Preliminary dogfight helps Saints: Lyon

Much like Geelong two years ago, St Kilda's near-calamity in their AFL preliminary
final might be the shock that charges their premiership campaign.
St Kilda reached Saturday's grand final with a hard-fought seven-point win on Friday
night over the Western Bulldogs.
Had the Bulldogs kicked straighter and not suffered from some crucial umpiring
decisions that went against them, this would have been a very bad week for the
Saints.
A day after the minor premiers won, their main rivals Geelong cruised through the
last term as they crushed Collingwood by 73 points.
The contrasting natures of their wins prompted punters to jump off the Saints in
favour of the Cats.
Geelong are now at $1.60 according to TAB Sportsbet, with the Saints at $2.30.
In 2007, the Cats only beat Collingwood by a kick in their preliminary final, before
belting Port Adelaide by a record margin of 119 points.
For all the nervousness of Friday night, Saints coach Ross Lyon saw some good signs
as his team played well below their best, yet still won.
Lyon said he would only know this Saturday night how the close, tight game had
affected the Saints.
"It's all conjecture, no-one is going to know, are we? It's going to be hindsight,"
he said.
"But certainly, to be involved in a tough one, we don't think it's done us any harm
- (it brings) a real competitive edge back to us.
"The longer it went, the better we got - so they were good signs."
St Kilda had their only open training session of the week on Tuesday at Moorabbin,
with about 10,000 fans packing the old home ground.
Lyon said it was too early to say whether players such as fan favourite Max
Hudghton, Sean Dempster, James Gwilt or Jarryn Geary would force their way into the
team.
But he added they had a settled team.
Hudghton has managed only seven games this season and looms as the biggest hard-luck
story for the Saints.
Vice-captain Lenny Hayes said the key defender was handling the situation well.
"He's been really good, he's the same as most other guys, he's just focussing on
this session, he'll train a couple of times this week and be available," Hayes said.
"We'll just have to wait and see what happens."
The Saints will train again at Moorabbin in a supposed closed session, on a ground
that is very open because of redevelopment work.
In a league where subterfuge is always rife, Lyon has faith that the Cats will abide
by the Saints' wishes.
"I don't see any point of difference, it's round 26, to be frank," he said.
"I'm sure all you guys (media) will respect it, there will be no helicopters over
the top, the fans will certainly respect it ... and Geelong and St Kilda, I'm sure
we have mutual respect."
Lyon is also unconcerned about forecasts of showers for Saturday's big game.
"The way we play, we have a game style that stands up - we talk about anywhere,
anytime, any conditions, as do Geelong," he said.
Meanwhile, Cats coach Mark Thompson said he was still undecided on the make-up of
Geelong's team, with Mathew Stokes now fully fit after missing the preliminary final
through injury.
"Mathew Stokes does deserve to play, not that he's guaranteed to play, but if he
does happen to come in, the guy who goes out probably deserves to play too," he
said.
"That's our responsibility, so we might have to make a hard decision."
He joked that it would make his life easier if someone was injured at training.
"We might have to come up with a drill that maybe injures someone, that's what we
used to do in the '80s when I was playing at the Bombers," Thompson said.