Kildonan
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Saints still hard: Daniher
Angus Morgan
Sportal
Melbourne coach Neale Daniher expects the Saints to be as hard and competitive as ever when the teams clash at the MCG on Sunday, despite the loss of their best-performed midfielder this season, Lenny Hayes.
Hayes will be sidelined for the next 12 months after rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament against the Kangaroos last Sunday, and joins the likes of Justin Koschitzke, Aaron Hamill, Fergus Watts and Xavier Clark on the long-term injury list.
Addressing the media ahead of training at the Junction Oval on Wednesday morning, Daniher said he believed the Saints has adapted well to the loss of a host of first-choice players.
"It was a bad loss with Lenny (Hayes) out, but … St Kilda probably haven’t had much of 'Kosi' or Hamill over the last 10 months and they've still been able to win games and they were still in the prelim final and they're still winning games now," Daniher said.
"Yes, they would like those players to be available but they haven’t been for a long, long time so it's (all about) who they've got available and they're playing quite well."
"We're always talking about St Kilda's injuries but other teams have injuries and we've had our share of injuries. We've played 32, maybe 33 players this year."
"St Kilda aren’t the only team that's had injuries this year," he said.
Daniher said his squad had pulled up well after running the Eagles close at Subiaco Oval last Sunday and would benefit from a slight change in routine this week.
"We spent an extra night over there (in Perth), the boys were really fresh yesterday and we will have a good training session this morning.
"We'll have a lighter preparation and we'll come up fine."
Daniher said he expected that forward Russell Robertson, who kicked four goals against West Coast, would take it very easy on the track this week so as not to aggravate his chronic knee problem.
He said Travis Johnstone, who pulled up sore from Subiaco with an ankle, would "come up fine" but that Nathan Brown (hamstring) was still at least another week away from returning.
Angus Morgan
Sportal
Melbourne coach Neale Daniher expects the Saints to be as hard and competitive as ever when the teams clash at the MCG on Sunday, despite the loss of their best-performed midfielder this season, Lenny Hayes.
Hayes will be sidelined for the next 12 months after rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament against the Kangaroos last Sunday, and joins the likes of Justin Koschitzke, Aaron Hamill, Fergus Watts and Xavier Clark on the long-term injury list.
Addressing the media ahead of training at the Junction Oval on Wednesday morning, Daniher said he believed the Saints has adapted well to the loss of a host of first-choice players.
"It was a bad loss with Lenny (Hayes) out, but … St Kilda probably haven’t had much of 'Kosi' or Hamill over the last 10 months and they've still been able to win games and they were still in the prelim final and they're still winning games now," Daniher said.
"Yes, they would like those players to be available but they haven’t been for a long, long time so it's (all about) who they've got available and they're playing quite well."
"We're always talking about St Kilda's injuries but other teams have injuries and we've had our share of injuries. We've played 32, maybe 33 players this year."
"St Kilda aren’t the only team that's had injuries this year," he said.
Daniher said his squad had pulled up well after running the Eagles close at Subiaco Oval last Sunday and would benefit from a slight change in routine this week.
"We spent an extra night over there (in Perth), the boys were really fresh yesterday and we will have a good training session this morning.
"We'll have a lighter preparation and we'll come up fine."
Daniher said he expected that forward Russell Robertson, who kicked four goals against West Coast, would take it very easy on the track this week so as not to aggravate his chronic knee problem.
He said Travis Johnstone, who pulled up sore from Subiaco with an ankle, would "come up fine" but that Nathan Brown (hamstring) was still at least another week away from returning.
