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No change for Saints
The Saints have named an unchanged line-up for Saturday night's Wizard Home Loans Cup semi-final against Essendon at Telstra Dome. The Saints have named a squad of 28 - which includes former Hawthorn defender Nick Stone as well as goalsneak Allan Murray, neither of whom played in last week's quarter-final win over Richmond. Champion forward Nick Riewoldt was named, having narrowly escaped a knee injury following an awkward collision during the win over Richmond.
The Article - Paul Gough - (Sportal) saints.com.au - 04Mar04
Hmmm.... Who for Hird? - bigred - Saintsational Fan Forum
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Wizard Regional Challenge squads - (Sportal) afl.com.au - 04Mar04
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Milne looks to bounce back
Milne realises that if he is to be as valuable as the likes of Xavier Clarke and Leigh Montagna, who ably filled his role in the last five weeks of 2003, he needs to be more adaptable. In the off-season he has concentrated specifically on his fitness. "If I'm applying forward pressure the goals will come. So I'm not going to say, I want to kick two to three goals a game. If I lay three or four tackles or a couple of smothers I'll create my own goals. I probably didn't study my opponents enough as I should have last year. That's what I've got to look into more this year. I know and the team knows that I'm playing my best footy when my forward pressure is up," he said.
The Article - Samantha Lane - (Sportal) saints.com.au - 05Mar04
Luke Ball - Chat Transcript - Spelly - saints.com.au

Wizard incentive for Hayes
Boasting an enviable amount of young talent, the Saints have disposed of Adelaide and Richmond comfortably in the past two weeks and have widely been touted as the great improvers this year. But not having qualified for finals since 1998, Hayes said two wins in a pre-season competition provided minimal scope for over-excitement. "We're not getting carried away with our last two games. It is still the Wizard Cup, the pre-season comp. so I don't think we're in any danger of getting ahead of ourselves. I wouldn't say I feel more pressure this year than other years. Every year you go out there to play in finals. But I suppose with the guys being a year older, internally we probably expect a little bit more, but I wouldn't say the external pressure is that much (greater)."
The Article - Samantha Lane - afl.com.au - 05Mar04

Experience counts for Powell
And the exercise of playing Essendon in Saturday night's semi final will only provide more valuable experience leading into the season proper, according to hardened midfielder Stephen Powell. In a former life as a Bulldog and Demon, Powell played in seven premiership season finals and is one of just 11 St Kilda players to have enjoyed the experience. He admits a Wizard Cup final pales in comparison, but says the club's younger brigade will benefit from it.
The Article - Samantha Lane - (Sportal) saints.com.au - 04Mar04

Hamill seeks long-term deal
St Kilda has opened contract negotiations with Aaron Hamill as it begins the increasingly difficult task of keeping its star players within the salary cap. The Saints want to deal with Hamill's contract, which expires at the end of the season, before thrashing out arrangements with other stars.
The Article - Damian Barrett - HeraldSun - 04Mar04

Riewoldt to lift Saints' semi hopes
With Nick Riewoldt training yesterday and moving freely after an apparently serious knock to the knee last weekend, St Kilda looks to have its best chance of beating Essendon in five years in Saturday's Wizard Cup semi-final. The Saints have not beaten Essendon since round eight in 1999, being slammed in their past four meetings by margins ranging from 42 to 99 points, although they scored a small consolation win in a low-key practice match last year.
The Article - Daniel Ziffer - TheAge - 04Mar04

Saints fans get on the Wizard Cup bandwagon
The club is signing up 700 new members a week, up from 500 a week before Christmas, and is currently on 18,600 - up 3000 on the same time last year. St Kilda says its 2004 membership has already reached the same level as round one of the 2003 home-and-away season. "With a month to go till the start of the season, that's quite exciting for us, and the intriguing thing is that we still have 9000 unsigned members from last year," said David Friend, general manager of membership. "A lot of those will still come in. We did another 8000 last year from this time until whenever the cut-off is in June, so we're optimistic but you can't bank on it."
The Article - Lyall Johnson - TheAge - 03Mar04
Saint wing and a prayer - Mike Sheahan - HeraldSun - 02Mar04
Saints to meet Dons in top clash - AAP - 7sport.com.au - 01Mar03

Lucky escape for Riewoldt
For a moment Nick Riewoldt was filled with searing pain and an awful sense of dread as the 'R' word - reconstruction - flashed through his mind. Dual Brownlow medallist Robert Harvey also suffered a heavy knock in the back, but he will be ready to play in the semi-final. "I think early in the season most of the boys tend to pull up a bit sore," Riewoldt said. "They train a long time in the pre-season without actually playing much footy, so to actually get out there and play (again), you're bound to pull up a bit sore."
The Article - HeraldSun - 02Mar04

Bomber coach talks up St Kilda's flag hopes
Be it Kevin Sheedy mind games or a realistic early assessment of his team's opponent next week, the Bomber coach yesterday suggested the young St Kilda side as a chance to go all the way to a flag. Reflecting on the way the Saints wiped the floor with a lacklustre Richmond in their Wizard Cup quarter-final on Sunday night, Sheedy described the the Saints as an "exciting" team that was not afraid to take risks. "They were pretty exciting (against Richmond and Adelaide, in round one)," he said.
The Article - Lyall Johnson - TheAge - 02Mar04
Sheedy memo to Tiger fans - Jordan Chong - afl.com.au - 02Mar04

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