfield, you don't score that heavily," Lyon said. "Our issue is we haven't been winning the ball consistently in contested ball. It's been swinging in games. Why have the Bulldogs improved? The contested ball and their tackling."
Roo: We are instructed to go out and play an attacking style!
'9's Footy Classified'
The sledge? - 'Yes it was me'.
M Voss article? - The leadership team had already spoken about similair issues.
The team / champions? - We are working on it continually as most teams would be.
Gold Coast? - I assume I will continue to get the question despite saying for the millionth time 'No' - I would hope to renegotiate before end of 2010.
GT? - I've had limited contact and haven't spoken of club issues.
Tunneling? - Embarrassed that the focus turned onto him - did it happen last year - don't think so.
3 men forward - Fraser, Criticism?- 'The three guys talked about it, unfair to place on one player or one line of the team forward, back, etc - wasn't clicking and team focus redirected, but Fraser is still big part of the team.
Max and Matty? - No issue from team or coaches - 'Max's head ready to pop off!' (grins) - more of an issue if nothing said - they are great mates off field and both big boys - able to look after themselves.
Game plan? - instructed to go out and attack - (we've done it in) fits and spurts through-out the year - the inability to carry out full games - all team embarrassed about the way the game went.
Vic's vs All Stars? - will play - if selected - great fun, Buddy most exciting forward.
Revert to old style: Thomas
Former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas yesterday pleaded with Ross Lyon to abandon his defensive mindset following the club's loss to Port Adelaide on Saturday. Thomas has deliberately avoided public comment on his old club but yesterday said he felt St Kilda could be a premiership contender if it changed its game-style. The Saints scored just two behinds in the first quarter and only nine goals for the match, and Thomas said it was because of the club's attitude, not talent levels. "Personally, I think St Kilda is too defensive. You don't go from kicking the scorelines that St Kilda has kicked in the past and also kicked under Ross Lyon," Thomas said. "You look at St Kilda's records they have created, they were created in 2004, 2005 and 2006. So it's not as if they can't do it. I also think, defensively, we were very good also." Earlier he told SEN radio the players were unsure when to attack and when to defend. The Saints coaching staff are asking the St Kilda team to play a style of game they are not really capable of playing and that's been reinforced in recent weeks," Thomas said. "There is no doubt the buck always stops with the coach. If the players aren't following what the coach says, the coach needs to redirect their thinking. The question needs to be asked: Ross, what is your style? That would tell us what they are trying to achieve but we don't tend to hear a lot of the Saints through the media and they seem to have gone into their bunker this year." He said Lyon's comments on the weekend that the players were not being instructed to play defensive football showed their plight could be turned around with a change of attitude. Thomas last night stressed he was not a bitter coach but a frustrated fan aware his side could achieve so much more.
Saints' goals, wins dry up
The one certainty about St Kilda under Grant Thomas's coaching was adventurous football that brought high scores. In the period 2004-06, the Saints finished second, first and eighth on the "points for" table, playing finals in each of the three years. As you might expect of a strong midfield and a forward division built on Nick Riewoldt, Fraser Gehrig, Justin Koschitzke and Stephen Milne. Since the removal of Thomas and the installation of Ross Lyon for the 2007 season, St Kilda has outscored one team and one team only. That team is Melbourne, which has won five of 28 games since and is winless this year with a percentage of 54.29. With Riewoldt and company still at Moorabbin. Weird ... While you can read what you will into body language, it doesn't look healthy to me. Not many of them seem to be enjoying their work. Perhaps Max Hudghton's verbal whack at Matt Maguire on Saturday night was more than an aberration. Hudghton loves his footy club and wouldn't deliberately do anything to harm its image, but, maybe the frustration simply boiled over. Sam Fisher, Lenny Hayes and Leigh Montagna are entitled to be happy with their work and productivity this year, and Riewoldt has exhibited his characteristic application, but there aren't many others entitled to believe they have performed at or near their best. The next three weeks will tell us more about where this group is headed. The Saints face the improving Richmond, Collingwood and the Brisbane Lions (at the Gabba). Gehrig kicked five goals in each of the Saints' wins against Richmond last year (and 10 in Round 17, 2006), which raises another poser: do the Saints bring him back this week after a performance with Casey in Tasmania that you might expect of a bloke wearing No. 72?
