Knobel's recovery miraculous
Grant Thomas: "A visit to the specialist has indicated it's far more positive than first thought, Trent's feeling terrific." But Thomas said the Saints would take a responsible approach, despite the club's desperate ruck plight. "We're still going to investigate every aspect and get as many opinions as possible. It would be a great injection for us if he's OK, but we won't flirt with it, that's for sure."
More - Mark Stevens - HeraldSun - 19Jun03
Saints like flag team
It's (Current Squad) similar to the scenario when Allan Jeans took over the Saints in the early '60s and moulded the mix of wily experience and energetic youth into the 1966 premiership unit.
More - Bruce Matthews - HeraldSun - 19Jun03
Half Time Review
ThomasJ: "Hayes - Outstanding. Excellent. Engine Room. Great leader and ball magnet. Consistently does the job and more. 9/10 - Hudghton - sadly missed as one of the best backman in the competition. His closing speed and ability to spoil are under rated in the AFL, but not by St Kilda. He takes taller opponents and consistently beats them. Rated to a 7/10 only due to injury. - Gehrig - a bit of a forward line surprise this season and his marking has been a feature. Is having one of his most consistent seasons and would be featuring high in the B&F at the moment. 8/10 . . ."
Fan Forum Thread - Saintsational Fan Forum
Saints have allure, but not on TV
St Kilda, one of the more attractive and successful Melbourne teams to watch this year, has been a curiously blank presence where it is considered most important to be seen today: free-to-air television. Yet, St Kilda fans, and even interested neutrals - at least the majority who are either unable or uncomfortable about attending games - have scarcely been able to see the team play.
More - TheAge RealFooty - 20Jun03
Saints livid with rival clubs
Carlton and Richmond have asked to play each other in an annual blockbuster next year at Easter, potentially leaving the Saints out in the cold. St Kilda claim the AFL had given them an undertaking that a repeat of this year's successful experiment on Easter Monday at Telstra Dome against Richmond would be programmed again in 2004.
More - Greg Denham - FoxSports - 20Jun03
Saint Nick to bid for recall
Among the wealth of talent returning to St Kilda after the break is a young player missed but certainly not forgotten at Moorabbin. While the rest of the football world may ask Nick who?, the Saints are itching to welcome "Dal" back into the team. Teenager Nick Dal Santo has finally shrugged off a nagging thigh ailment to be poised to play his first senior game of the season against Melbourne after the bye.
More - Bruce Matthews- HeraldSun - 20Jun03
MCG to host four finals
In a move that will likely further anger the six non-Victorian clubs, who currently occupy six of the top seven positions on the ladder, there is now a strong possibility that the MCG will host not only a preliminary final but also an elimination and a semi-final between two non-Victorian teams.
More - Paul Gough - saints.com.au - 17Jun03
AFL pleased with crowds, ratings - Linda Pearce - TheAge - 19Jun03
Another finals anomaly
While it sounds strange a close look at how the finals system works and where finals will be played as a result of the AFL/MCC finals agreement reveals just how much more of an advantage the fourth-placed side will enjoy over the third-placed side come September. At present Port Adelaide is top with West Coast in second, the Brisbane Lions in third and Sydney in fourth - all non-Victorian clubs whose respective home grounds of AAMI Stadium, Subiaco, the Gabba and the SCG would provide an enormous advantage come finals time where the home state side nearly always prevails.
More - Paul Gough - afl.com.au - 18Jun03
Finals locked in - Michael Horan & Michael Gleeson - HeraldSun - 19Jun03
Dome scrutiny claims curator
The head curator at Telstra Dome is gone - this time for good. Ivan Thornell resigned yesterday morning after spending the weekend contemplating his future.
More - Mark Stevens - HeraldSun - 17Jun03
Wide net cast for stadium solution - Chloe Saltau - HeraldSun - 19Jun03
Grounds for discussion - TheAge - 19Jun03
Turf expert John Neylan said in a report to the AFL that while the existing turf was of high quality and the ground was definitely safe, he recommended the turf be replaced more regularly.
