2008 St Kilda Football Club season

St Kilda Football Club
2008 season
St Kilda's guernsey for the 2008 season
PresidentGreg Westaway
CoachRoss Lyon
Captain(s)Nick Riewoldt
Home groundDocklands Stadium
Preseason competitionChampions
Home and Away4th
PremiershipPreliminary finalists
Best and FairestSam Fisher
Leading goalkickerNick Riewoldt (65)
Highest home attendance76,707 vs Collingwood (Semi-final)
Lowest home attendance22,440 vs Fremantle (Round 13)
Average home attendance40,340 (including home finals)
← 2007 2009 →

The St Kilda Football Club's 2008 season was its 112th season in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Summary

NAB Cup

The season began well with the club winning the preseason competition, the 2008 NAB Cup.

The club had wins over Richmond in the round of 16, Geelong in the quarter-finals, Essendon in the semi-finals and won the final against the Adelaide Crows by five points at Football Park (AAMI stadium) 2-7-9-(69) to 0-9-10-(64) - St Kilda's third preseason cup win in the AFL. Jason Gram won the Michael Tuck medal for the player judged best on ground during the final.

Regular season

St Kilda defeated Essendon (Round 22) 31/8/08 - (Click to expand)

Despite the promising start, the Saints went on to have a mixed first half of the season with a five-win, six-loss record. After this their fortunes vastly improved and they gained a place in the finals series.

This mixed season drew both criticism and praise at differing times towards Lyon from supporters and the media. His game plan has been described as one championing accountability, similar to the Sydney Swans model by Paul Roos.[1] Lyon's surprise move to drop midfielder Nick Dal Santo (as well as Stephen Milne) from the side was due to them not meeting these "benchmarks".[2] Arguably, it was a turning point in the Saints' season, as they went on to win the next four games following this bold move.

In a very competitive 2008 premiership season St Kilda Football Club qualified for the 2008 premiership season finals series, finishing the home and away rounds in the top four, in fourth position, with 13 wins.

Finals series

In the 2008 finals series, St Kilda played Geelong in the qualifying finals. St Kilda 8.13 (61) lost to Geelong 17.17 (119) in front of 71,653 at the MCG. In the semi finals St Kilda 17.4 (106) defeated Collingwood 9.18 (72) in front 76,707. In the preliminary finals St Kilda 9.10 (64) lost to Hawthorn 18.10 (118) by 54 points in front of 77,002 at the MCG, being eliminated from the finals. St Kilda was eliminated by Hawthorn in the preliminary final. This was the third preliminary final lost to an eventual premier (after Sydney in 2005 and Port Adelaide in 2004) in five years.

Fixtures

Regular season

Round St Kilda Saints Opposition Their Score Margin Home Attendance
1. (H) 6.15 (51) Sydney 6.13 (49) Win 2 36,614
2. (H) 19.11 (125) Carlton 12.13 (85) Win 40 43,396
3. (A) 13.9 (87) Western 19.11 (125) Loss 38 –
4. (H) 13.16 (94) Geelong 21.10 (136) Loss 42 44,368
5. (H) 18.15 (123) Essendon 14.3 (87) Win 36 46,792
6. (A) 9.7 (61) Port Adelaide 12.10 (82) Loss 21 –
7. (A) 17.8 (110) Richmond 16.11 (107) Win 3 –
8. (H) 14.10 (94) Collingwood 16.7 (103) Loss 9 48,417
9. (A) 14.11 (95) Brisbane 21.15 (141) Loss 46 –
10. (H) 19.15 (129) Melbourne 7.8 (50) Win 79 27,854
11. (H) 11.13 (79) Western 15.16 (106) Loss 27 38,914
12. (A) 9.13 (67) Sydney 14.18 (102) Loss 35 –
13. (H) 10.5 (65) Fremantle 8.9 (57) Win 8 22,440
14. (A) 12.12 (84) North Melbourne 9.15 (69) Win 15 –
15. (A) 18.11 (119) Carlton 12.15 (87) Win 32 -
16. (H) 18.11 (119) Hawthorn 13.11 (89) Win 30 41,886
17. (A) 12.14 (86) West Coast 15.13 (103) Loss 17 -
18. (H) 14.17 (101) Port Adelaide 14.9 (93) Win 8 22,878
19. (A) 12.11 (83) Collingwood 14.13 (97) Loss 14 -
20. (A) 17.10 (112) Fremantle 9.15 (69) Win 43 -
21. (H) 13.17 (95) Adelaide 6.11 (47) Win 48 33,811
22. (A) 21.21 (147) Essendon 5.9 (39) Win 108 46,161

Finals series

Finals St Kilda Opposition Their Score Attendance Stadium Date
Qualifying Final 8.13 (61) Geelong 17.17 (119) Loss 58 71,653 MCG 7/9/2008
Semi Final 17.4 (106) Collingwood 9.18 (72) Win 34 76,707 MCG 13/9/2008
Preliminary Final 9.10 (64) Hawthorn 18.10 (118) Loss 54 77,002 MCG 20/9/2008

Ladder

2008 AFL ladder
Pos Team
  • v
  • t
  • e
 Pld W L D PF PA PP Pts
1 Geelong 22 21 1 0 2672 1651 161.8 84 Finals series
2 Hawthorn (P) 22 17 5 0 2434 1846 131.9 68
3 Western Bulldogs 22 15 6 1 2506 2112 118.7 62
4 St Kilda 22 13 9 0 2126 1923 110.6 52
5 Adelaide 22 13 9 0 2017 1838 109.7 52
6 Sydney 22 12 9 1 2095 1863 112.5 50
7 North Melbourne 22 12 9 1 2121 2187 97.0 50
8 Collingwood 22 12 10 0 2267 2038 111.2 48
9 Richmond 22 11 10 1 2228 2288 97.4 46
10 Brisbane 22 10 12 0 2156 2200 98.0 40
11 Carlton 22 10 12 0 2217 2354 94.2 40
12 Essendon 22 8 14 0 2130 2608 81.7 32
13 Port Adelaide 22 7 15 0 2118 2208 95.9 28
14 Fremantle 22 6 16 0 1988 2121 93.7 24
15 West Coast 22 4 18 0 1670 2535 65.9 16
16 Melbourne 22 3 19 0 1629 2602 62.6 12
Source: AFL ladder
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers


External links

  1. ^ All one way for Saint Nick Dal Santo
  2. ^ Rise and Fall of Saint Nick
  • v
  • t
  • e
St Kilda Football Club seasons
1870s
1877 1878 1879
1880s
1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890s
1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
1900s
1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s
1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s
1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s
1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s
1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s
1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s
2020s
Bold indicates VFA/VFL/AFL premiership victory