Port has revival at St Kilda's expence
... Riewoldt had threatened to change the game, by kicking two and being a part of all three goals St Kilda scored without a response from the seventh to 12th minutes. Port's lead was reduced to seven points. Tredrea was left unmarked to take a short pass from Danyle Pearce, leaving St Kilda full back Max Hudghton to make a blistering verbal spray at team-mate Matt Maguire, Tredrea's slack marker. St Kilda's analysis is not as encouraging - and, with a 3-3 record, there is reason to again question why the Saints' extraordinary talent base has amounted to so little as a team. St Kilda coach Ross Lyon contends his team was beaten by Port's greater productivity in the midfield - and in the air with the Power having a 13-5 advantage in contested marks. When Lyon reviews the tape, he might note quick movement to his gun forwards troubled Port. And St Kilda's new way of trying to imitate Sydney - where Lyon was an assistant coach - is coming at a price.
Is the Saints' time up?
Surely the time has now come to ponder this question - is St Kilda really as good as its reputation suggests. For years the Saints have had a list considered good enough to win a premiership and indeed it was only as recently as 2004 and 2005 that its team was considered better than Geelong - after both clubs burst from the wilderness simultaneously in 2004. But while the Cats have gone from strength to strength since their finals failures of 2004 and 2005, the Saints' failures in the preliminary finals in those seasons increasingly look as if it was the club's best chance to end a premiership drought stretching back to 1966. While Geelong ended its own premiership drought stretching back to 1963 last year and has now 25 of its past 26 matches, the Saints are struggling to keep pace with the top eight let alone the top four. Increasingly it seems last year's mediocre season under then new coach Ross Lyon might be the norm in terms of the club's performance rather than the exception. The Saints' escaped lightly in terms of scrutiny last year for their fall to ninth - the first time the club had missed the finals since 2003 - mainly because it was Lyon's first season in charge. But now after six rounds of his second season in charge, there is little evidence the Saints have improved and with three wins and three losses - the latest a poor performance against Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium - the Saints again find themselves outside the top eight. Lyon insisted after Saturday night's poor performance - in which the team's lack of strikepower was again all too evident - that it was no time to panic. Yet with Geelong, Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs all unbeaten after six rounds, the Saints are already well off the pace off the leading sides and history suggest teams that finish outside the top four have no hope of winning the premiership.
Mistakes hurting Saints: Ball
Saints on-baller Luke Ball says costly turnovers have become an unwelcome and frustrating "common theme" in St Kilda's 2008 season. Those turnovers were on display again last night in the Saints 21-point loss to Port Adelaide, with both Ball and coach Ross Lyon pinpointing three first quarter errors as crucial in the result. Defensive turnovers gifted Port the only three goals of the first term - and with the margins at the breaks 18, 19, 20 and finally 21 points, it's clear how vital they were in the continuation of St Kilda's poor recent record against the Power. "We haven't had a great record against them (Port) over the last three or four years I suppose," Ball told saints.com.au after the match. "It's hard to put your finger on a reason for it ... I think you've just got to treat each game on its merits. You look at this game and pretty silly turnovers and mistakes cost us a few goals early, and in the end that was the difference. Our effort's alright, we're trying hard, but we're just costing ourselves with some sloppy decision-making more than anything. It's costing us easy goals. That's been a reasonably common theme through our first six weeks now. It's frustrating. Obviously we've still got a lot of work to do to address that on the track so it doesn't happen."