Turf expert to rescue Dome surface - Michael Horan - HeraldSun - 21Jun03
Whether or not to take wing
West Coast's emerging superstar Chris Judd has overcome an initial bout of homesickness but, according to one of his closest mentors, is still no closer to making a decision over whether to return to Victoria at the end of the year. Judd, whose two-year contract with the Eagles expires at season's end, flew back to Melbourne after Sunday's emphatic win over Brisbane - when he shone, kicking five first-half goals - for a brief reunion with family and friends. Judd's father Andrew said this week that the family would prefer to be left alone, continuing the code of silence around one of the game's most outstanding and sought-after young talents.
The Article - Peter Ker - The Age - 19Jun03
Judd - Forum Thread - Saintsational Fan Forum
great judd article in Realfooty - Saintsational Fan Forum
We are a great team and I am not willing to get a Judd or Mal Michael for some ridiculous price and in the long run losing some of our young guns because they will want a pay rise when there contract runs out and we will not be able to afford them. :mightysainters
Saints list . . . and greedy people - Saintsational Fan Forum
A pause for reflection
For all the nonsense being spouted about which might be the best position to finish at the end of the home and away season, teams will continue to go all out to win every match. Would one of the bottom sides really not give 100 per cent late in the season, if a loss meant a better draft pick or even an extra draft concession pick? Would Fremantle be at all disappointed if a win over West Coast in round 22 meant a sixth place finish and a final at the MCG that by rights should have been played at Subiaco? Doubtful. Home finals are great, but so, too, are September finals at the MCG.
More - Ashley Browne - afl.com.au - 19Jun03
Calls to re-introduce origin games
Dale Weightman: "What I got out of it was you actually played with the best people in your state and you were playing against the best, so it pitted you against them and you actually came back a better player," he said. "(There's) none of that Mickey Mouse, Gaelic footy bullshit - it's a Mickey Mouse game and doesn't help the AFL at all and the players playing it."
More - Adam Cooper of AAP - FoxSports - 19Jun03
Matthews: Bring back split round
Leigh Matthews: "It's a little like the first weekend in October every year, when, after virtually eight months of matches, we are catapulted into a situation in which we are denied our weekly footy fix. It's certainly an odd feeling in June, and raises the question - should it happen? There are all sorts of arguments. Is a complete break good for football? Is a split round a better alternative? If we're going to have a break from home-and-away matches, should we have State-of-Origin football instead? And is there an AFL future for Origin football?"
More - Leigh Matthews - HeraldSun - 21Jun03
Matthews concerned about confidence levels - Andrew Browne - saints.com.au - 17Jun03
The strain on players
Today's game, as we know, can be very tough on players. The physical nature of our sport has seen that players now have to be a lot more versatile and play many positions. There is still is the exception made for a few players, but in reality, gone are the days when players had set positions and teams had a specialist forward that they relied heavily on.
More - Andrew McLeod - saints.com.au - 13Jun03
Players happy with pay deal
From November 1, new draftees will be given a two-year contract and the ballot system, which forced the bottom four clubs to enter a raffle for the No.1 pick in the pre-season draft, will be abolished, allowing out-of-contract players more certainty in negotiating with other clubs.
More - By Karen Lyon - TheAge - 17Jun03
Trade/De-list/Retire
The veterans list gives us TWO free slots above and beyond the player list. Harvey, short of bad luck will take up one slot for the next year at least, and hopefully more. We have very little coming up to replace him, which I believe is 200 games for the club AND age over 30. Which means burke and frankie are eligible. - dan warna - 16jun03
Fan Forum Thread - Saintsational Fan Forum
changes to the AFL players agreement - Saintsational Fan Forum
The outlook for the rest of 2003
St.Kilda: Positive: The emergence of their five super young players (Nick Riewoldt, Justin Koschitzke, Brendon Goddard, Xavier Clarke and Luke Ball) and Aaron Hamill's emergence as an impact player and team leader. Negative: Injuries to key personnel, especially ruckmen could leave them short at the end of the season. Outlook: Still likely to be competitive and a chance for the finals, but likely to fall short.
