Longer to make Saints debut
Former Lion Billy Longer will make his first appearance for St Kilda after Tom Hickey was ruled out with a corked calf. "We're really looking forward to Billy getting his opportunity," Senior Coach Alan Richardson said. "It's unfortunate for Tom but Billy has worked really hard and he travelled with the team last weekend as an emergency and didn't get the opportunity to play. We expect Billy to compete really strongly in the ruck. There'll be times when he goes forward and we'll need him to play his role there, which includes playing as a big man and defending really strongly. In the intraclub practice form he was quite impressive and we expect him to be very strong."
Hunt in Suns' best 22
Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna believes Karmichael Hunt is in his best side and will come in when he is fully fit. The former NRL star had a disrupted pre-season but has played two games in the reserves. McKenna hinted that he could come into the side as early as next week. An interesting call given the Suns have performed well to be 2-1 after three rounds and have players such as Brandon Matera and Harley Bennell to return to the senior side. "Two weeks ago, if he was 100 per cent fit, he would have probably played, based on his form. I can't put him out there at 80 per cent," McKenna said.
Saints hopeful on Steven
St Kilda coach Alan CRichardson remains hopeful reigning club champion Jack Steven will play in Sunday's clash against Adelaide. Steven broke his foot during the pre-season, but is touch and go for the match. "I'm incredibly hopeful that he will get through [training]," Richardson said on Friday morning. "If that wasn't the case he wouldn't even be considered. It's a pretty meaningful session not only for the team but also for Jack today. We will see how he pulls up. He's had a couple of weeks of running so we are pretty confident that he will be strong enough in the legs."
Fyfe bump 'perfect'
The bump that ruled Nathan Fyfe out for two weeks and also cost him a shot at this year's Brownlow Meda has been labelled 'perfect' by AFL Laws of the Game Committee member John Worsfold. The former West Coast coach conceded he had few options when he crashed into Gold Coast's Michael Rischitelli, but didn't dispute the Match Review Panel's ruling. "I saw Fyfe's bump and I say that's a perfect bump," Worsfold told SEN on Friday morning. "He hasn't run a long way to deliver it, he was in the vicinity, he can't really tackle because I know he's going to kick the ball before I get to him. "He could dive and smother, maybe, but in that fraction of a second, depending on your exact position, sometimes you can't smother. "He chose in that fraction of a second that the best option for him was to bump and it was a perfect bump other than their heads coming together."