2008 St Kilda Football Club season

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

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 →

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 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 Lions 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.
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  1. All one way for Saint Nick Dal Santo
  2. Rise and Fall of Saint Nick
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