ST KILDA v COLLINGWOOD

COLLINGWOOD captain Scott Burns has declared himself a certain starter for tonight's AFL semi-final against St Kilda, saying he is 100percent fit.

The tough midfielder moved freely at training yesterday and will come into the side for Rhyce Shaw, who was dropped.

Burns has missed the past two games with a calf muscle injury.

"A solid week of training is always a good sign and I've been pulling up pretty well," he said. "So unless I wake up tomorrow walking on eggshells c I will be playing. Everything has gone to plan, which is great."

Asked to put a percentage on his fitness ahead of the game, Burns replied: "Anything less than 100, I wouldn't even think about playing."

Simon Prestigiacomo hurt his shoulder in last Saturday's elimination final win over Adelaide, but the defender also trained yesterday and Burns was hopeful he would be fit for the Saints. "I'm not sure with Presti, obviously he's trained pretty well," he said. "I think he'll play c we need him, he's a pretty important player in terms of that complete stopper."

Burns laughed off speculation in Melbourne yesterday that key forward Travis Cloke has glandular fever.

Cloke had a light run yesterday after being rested from Wednesday's training session.

Burns added last week's win would be a strong confidence booster for the Pies ahead of the Saints clash.

St Kilda are coming off a big loss to Geelong last week and went down to Collingwood twice this year in close matches.

"It's a good feeling - even during the minor round games, when you go away interstate and you get a good win, you're pretty buoyant for a week or two, that momentum can carry you," Burns said. "We're confident that if we do everything right, we can get the result. But having said that, the last few times we have played them, there hasn't been too much in it c we expect that again."

¡ A year after North Melbourne ruckman David Hale was among four AFL players sanctioned for betting offences, the Kangaroos have again fallen foul of anti-gambling provisions. Board member Ron Joseph said he was unaware that the league's strict gambling rules also applied to club directors.

His two losing bets on North for last year's qualifying final against Geelong, which totalled $300, have resulted in a $50,000 suspended fine.

The penalty will apply if anyone associated with the club breaches the code again.

Roos chief executive Eugene Arocca said Joseph "had not been fully informed of the AFL gambling policy," when he placed the bets. Said Joseph: "I regret any embarrassment or distraction I may have caused."

¡ Australian Football hall of famer Bob Quinn died yesterday in an Adelaide nursing home.

A former Rat of Tobruk, Quinn, also a member of the Port Adelaide and South Australian Football hall of fames, was 93.

AAP