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Round 2 - Wizard Cup
St Kilda: 1.4.1, 1.5.4, 1.8.10, 2.15.11 (119).
Richmond: 0.1.3, 0.3.6, 1.5.6, 1.7.6 (57).
Nine Point Goals: St Kilda: Guerra, Hamill.
Richmond: Brown
Six point goals: St Kilda: Gehrig 4, Milne 3, Hamill 3, Dal Santo, Clarke, Voss, Powell, Goddard.
Richmond: Richardson 3, Ottens 3, Krakouer.
Best: St Kilda: Dal Santo, Gehrig, Hayes, Hamill, Riewoldt, Jones, Powell.
Richmond:Ottens, Richardson, Fleming, Chaffey.
Injuries: St Kilda:. Nil.
Richmond: Zantuck (shoulder).
Reports: Nil.
Crowd: 18,177 at Telstra Dome.

Saints in the Wizard spotlight
St Kilda has powered into the semi-finals of the Wizard Home Loans Cup on the back of a potent forward line which looks capable of troubling just about every AFL side this season. The Saints' sheer number of attacking options overwhelmed Richmond in Sunday night's quarter-final to set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash with Essendon next Saturday night.
The Article - Paul Gough - afl.com.au - 29Feb04
Bigred's Match Report - Saintsational Fan Forum
Images - Round 2 (Wiz) - saints.com.au

St Kilda on the march
With a dominant midfield led by Nick Dal Santo and a forward line that shared the goals around, St Kilda last night booked itself a Wizard Cup semi-final against Essendon by running all over a disappointing Richmond at Telstra Dome. The Saints showed that they were likely to be a force to be reckoned with this year, with winners across almost every line. They opened the scoring in the fifth minute and were never headed, eventually pulling away to win the game easily by 62 points.
The Article - Lyall Johnson - TheAge - 01Mar04
Saints on the march early - Mark Stevens - HeraldSun - 01Mar04

Scare over, Saints buzz along nicely
You can rave about new recruits and fresh hope all summer, but sometimes it doesn't take much to be reminded that six months isn't that long in footy. It was bleedingly obvious last night that the Saints are clearly still on the march - just like they were last August.
The Article - Mark Stevens - HeraldSun - 01Mar04

Frawley flays 'soft' Tigers
. . . The Saints, led by former skipper Aaron Hamill and the super-cool Nick Dal Santo on a wing, led throughout and were rarely challenged after halftime . . . A win would propel not only the team into its first pre-season final since 1998, but also growing supporter expectations. But Thomas played a straight bat. "It (a win) will say we're on track and things are going along OK," he said. "It won't really announce anything because we don't know where other sides are at at this time of the year. We don't know how the competition is taken by them; we only know what we can do and so far we've done OK."
The Article - Mark Robinson - HeraldSun - 01Mar04

A tall story for the Saints
On the surface, coach Grant Thomas would appear to be a man who isn't enamoured by ruckmen. "We do have our arguments," says Matthew Rendell, the Saints' ruck coach. "He (Thomas) tends to think they're overrated. I think they're very valuable. Some coaches think like that. I suspect Mick Malthouse would think like that. But the reality is that unless they're superstars, they (coaches) tend to think they're overrated." It is a debate as old as the game itself. Do you absolutely need a great ruckman to be a great team? Almost inescapably the answer is no. West Coast won flags in the 1990s with Ryan Turnbull in the ruck. Essendon won in 2000 with a skilful but ageing John Barnes and Steven Alessio. Yet, examine the dominance of Clark Keating in the Lions' grand final wins and you would think otherwise.
The Article - Martin Blake - The Age - 29Feb04

Jones puts store in Wizard win
St Kilda utility Aussie Jones has said he would rate a Saints' victory in this year's Wizard Home Loans Cup grand final well above the pre-season title he helped to win for the Saints eight years ago. Jones was a key member of the exciting young St Kilda side that upset the reigning day premier, Carlton, in the pre-season final at Waverley back in 1996. "I'd certainly like to do it again, but I think the competition's got a lot more emphasis on it than it did back then," Jones said.
The Article - Angus Morgan - saints.com.au - 27Feb04
Saints, Tigers aim for the trophy - Adam Cooper - The Age - 28Feb04
Saints Latest Betting - Munga - Saintsational Fan Forum
Interactive Match-ups - A Saint in the West - Internet Explorer only

Hudghton news better than feared
St Kilda enjoyed a dose of good fortune yesterday when defender Max Hudghton was cleared of any serious damage to the shoulder he injured in Sunday's Wizard Cup victory over Adelaide. Hudghton had arthroscopic surgery at Mercy Private hospital yesterday morning, where surgeon Ian Henderson found there was no need for a shoulder reconstruction. Despite initial fears that he could miss up to 16 weeks with the injury, Hudghton is now expected to be ready for action in four to six weeks. Saints conditioning coach Chris Jones said once the shoulder was discovered to be stable, the joint was washed out, leaving just severe bruising. Thomas said losing Hudghton could have had major repercussions for the Saints.
The Article - Peter Ker - The Age - 27Feb04
Good prognosis for Hudghton - Samantha Lane - afl.com.au - 27Feb04
Hudghton's good news - Sportal - 27Feb04
Hudghton escapes reconstruction - ABC Sport - 27Feb04
Saints sweat on Hudghton - Jason Dowling - The Age - 26Feb04
Brave Max shows way - Damian Barrett - The Australian - 26Feb03
Max faces surgery - sainters.com Fan Forum
Max to undergo surgery - Saintsational Fan Forum
Brave Max shows the way - Damian Barrett - HeraldSun - 26Feb03

Seven additions to Saints squad
St Kilda has named new recruit Brent Guerra for its Wizard Home Loans Cup quarter-final clash against Richmond at Telstra Dome on Sunday. Guerra, who enters his first season with the Saints after crossing from Port Adelaide, is one of seven additions in the squad, with Justin Peckett, Leigh Montagna, Brett Moyle, Allan Murray, Matthew Ferguson and Nick Stone joining him in the 28-man squad.
The Article - Matt Burgan - saints.com.au - 27Feb04
All Squads - Round 2 - HeraldSun
Heath Black Chat Transcript - saints.com.au - 25Feb03
Wiz Rd 1 Images - Getty Images - saints.com.au
Worsfold winges about Baker - Mic Cullen - saints.com.au - 24Feb04

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