VENUE & TIME :
Telstra Dome, 7.40 pm AEST, Friday 24 August

HEAD TO HEAD :
St Kilda 13, West Coast 18, 1 Draw

LAST TIME :
St Kilda 15.9 (99) bt West Coast 11.10 (76),
Round 12, 2007 at Subiaco Oval.

Team Changes

Saints :
IN: Ferguson Koschitzke
OUT: Harvey (quad) Hudghton (quad)

Eagles :
IN: Cousins Judd McNamara Waters
OUT: Kerr (finger) Armstrong (knee) R Jones Schofield
NEW: Jamie McNamara, 19, East Fremantle

Preview

The Saints continued their resurgence last Saturday when they defeated Fremantle at Telstra Dome. Down and out midway through the season, the Saints have now won seven of nine games since the mid-season break to break into the eight for the first time since round three.

In-form ruckman Dean Cox remains a headache for the Saints but up forward they have effective firepower in Nick Riewoldt and Fraser Gehrig Fraser who was back to his best at full-forward with eight goals. He led and marked strongly and, most importantly, had his kicking boots on, as well as Justin Koschitzke. Lenny Hayes seems to be over his knee problems and is gradually returning to form - not good news for the Eagles.

The Eagles were far from impressive in beating bottom-placed Richmond last week. While third on the ladder, the Eagles have rarely hit the heights they reached in 2006.

The injury to West Coast midfielder Daniel Kerr will hit the Eagles hard, his brilliant season last week with another best-on-ground performance against Richmond. Not only did he find the ball more often than anyone else, his ability to win the ball in close and run and carry when in space made him clearly the most influential player on the field.

Kerr will have finger surgery and is out until at least preliminary final week. Fellow midfielder Ben Cousins and Andrew Embley are carrying hamstring problems and Chris Judd has continual groin issues.

Verdict :

The Saints must win to remain in the eight while the Eagles cannot afford to lose if they are to snare second place and the guaranteed two home finals that come with it. So the result could be tight.

The Pick :

The Saints by 6 points

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

St Kilda to win @ 1.95
St Kilda +6.5 @ 1.78
St Kilda under 39.5 @ 2.50