Cautious Saints puzzles Lyon
While watching his players defend themselves into oblivion in the early stages of a 21-point loss to Port Adelaide, St Kilda coach Ross Lyon asked his coaching staff if the conservatism had training ground origins. Their unanimously negative response was echoed by the Saints players when Lyon addressed them between quarters. Having accepted those answers, Lyon was puzzled post-game when he tried to explain why a team with considerable top four ambitions went into their shell against a Power side battling desperately to regain traction in a season that began with four consecutive losses. The only thing Lyon was certain of was that a team unable to impose themselves in the face of opposition pressure would not feature at the pointy end of September. "I'm not sure exactly, we'll review it and learn from it, but it hurts, it hurts really on the scoreboard, hurts the group and hurts everyone involved with the club," Lyon said. "I asked the question in the box, 'do we train that?' And the response is 'no', then I asked the players 'do we train that?' and they say 'no'. Sometimes the pressure of games and the pressure of the opposition make you do funny things, which we want to eradicate if we're going to be a top team."
Early lapses costly, says Lyon
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says a combination of defensive turnovers, some classy Port stoppage goals and a lack of midfield contributors cost his side in the 21-point loss to Port Adelaide. "The first quarter, I thought we were a bit conservative with our ball use," Lyon said after the match. "And the turnovers were costly. There were three direct turnover goals. Then after that the scoring was equal all the way through. We fought on. We won the ground ball, won the tackles. And I thought when we moved the ball quick and we penetrated we had them under some pressure. (But) that's how I'd probably sum it up - some soft turnover goals, allowing some classy stoppage goals. And they just had a bit more weight of numbers through the midfield. I thought we had a couple of fantastic players that really battled on - like Lenny Hayes, (Jason) Gram's second half was pretty significant, Leigh Montagna's second half, and (Robert) Harvey. But we just lacked some weight of numbers through there I thought, with a couple of our players not at their best tonight." Lyon expressed frustration with his players' inability to kick long and quickly in pressure situations. "When you handball when you should kick ... it's about decision-making," he said. "I ask the question in the box - 'do we train that' and the response is 'no', and I ask the players 'do we train that' and they say no. But sometimes the pressure of games and pressure of the opposition make you do funny things - which we want to eradicate if we're going to be a top team."
Poor start ruins night for Saints
St Kilda ultimately paid for producing one of its worst starts to a game in many years, losing to Port Adelaide by 21 points at AAMI Stadium last night. To play so poorly in the first half when it trailed by 32 points, to get within seven in the third when it looked so good, and ultimately be swamped again, caused further grief for Saints disheartened fans. Taking nothing from Port , who also began tardily - it produced the first goal of the match after 19 minutes - but showed character to respond, St Kilda virtually loosened its grip on the contest with a lack of skills under pressure and poor decision making. The Saints are either incapable of executing a game plan that is being asked of them because it doesn't work, or they just don't have the ability to make it happen. Perhaps both, but the undeniable fact last night was that the Saints were simply not good enough to produce the goods when given a real opportunity to recover. St Kilda's attack on the ball wasn't the issue. For most part it matched Port's toughness, but so often when it looked as if it might do something positive it missed its targets or gave away foolish free kicks. A strong wind swept across the ground, and maybe the Saints are not used to playing in such conditions, but there was still no excuse for simple skill errors, especially in the first half ... Too many St Kilda players let their teammates down by turning over the ball - and often not under pressure. Few were exempt from this obvious flaw, especially when the Saints persisted in trying to attack through the corridor, only to be met by eagerly awaiting defenders. As the game wore on, the frustration by the Saints became more intense, as it did for fans who travelled for this game, sitting in a dreadfully-cold stadium.
Lyon: History not a factor
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said his team's poor record against Port Adelaide had nothing to do with their disappointing Round 6 effort at AAMI Stadium on Saturday. The Saints have lost 11 of their last 12 games against the Power but Lyon said that statistic wasn't playing on the players' minds. "I don't think so, it clearly wasn't in my mindset. With this group we respect everyone but we don't fear anyone," he said. "At the end of the day we walk home losers and we have to regroup and we are 3-3 and they are 2-4, so it's not panic stations for us" ... Lyon said the Power's weight of possessions in the midfield, their aerial supremacy (13 contested marks to three) and overall pressure also proved a telling factor. "It hurts on the scoreboard, it hurts the group and hurts everybody involved with the club," he said. "Sometimes the pressure of games and the pressure opposition make you do funny things which we want to eradicate if we want to be a top team. When you are under pressure it's long down the line, get a contest, get a stoppage. We review it (the game) and learn from it."
