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2008 St Kilda Football Club season
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| club | St Kilda Football Club |
| season | 2008 |
| image | St Kilda Jumper 2002.png |
| imagesize | 120px |
| caption | St Kilda's guernsey for the 2008 season |
| president | Greg Westaway |
| coach | Ross Lyon |
| captain | Nick Riewoldt |
| home ground | Docklands Stadium |
| preseason comp | [Preseason competition](2008-nab-cup) |
| preseason result | Champions |
| regularseason comp | [Home and Away](2008-afl-season) |
| regularseason result | 4th |
| finals series | [Premiership](2008-afl-finals-series) |
| finals result | Preliminary finalists |
| club b&f | Best and Fairest |
| best and fairest | Sam Fisher |
| leading goalscorer | Nick Riewoldt (65) |
| highest attendance | 76,707 vs (Semi-final) |
| lowest attendance | 22,440 vs (Round 13) |
| average attendance | 40,340 (including home finals) |
| prevseason | [2007](2007-st-kilda-football-club-season) |
| nextseason | [2009](2009-st-kilda-football-club-season) |
| club b&f = Best and Fairest
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
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. 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". 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 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 |
| 2. (H) | 19.11 (125) | Carlton | 12.13 (85) | Win | 40 |
| 3. (A) | 13.9 (87) | Western | 19.11 (125) | Loss | 38 |
| 4. (H) | 13.16 (94) | Geelong | 21.10 (136) | Loss | 42 |
| 5. (H) | 18.15 (123) | Essendon | 14.3 (87) | Win | 36 |
| 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 |
| 9. (A) | 14.11 (95) | Brisbane | 21.15 (141) | Loss | 46 |
| 10. (H) | 19.15 (129) | Melbourne | 7.8 (50) | Win | 79 |
| 11. (H) | 11.13 (79) | Western | 15.16 (106) | Loss | 27 |
| 12. (A) | 9.13 (67) | Sydney | 14.18 (102) | Loss | 35 |
| 13. (H) | 10.5 (65) | Fremantle | 8.9 (57) | Win | 8 |
| 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 |
| 17. (A) | 12.14 (86) | West Coast | 15.13 (103) | Loss | 17 |
| 18. (H) | 14.17 (101) | Port Adelaide | 14.9 (93) | Win | 8 |
| 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 |
| 22. (A) | 21.21 (147) | Essendon | 5.9 (39) | Win | 108 |
Finals series
| Finals | St Kilda | Opposition | Their Score | Attendance | Stadium | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying Final | 8.13 (61) | Geelong | 17.17 (119) | Loss | 58 | 71,653 |
| **Semi Final** | **17.4 (106)** | **Collingwood** | **9.18 (72)** | **Win** | **34** | **76,707** |
| Preliminary Final | 9.10 (64) | Hawthorn | 18.10 (118) | Loss | 54 | 77,002 |
Ladder
References
- [http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,,23892430-11088,00.html All one way for Saint Nick Dal Santo]
- [http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/rise-and-fall-of-saint-nick/2008/06/19/1213770827314.html Rise and Fall of Saint Nick]
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
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