Michael Gardiner Biography

Michael Gardiner is back training with the main group for the first time this year.

"Big Gardy will do his first session with the group. He will do a couple of weeks training with the team and be available to play as well," St Kilda elite performance manager David Misson said.

St Kilda ruckman Michael Gardiner has been moved to the club's long-term injury list as he recovers from knee surgery.

"We know he's got eight weeks and he's probably going to need that anyway so we just thought it would be an opportunity to give ourselves some flexibility with the list," Saints elite performance manager David Misson said.

St Kilda has all but ruled out ruckman Michael Gardiner from Saturday's grand final rematch against Collingwood due to a hamstring strain.

"He's played in a number of grand finals and what he's achieved since he's been at the Saints and what he's brought to the club ... he's a significant contributor and an ally in my coaching," St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said.

"We'll give him every opportunity to get up but we know he'll have full support for everyone that runs down the race if that doesn't occur."

St Kilda ruckman Michael Gardiner says he is keen to make amends for a sub-par 2005 Grand Final performance with West Coast after being given another opportunity with St Kilda in 2009.

"I suppose at times I was 100-1 to play another one. It's exciting to be given the opportunity to play in a grand final with St Kilda," Gardiner said.

"I'm 100 per cent going into this game in different circumstances and really looking forward to it."

Former Saint Aaron Hamill is please with Michael Gardiner's form this year after the two spent plenty of time together in rehabilitation during Hamill's playing days.

"We did a fair bit of running and a fair bit of swimming that year," Hamill said.

"You could tell that he had a real determination to play regular footy again.

"Footy means a lot to him. You could see that in his professional attitude to training. He prepared himself so well that you just knew that he wanted to get back again."

St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt says a large part of the Saints' success this year is due to ruckman Michael Gardiner.

"He's been fantastic, and I think it's full credit to Michael and the club, which has shown a lot of faith in him since he came across," he said.

"I didn't have in him, because the leadership group met with him before he came across and he promised certain things and he's delivered on every word up until now."

Saint Michael Gardiner looks forward to matching up against Eagle Dean Cox again after a less than impressive performance the last time he played at Subiaco Oval.

"I've played a few more games and come into this game with different circumstances to last year, so I'm looking forward to the contest," Gardiner said.

"Cox has been the benchmark in the ruck for the past five years. I look forward to the challenge."

Michael Gardiner has been proving all year that Saints made right decision by granting him second chance, captain Nick Riewoldt says.

"I think he's been good for us all year and he has gone through a pretty rough journey with his body and a few other things, but ever since he walked through the door at the club he has been really committed," Riewoldt said.

"People probably forget what a great player he was back in 2003 through to 2005 and he is starting to recapture some of that form now, which is terrific for us."

St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt says Michael Gardiner has been terrific all year, not just on Sunday against Geelong after the recruit from West Coast became the Saints' matchwinner with a goal in the last minute to seal the game.

"He hasn't taken his second chance just based on last night's game," Riewoldt said of Gardiner.

"I think he's been good for us all year and he has gone through a pretty rough journey with his body and a few other things but ever since he walked through the door at the club he has been really committed and people probably forget what a great player he was back in 2003 through to 2005 and he is starting to recapture some of that form now which is terrific for us."

Ben Cousins is delighted for friend and former teammate Michael Gardiner, who kicked the winning goal for St Kilda yesterday against the unbeaten Cats.

"For him to stand up the way he did in such a big game, I was just rapt for him," Cousins said.

"He kicked four in the ruck, has taken a couple of contested marks in the clinches of the game. It was just fantastic."

Cousins also made comment on the challenges Gardiner faced in his comeback to football after being traded by West Coast.

"He has come over to Melbourne in the circumstances he has and hasn't been able to get his body right, which, for a player, I don't think people quite realise how frustrating and hard that is," Cousins said.

"That's probably why he took it out on some of those off-field indiscretions and why that came to the surface.

"To see him get his body right and playing the footy he is in a great side is good to see."

St Kilda ruckman Michael Gardiner will play his 150th AFL game this weekend, overcoming questions surrounding his future when he was traded by West Coast to the Saints in 2006.

"He's built a lot of trust here," St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said.

"He looked me in the eye and said; 'This is what I'm committing to', and he met our senior group and more importantly said; 'This is what I can do and this is the guarantee I can give you'.

"Looking back two-and-a-half years later I think we sit with some satisfaction and some pleasure for Michael that he's been able to deliver on that."

Saint Michael Gardiner will this week play his 150th AFL match, a feat that many believed he would never reach after battles with injury and discipline over the last few years.

"It is a big milestone for him. He's been great for us and he is getting back to some of his best form. He has been a real plus for us," teammate Lenny Hayes said of the ruckman.

Ross Lyon says St Kilda must be prepared to suffer the odd suspension if they continue to be hard and aggressive on the field.

The Saints' clean disciplinary record in 2009 was blotted today when ruckman Michael Gardiner accepted a one-game suspension for striking Melbourne's Mark Jamar.

"He'll learn from it and move on," Lyon said of Gardiner.

"But we're playing pretty hard football and we'll cross that line a few times and we'll have to deal with that.

"It's unrealistic to expect at an AFL club you're going to go through without an indiscretion or an error in judgement.

"We value having our personnel on the park, but if you're competing and you're going hard and you're in that state of mind, you'll make some decisions that sometimes bend the rules too far."

West Coast expects St Kilda ruckman Michael Gardiner to be desperate to impress against his former club on Saturday.

St Kilda ruckman Michael Gardiner has been linked to accused gangland killer Angelo Venditti - the second AFL star in two weeks.