Sportal Snippets
CLASSIC GRAB: Port Adelaide thought it had cleared the ball from defence at the 13th minute of the fourth quarter. But Stephen Milne, running against the flight of the ball, turned at the last second and took a mark in his fingertips.
ABSOLUTE SHOCKER: The Saints surged in the third quarter and the Power were found snoozing on the last line of defence. A David Armitage set shot sailed across the goal line about two and half metres high without a defender attempting to touch it.
Power beats Saints by 19 points
A first-quarter break established by Port Adelaide was enough to give the Power a 21-point win against St Kilda at AAMI Stadium. The Power won 12.10 (82) to St Kilda's 9.7 (61). Remarkably, the 21-point margin followed leads of 18, 19 and 20 points at the first three changes. Kane Cornes, Steve Salopek, Dom Cassisi and Peter Burgoyne were among the best for the Power, while Lenny Hayes and Leigh Montagna battled hard for the visitors. An early goal to Daniel Motlop in the last quarter, followed by a couple of behinds, gave the home team a 28-point margin. The Saints got that goal back through Leigh Montagna, but they were unable to make any impact on the scoreboard for the rest of the game. Their poor first term, in which they scored just 0.2 to Port's 3.2, proved critical in the result.
Power surge past Saints
...It was a scrappy opening to the contest with Daniel Motlop registering the first goal at 19 minutes. The scoreline boosted the Power's confidence and a combination of defensive pressure and play-on footy saw them open up an 18-point break at the first change. Port extended that buffer to 32 points after registering two majors within five minutes of the start of the second term and they threatened to go further in front thanks to their desperate ground-level efforts. But the Saints finally scored their first goal through a fleet-footed Riewoldt. It was just the spark the Saints needed with their midfielders starting to get their hands on the footy. Xavier Clarke kicked his side's third goal for the term and St Kilda was within 21 points, and back in the match, at the long break. Momentum remained with the Saints in the early stages of the second half with a dangerous Riewoldt helping his side reduce the difference to just seven points. But for the first time in three weeks the Power responded to the challenge - long set shots from Tredrea, Motlop and Brett Ebert steadied the ship. The Saints attacked in red time but a ragged Power kept their 20-point advantage intact at three-quarter time.
Round 6 Pre-game ArticlesBack to: Post-Game


Saints' Rix to take on star Power duo
St Kilda ruckman Michael Rix will play his first game of the AFL season against star Port Adelaide pair Brendon Lade and Dean Brogan at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night. The Saints started the season with former All Australians Steven King and Michael Gardiner as their preferred ruck pairing, but both are missing through injury. King is out with a hamstring injury sustained in last Friday night's win over Essendon, while the injury-prone Gardiner will miss his fourth straight game with a calf complaint. The Saints also included tough tagger Steven Baker for his first game of the year, after serving a seven-match suspension stretching from last season. Tally utility Sam Gilbert is out with a shoulder injury, while young midfielder Clinton Jones was dropped, with Shane Birss coming into the team. The Power named an unchanged side.
Allen's biding his time
Most young AFL players have to wait their turn for a game in the firsts but double the patience needed for a tall forward on St Kilda's list. After all the talk about fitting Nick Riewoldt, Justin Koschitzke and Fraser Gehrig into the same forward line, it seems there isn't much of an opening for Jarryd Allen. But the 20-year-old knows that football fortunes can change quickly and that he has to be prepared. "I hope we all get the three guys playing well at one time," Allen said. "If not, I hope I can knock on the door and put up my hand. I'll just keep working at my game and hopefully something pops up." Allen has played mainly as centre half-forward for the Saints' reserves side Casey Scorpions, but has been used sporadically in defensive roles. He sees himself carving out a career in attack and is lucky enough to have some of the best in the business teaching him the craft. "I'm in a mentor system with Rooey (Nick Riewoldt)," Allen said. "I've been watching his game and I'm looking up to him. Also to have G (Fraser Gehrig) there and the knowledge he's got, I try to suck out as much information as I can. I've been mentoring with Nick and we meet up once a week to go through footage. It's a really good learning curve." Allen has been steadily improving with the Scorpions but says a senior spot still seems a while away.
