ST KILDA is a significantly fitter team than it was in 2014, according to Josh Bruce and Adam Schneider.

The Saints trailed at every change in their loss to the Giants on Sunday, but a last quarter comeback comprising of three unanswered goals helped them register 11 scoring shots to six for the term, leaving them just nine points short of victory. 

Adam Basil, the club’s high-performance manager, deliberately orchestrated the pre-season program to focus on repeat sprints and endurance.  

“The group is feeling pretty fit and the work that Adam Basil has put into us over the pre-season has been really beneficial,” Bruce said on Tuesday morning.

“Hopefully we can keep doing that and run over the top of a few teams.”

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Schneider agreed, suggesting that the Saints will be far more adept at running out games in 2015 than what they were last season.

“We had a fair dinkum crack [in the last quarter],” Schneider told The Age.

“I think our pre-season really showed in that last quarter. We’re really fit at the moment and we really just went at the game. We gave ourselves every chance, I think we had 21 entries and kicked 4.7.

“Our aim was to make sure we can be a powerful running team and I think we showed that. It definitely makes football easier when you can run out games like that.”

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Schneider and Bruce were two of the Saints’ better players on Saturday, booting two goals apiece for the match.

Schneider collected 22 disposals and had five clearances following his rookie elevation mid-week, while Bruce’s 15 touches, three inside 50s and four tackles was a solid return against his former side.