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Saints Take The Silver Wok

Pleasure with pain
Reaching the night final has been good for us and Geelong, two clubs starved of satisfaction for years. It gives you hope. It says you are making progress. Like the Cats, we have squandered opportunities. We should have won the flag when Tony Lockett, Nicky Winmar, Daryl Cunningham and Rod Owens were at their best.
- Now for the real season.
The Article - Molly Meldrum - HeraldSun - 14Mar04

Saints' cup as Cats fade
The Cats led by 11 points at the last change, belying their status as rank outsiders for the final. But they had no answer to a physically powerful Saints when it mattered. The game had a physical opening, with St Kilda recruit Brent Guerra cannoning into key Cats midfielder Cameron Ling. Two quick goals by Nick Riewoldt gave the initiative to St Kilda, who led by 12 points at the first change.
The Article - WeekendAustralian - 13Mar04

Irony hits spot with Hamill
St Kilda will enter the season proper with the stifling burden of expectation after swamping brave Geelong with a five-goal final quarter at Telstra Dome last night. For three quarters the Cats looked a good thing to take their first senior premiership since 1963, at one stage jumping out to an 18-point lead in the third stanza. But St Kilda veteran Robert Harvey, twice recognised as the game's best and fairest player, brought the Saints back into the game and added some more silverware to his collection along with the Michael Tuck Medal for a 33-possession game.
The Article - Jon Ralph - FoxSports - 14Mar04
Irony hits spot with Hamill - Jon Ralph - HeraldSun - 14Mar04

Saints coach faces a big test this season
Regardless of last night's result, the 46-year-old, who seems to have something to prove down at Moorabbin, goes into the 2004 season under more pressure than ever because this is the final year of his three-year contract. Thomas has emerged from the power struggle which took place between him and the inner sanctum at St Kilda marginally victorious. Marginally because although he fought against the appointment of a football manager, Thomas managed to install his own man, assistant coach Matt Rendell, into the position.
The Article - Caroline Wilson - TheAge - 14Mar04

Boy from Sin City is one happy Saint
Last night Lenny Hayes, born and bred in Sydney, led a Victorian team in a pre-season grand final. Given that team is stocked with some of the nation's best young talent, there is a good chance he will perform the same duty during the real final series in September. As the AFL struggles to win the hearts, minds and playtime of Sydney's youth, Hayes's story will bring a smile to the game's missionaries - perhaps even those who lament him captaining St Kilda, not the Swans.
The Article - Richard Hinds - TheAge - 14Mar04

Saints go marching in
St Kilda's crop of exciting youngsters have lifted their first major AFL trophy but it was veteran Robert Harvey who inspired the Saints' thrilling comeback victory over Geelong in Saturday night's Wizard Home Loans Cup grand final at Telstra Dome. The exciting Saints showed they have the grit and tenacity to match their undoubted potential by steamrolling over the top of the Cats in the final term after trailing for much of the second and third quarters.
The Article - Paul Gough - Sportal - afl.com.au - 13Mar04

Gehrig, Saints have the final say
The irony was inescapable, and almost cruel. For 95 per cent of the Wizard Cup grand final, Geelong's irrepressible full-back Matthew Scarlett was impassable. Scarlett took on Fraser Gehrig, the destroyer of Dustin Fletcher and Essendon the week before, and beat him to a pulp, muscling against him in marking contests, running off into space when Geelong had possession, testing Gehrig's fitness, dishing out little chip kicks and setting up offensive thrusts. Scarlett was magnificent. But when the game went on the line deep in the last quarter, Gehrig slipped his marker for an instant and marked on the line near the behind post. Playing on to improve his angle, he slotted his first goal, 17 minutes into the final quarter.
The Article - TheAge - 13Mar04

Only a small step: Thomas
St Kilda coach Grant Thomas says his side's triumph in the Wizard Home Loans Cup grand final on Saturday night is only a small step in the club's bid to re-emerge as an AFL powerhouse. The Saints lifted only their second senior AFL trophy since their one and only premiership win back in 1966, by overrunning Geelong in the final quarter at Telstra Dome on Saturday night, and their first since victory in this same competition back in 1996.
The Article - Paul Gough - afl.com.au - 13Mar04

Saints run all the way to the dais
When the final siren went, Xavier Clarke was streaming goalwards around the half-forward flank. St Kilda had dominated the final term, converting an 11-point deficit into a 22-point victory, its first in the pre-season competition since 1996 and its second in any competition since that one, lonely regular-season flag in 1966. Much had been made of St Kilda's physical aggression and scoring ability in the analysis of this game. The Saints were hard at it early - notably when Brent Guerra sent Cameron Ling into another dimension in the first contest of the game - but in the end, it was their ability to outrun their opposition that counted.
The Article - Len Jonhson - TheAge - 14Mar04
Saints win thrills packed Docklands - abc.net.au - 13Mar04

Grand gesture brings cheer
'Together, together we've come we'll fight. Together victorious we'll be tonight.' That's what will greet Brenton Sanderson as he barges through the blue and white paper and leads the Cats onto Telstra Dome tonight.
The Article - Daniel Fogarty - Geelong Advertiser - 13Mar04

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