Port preparing to face 'Sydney' Saints
St Kilda may take a leaf out of Sydney's book in attempting to shut down Port Adelaide's attacking running game, according to coach Mark Williams. The Power will face a St Kilda side which lies seventh on the ladder after an inconsistent start to the season. However the Port Adelaide coach had praise for the Saints' flexibility in playing styles and said he expected a far from free-flowing encounter tonight at AAMI Stadium. He pointed to Sydney's effort at the SCG in round two, when the Swans stifled the Power's quick runners, forced numerous turnovers and converted their chances for a comprehensive 68-point win. "I think they (St Kilda) can play a couple of different styles of footy, they can play a fast, shoot-out style, and we saw the game they played against Sydney where it was probably five goals each or something like that," he said. "So they're a well-drilled unit, there's a lot of what Sydney does in their game plan, and certainly Ross (Lyon) will have looked at how Sydney did and how they played against us, so we'll be assuming there'll be a lot of tagging and defensive work put on our players." Port is coming off a five-day break after playing West Coast on Sunday afternoon, while the Saints have had an eight-day break since their last match against Essendon.
Riewoldt has a twinge at training, Gehrig possible return
... Yesterday, skipper Nick Riewoldt left the training track early, clutching his right buttock after seemingly feeling tightness in the muscle. The key forward came back to training 15 minutes later but completed only a number of light run-throughs and sidesteps before again leaving the ground for treatment. A club spokesman played down the injury scare, saying Riewoldt was fine. Baker's return will be a big boost for the Saints, the former club best-and-fairest and uncompromising tagger a much-respected member of the side ... Gehrig's chance of returning has been boosted by the hamstring injury to Steven King and the fact that Michael Gardiner is still not ready to return from his calf strain. Their absence leaves the Saints light-on for talls despite Lyon's optimism. "No doubt (King's injury) gives him (Gehrig) an opportunity, but we have match committee (today) with the other coaches ... and we'll discuss the balance of the team and where Fraser sits within that," he said. "Young Jarryd Allen kicked six goals at Bendigo on the weekend and took 12 marks ... six contested marks, so he'll come into consideration as well. They (Brendon Lade and Dean Brogan) are two formidable ruckmen, no doubt about that. But Justin Koschitzke rucks, we've got (Michael) Rix, young Ben McEvoy played really well in the seconds, our first-round draft pick, and Jason Blake can ruck. We don't think there's a shortage of ruckmen here."
Port braces itself for Nick Riewoldt - the wingman
Coach Mark Williams and his colleagues have noted St Kilda's penchant for starting the dual All-Australian on the edge of the centre square. And given the success of Richmond's move to play Matthew Richardson on the wing, Port is preparing for a Riewoldt cameo in the midfield on Saturday night. "The coaches are ready for most moves," Port Adelaide defender Toby Thurstans said. "Obviously with his (Riewoldt's) fitness and his running ability he can probably play anywhere like a Matthew Richardson. The coaches will go through all those different scenarios and we will be briefed on them in the morning." Saints coach Ross Lyon admitted he was torn between playing his captain deep in attack or on the wing. "We started him on the wing against the Western Bulldogs on that Friday night because he runs far and wide and he's got a massive tank," Lyon said ... As Port's most experienced key defender, Thurstans put his hand up for the job on Riewoldt. But if he starts further up the ground, the daunting assignment could fall to a player such as Michael Pettigrew ... Another contender for the job, Troy Chaplin, trained well enough at AAMI Stadium yesterday to suggest he had recovered from being concussed against West Coast. Adam Thomson (bruised arm) should also play against the Saints but the main concern for Port is dynamic rover David Rodan. The ex-Tiger, troubled by knee tendonitis, only completed about 30 minutes of yesterday's session, spending the majority seated on an exercise bike.
