heraldsun.com.au Herald Sun, Saturday, July 14, 2007 31+

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14-JUL-2007

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FOOTY 2007

ST KILDA 11.16 (82) d ADELAIDE 12.8 (80)

Million dollar man

Mark of a true star: St Kilda forward leads one of his opponents, Scott Stevens, to the ball last night, while teammateFraser Gehrig cannot believe he didn’t receive a free kick (below). Pictures: MICHAEL DODGE, MICHAEL KLEIN

Riewoldtshowshis worth

WAYNE Carey was askedearlier this week whatsalary he thought StKilda superstar NickRiewoldt deserved.

The King said $700,000 aseason.

Garry Lyon, another keyforward and captain, squeezedit out to $750,000.

Riewoldt’s manager RickyNixon is in the middle ofsecuring Riewoldt a contractworth more than $1 million ayear.

The Saints swatted asideNixon’s first offer in contempt.

Nixon went back with arevised bid, still over themillion-dollar mark, and theSaints are thinking about it.

They’d want to think quick.For Nixon might just have a

new, improved, offer on Saintschief executive Archie Fraser’sdoorstep this morning.

Knowing Nixon’s enthusiasmfor his clients, he probablydropped it off on the way homefrom Telstra Dome last night.

It might hav been accompa-nied by a DVD of last night’sgame.

And the stats.And a copy of coach Ross

Lyon’s comments.Fraser, of course, was there

to see Riewoldt do what somany great players do in biggames: stand tall.

The brilliant blond took 18marks, had 20 kicks andbooted two goals. They arehandsome stats. What thestats sheet doesn’t tell you ishow, when and where Rie-woldt took the game apart.

Always in close matches —St Kilda won by two points —moments arrive where itseems the result hangs on theoutcome of a contest.

So many times last nightRiewoldt was involved in thosecontests, where he just had tomark the ball. And he did. Hetook five marks in the grippinglast quarter when the gamewas won and lost and wonagain.

In that last term, Adelaide,so clinical and classy early andyet so unresponsive underpressure after quarter-time,made it harrowing for the

Saints and still Riewoldt foundspace and took a mark.

Of his 18 marks, only twowere considered contested.That is a joke.

In the last 15 minutes Rie-woldt’s ability to burn off hisopponent on the lead, run 30mand mark with either KrisMassie or Scott Stevens ametre behind was as muchabout winning the contestedfooty as winning any hardball.

Riewoldt was brilliant.Massie was beaten badly.

A journeyman footballer,Massie deservedly got pats onthe back last week for Hawksstar Lance Franklin’s leannight at Footy Park. To do itagain was beyond him.

Lyon also deserves credit.Several times Adelaide coachNeil Craig took Massie offRiewoldt and handed the jobto the taller Stevens. Lyon

would then send JustinKoschitzke deep, which meantCraig had to send the tallerStevens to Koschitzke andMassie back on to Riewoldt.

After Ben Rutten left thegame with an ankle injury,Craig had to use Ken McGregoron full-forward Fraser Gehrig.Those crucial contests all wentSt Kilda’s way.

Riewoldt, of course, was notalone.

The Saints were outgunnedfrom the start, and if Hawkscoach Alastair Clarkson waswatching the first quarter, hewould have had some ideaabout the panic in the Saintscoaching box.

The Crows started as theyfinished against Hawthorn.They had runners everywhereand Tyson Edwards, AndrewMcLeod and Simon Goodwinshared 25 possessions in thefirst term.

Unlike the Hawks, theSaints met the challenge.

Lyon asked for and gotgreater accountability fromhis players after quarter-timeas they tackled and made acontest of the stoppages.

Robert Harvey and LennyHayes turned the tide with 14and 13 touches in the thirdquarter, Shane Birss possiblyplayed the best game of hiscareer doing all sorts of jobs inthe midfield, while Koschitzkeand Gehrig were superb asRiewoldt’s wingmen.

Koschitzke was courageousyet again. His mark and goal atthe 11th minute of the finalterm, where he charged at theball from the goalsquare, wasmagnificent.

Gerard Healy, All-Australianselector, is a huge wrap forSam Fisher. He is not alone.Fisher found the ball 30 times,took 15 marks and propelledthe Saints forward from half-back. He, too, is a star.

You could make a case for alot of Saints: Luke Ball wasbetter, Nick Dal Santo was afighter rather than a flash inthe middle and Leigh Fisherwas valuable as a stoppercoming off the bench. Andthere were others.

But none like the milliondollar man.

He’s worth every cent.

ABOUTLASTNIGHTwith MARK ROBINSON

Saintsstill inreachof eightMichael Horan

ST KILDA learnt a lesson fromlast week’s final-quarter fade-out, snatching victory fromAdelaide in a tug-of-war thrillerat Telstra Dome last night.

Run down by Collingwood inRound 14 after leading by 20points in the final term, theSaints this time backed them-selves to win and stay in reachof the top eight.

Defeat would probably haveleft the Saints three wins shyof the top eight, but their nail-biting two-point win broughtthe win-loss status back to 7-8.

‘‘We spoke about not savingthe game, but being bold. Try-ing to score. Maybe it was aresult of that,’’ Saints coachRoss Lyon said after the game.

‘‘I thought we learned somelessons out of last week in thelast quarter. We tackled reallywell and under pressure wewent long through NickRiewoldt, whereas last weekwe went short and turned itover. They played for them-selves and got over the line.’’

Last night’s win came afterbeing dominated by the Crowsin the first quarter and trailingby 17 points at the first change.

‘‘Adelaide had it all over usin the first quarter. Inside 50swere the same, but theymoved the ball pretty slickly.But we really worked our wayback into the game againstone of the hardest runningteams,’’ Lyon said.

‘‘For us to improve ourrunning against a qualityrunning team on a fast surfacewas a positive sign for us.’’

Lyon said there was no pointchallenging his men with thethreat their season was on theline.

‘‘I said to the group duringthe week you can’t focus onthese season-defining gamesbecause you tighten up. Wedid that against the Kanga-roos, so all we are really focus-ing on is what we need to do toplay well as a team,’’ he said.

Lyon said winning three outof the past four games was astep in the right direction.

‘‘It has been a solid monthand clearly we needed toimprove because we’re in thebusiness of trying to play goodfootball and have a productour supporters are happy tocome and watch and see usbeing competitive,’’ he said.

Celebrate or commiserate with 20% off dining at Docklands

Present your Telstra Dome ticket valid for that day’s game atthe Vic Harbour Kitchen and Bar and Bhoj Docklands for 20% off total food bill.Conditions apply.

And visit www.thatsmelbourne.com.au for more great drinkand dining deals at Docklands throughout the football season.

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