More - Rodney Eade - saints.com.au - 17Jun03
The march of the modern day Saint
There's something different about supporting the St Kilda Football Club. There's something that gets inside you, something becomes a part of your soul and becomes part of your life. This club, to me, represents more than twenty-two fit young men chasing after an inflated ball for 44 hours every year.
More - Sebastian Hassett - SportsAustralia - 21Jul03
Saints launch Hall of Fame
Now occupied by a trendy restaurant on cosmopolitan Fitzroy Street, the patch of land on which the club once played was previously known as Alpaca Paddock. It was named after the local council had earlier attempted to raise a flock of the South American animals on the location. St Kilda even had a pair of alpacas on hand to assist with the launch, joining club greats Allan Jeans, Neil Roberts, Ross Smith, Kevin 'Cowboy' Neale, Alan Morrow, Robert Harvey and Nathan Burke, along with current young stars Lenny Hayes and Xavier Clarke.
More - Barry Levinson - saints.com.au - 17Jun03
Saints to go marching in to club's hall of fame - Martin Blake - TheAge - 19Jun03
Players behave better than most: Thomas
Grant Thomas: "When you look at the workplace and the corporate environment, players are far better behaved when they go out than most workplace people because they're under heavy scrutiny all the time. They do a pretty good job. Even with those who transgress, it's a one-off and there are always two sides to the story. Usually some poor decisions are made based on another party."
More - Ashley Browne - saints.com.au - 17Jun03
Thomas defends players over off-field antics - Bridie Smith - TheAge - 19Jun03
Stars well behaved, says Thomas - HeraldSun - 19Jun03
Footballers behaving badly
St Kilda chief executive Brian Waldron confirmed that the club had interviewed Steve Lawrence, Fraser Gehrig and the recently sacked Matthew Capuano over an incident involving the son of Melbourne Queen's Counsel and AFL grievance tribunal board member, Jack Rush. "We spoke to them and it's been handled internally," Waldron said. "It was a minor altercation."
More Jake Niall, Martin Blake and Peter Ker - TheAge - 18Jun03
'Crazy' twist to name change
Neale Fong, the chairman of the West Australian Football Commission, which has been offered $5 million over five years to change the stadium's name, said he accepted the bonafides of the company, but said the commission was 'concerned about the offer'.
More - Mark Duffield - TheAge - 18Jun03
Game is suffering: Barassi
"Asked whether the players of today were better in all aspects, Ron Barassi said: "I would say so. But I'm not sure about the ability to read the play. That's called football nous. I think that might be down a bit because you've got so much athleticism in the game, so many more athletes who haven't got that nous. But they get a game because of their athleticism."
More - Trevor Grant - The Australian - 21Jun03
Goddard, VCE and living the dream
Even with the extra expectation of being the number one draft pick. It didn't take the boom recruit, known as BJ long to accomplish several of his set goals. Goddard was selected to play senior footy against Richmond in Round 4 and thereafter playing 8 games, holding down a position in defence. Brendon proved that his hard work was not going unnoticed.
More - Jess Thalas - saints.com.au - 20Jun03
Patience and Wirrupunda
In a team with superstars, Wirrupunda is probably in their top 5/6 players along with Cousins, Jacko, Judd, etc. I think you'll see thats why we went for guys like Ball, Baker etc, while in previous years we'd have gone for retreads. Ball will be a top player for 10 years or more, as will Dal Santo, Macguire etc. - dan warna - 18Jun03
Fan Forum Thread - Saintsational Fan Forum
Saints again defend Capuano decision
St Kilda Chief Executive Brian Waldron: "We didn't make the decision on the spur of the moment and the fact that Chris Oliver played on the weekend (against Port Adelaide) is further testament to why we did it. We need to see what Chris can do and give him the opportunity to play. It was never going to be an easy thing to do. It was accentuated by the way it was handled in the press and that's everyone's prerogative to have a say. Part of that was obviously something that was disappointing to us, but I was very proud of the way we maintained our dignity throughout it."
More - Matt Burgan - afl.com.au - 17Jun03
|
ARTICLE ARCHIVES: 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006