Baker ready to roll
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has declared tagger Steven Baker ready to return to action against Port Adelaide on Saturday night, but Lyon was equivocal on the immediate playing future of ruckman Michael Gardiner. Baker took part in the Saints' NAB Cup and NAB Challenge campaign but hasn't played a senior match since being suspended for seven weeks for charging Fremantle Jeff Farmer in Round 20 last season. But Sam Gilbert's shoulder injury which is likely to keep him sidelined for the next couple of months may prove opportune for Baker. "He's ready to play and I'm really keen to play him," Lyon said of Baker ahead of training at Moorabbin on Tuesday. He's a best and fairest winner and obviously we've lost a backman in Gilbert ... Lyon said he was pleased with the Saints' 'team defence' and midfield pressure last week against Essendon, but the third-quarter lapse which allowed the Bombers to pile on six goals straight was a timely lesson going into this week's clash at AAMI Stadium. "In a sense it's a benchmark game for us to be able to go interstate and compete and put on a good show and try and get the points," he said. "It's going to be a really difficult game but one we're up for." Asked whether Port's recent fadeouts - they squandered a 47 point lead against the Brisbane Lions at AAMI Stadium two weeks ago and conceded the last six goals to West Coast at Subiaco last Sunday - were something the Saints could exploit, Lyon said: "It's not really an issue for me. I think it's a really small sample, isn't it? Has it got any statistical relevance? I'm not sure that it has - I'm not a mathematician, but two is a really small sample. It's something they'll be concerned about ... but I wouldn't read too much into it."
Baker set for quick return with Saints
St Kilda tagger Steven Baker will make an immediate return to the AFL from suspension to apply a heavy tag on one of Port Adelaide's stars at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night. Baker has been the forgotten man at Moorabbin as he completed a seven-game ban for an off-the-ball clash with Fremantle's Jeff Farmer late last season, but can expect a big job on one of Port's creative midfielders. Saints coach Ross Lyon has labelled the clash as a benchmark test for a side that have had their share of troubles interstate in recent years and wants his tough little tagger to start despite a lack of match fitness. "I'm really keen to play him, he's a best and fairest winner ... I'm pretty keen to see him play," Lyon said. "He's a very fit player, he's mentally tough, he's been training all summer and he played all the (pre-season) NAB Cup virtually, so he's right. Everyone fundamentally loves playing football and it's his passion and he's clearly missed that."
Port looks at mids pre St Kilda
Port Adelaide's underbelly has been exposed - and it is not the Power's inexperienced defence. Rather, it is its midfielders. And their lack of control of the ball at stoppages is paramount to explaining the Power's last-quarter collapses in the past two games against Brisbane and West Coast. For the first time since Port's disastrous 2000 season, the Power is being outscored from clearances - this time by 50 points. This statistic is the most relevant in explaining Port's worst start, a 1-4 win-loss record, to an AFL season since 2000. Set plays - and scoring from them - is the essence of the Power's game plan. It is also telling that when Port ranks in the top two of this category, it plays in the AFL grand final - last year and in 2004 ... Port - with three All-Australians in its midfield unit, ruckman Brendon Lade and the Cornes brothers - has made set plays at stoppages a centrepiece of its game plan. In anticipating the ruck advantage from Lade and Dean Brogan, Port has its midfielders "peel away" to create space and to work the ball through space as a chain of uncontested disposals. This is why Port's "hard-ball" possession count is usually low in comparison to its rivals. Free kicks at stoppages, as Williams notes, work against Port's well-honed but now ineffective strategies.
Saints aren't sinners, says coach
His captain was caught sledging an AFL opponent about domestic violence, but St Kilda coach Ross Lyon insists his players treat their rivals respectfully. Lyon has declared sledging a non-issue and said he had no plans to discuss the issue with Saints skipper Nick Riewoldt, who last Friday night told Essendon's Andrew Lovett "You bash your f...... missus" during the game at Telstra Dome. The jibe was picked up by a microphone worn by one of the umpires and broadcast by the Seven Network. Lovett was last year fined $500 in the Melbourne Magistrates Court after he was found guilty of breaking an intervention order taken out by his ex-girlfriend. Richmond coach Terry Wallace said it was unacceptable for players to make personal insults about opponents. But Lyon was not prepared to judge on morals, although he believed the Saints did not overstep the line. "As a team we have a philosophy that we treat our opponents with respect regardless of the scoreboard," he said. "But in the heat of the moment, unless you know what's been said and what's been given, both physically and verbally, it's hard to make moral judgements until you've walked in that person's shoes." Officials from Essendon and St Kilda discussed the sledge after the game, and Lovett has decided not to take any action. That meant Lyon wanted to move on.
Ross Lyon on the couch
Q: Charlie Gardiner recruited for? ...
A: Charlie recruited himself- (sheahan spoke over so we didn't get the story) 3 talls big story in melb says Ross - double amount of forward fifty tackles which was pleasing-
Q: Fraser Gehrig? ... A: graduated - strained calf and conditioning well, not dramatically underdone - why didn't he play alst weekend? - was never going to play 22 games - he will play this weekend either Tassie (VFL) or AAMI (AFL) - not automatic he will play with King out. Q: Rucks? ... A: King 2 weeks- Gards - minor calf with hiccup in rehab - weighing up the risk - back in full training this week Q: Armitage/Dempster, Goddard, Maguire - upside of four players to come ... A: Still building - Gram in midfield, Goddard from where he's at he is good
Kossie to step up as Saints' No1 ruck
St Kilda is facing the prospect of playing Port Adelaide and its potent ruck combination of Brendon Lade and Dean Brogan on Saturday night without its best two big men. With Steven King and Michael Gardiner in doubt for the match at AAMI Stadium, the Saints may be forced to use Justin Koschitzke in the role of No1 ruckman, with back-up big man Michael Rix as his support ... St Kilda general manager of football operations Matthew Drain yesterday declared Gardiner "touch and go" with a calf problem that has failed to respond to treatment as quickly as initially thought ... "He's still very much a question mark for this weekend," Drain said. According to the Saints, the hamstring problem King sustained in the first half against the Bombers on Friday night is back related and he is yet to be ruled out against Port, even though he was unable to return to the field in the second half. "We'll know more tomorrow, we'll have a better idea after a scan," Drain said. "On Saturday he was not in pain and had full range of movement, so that gives us a bit of confidence. But with his history, we will be cautious." In King's favour, the Saints have eight days between games. Drain said the Saints always had the option of using Jason Blake as a pinch hitter in the ruck. Should King fail to prove his fitness and Koschitzke is chosen by coach Ross Lyon to take on Lade and Brogan, Fraser Gehrig could be recalled after being omitted last against Essendon. Gehrig's chances of earning a reprieve may also be enhanced because Adam Schneider is rated only a 50/50 chance of resuming from a hamstring strain that has kept him sidelined for the past two rounds. Defender/tagger Steven Baker will be recalled immediately after completing a seven-match suspension, while Sam Gilbert is in doubt with a shoulder injury. Medical staff have already cleared Nick Dal Santo of any damage to his shoulder after he received a knock on Friday night that briefly forced him off the field.
St Kilda face another shuffling of their key-position players
St Kilda face another shuffling of their key-position players after a hamstring injury ruled out ruckman Steven King for two to three matches. King suffered a back-related hamstring injury in Friday night's win over Essendon. With Michael Gardiner needing to pass a test to return from his hamstring injury on Saturday night against Port Adelaide, Justin Koschitzke might have to lead the ruck work against the Power. That would probably mean Fraser Gehrig's return to the side. The Saints had tried Koschitzke, Gehrig and Nick Riewoldt as a three-pronged attack, but they dropped Gehrig last weekend after two-straight losses. In another injury blow for St Kilda, young defender Sam Gilbert will be out for six to eight games with a shoulder injury. Gilbert was diagnosed with a grade-three displaced AC joint.