St Kilda is backing in its existing youth to elevate the club’s overall list quality following a less active trade period compared to previous years.

The Saints brought in free agent Zaine Cordy to deepen its defensive stocks – a key area to address during the two-week window – but remained relatively quiet as the focus revolved around bringing in young talent through the draft.

A tilt at luring in Collingwood’s Jordan De Goey was high on the Saints’ priorities to – in the words of Head of List Management James Gallagher – “shift the dial” on the club’s A-grade contingent, before his recommitment to the Magpies put that deal to bed.

St Kilda now carries picks No. 9, 28, 32 and 47 into November’s NAB AFL Draft.

“Retention, development and adding more talent through the Draft were our main focuses this off-season," Gallagher told saints.com.au.

"We performed quite strongly in the first half of this season without any real impact from Nick Coffield, Zak Jones, Hunter Clark, Jack Billings and Jack Hayes (after Round 5), so we made a clear decision to focus on retaining our own talent and adding to it through the Draft or Free Agency.

We wanted to get some more depth in our key positions, particularly down back, and one of the priorities while doing so was not to significantly impact our draft hand.

- Head of List Management James Gallagher

“Zaine is a competitive player to provide that rigidity and structure to our defence, as well as the flexibility to add another forward option through either himself, Josh Battle or Dougal Howard.

“From there, it was about improving our draft position. The past three years have got us to a point with bringing in established talent, but now it’s about backing in our emerging core to grow and play and alongside our quality cohort of senior players .

“To get three picks away in the first 30-odd is a strong position to be in this year.”

Walsh joins Saints to oversee men's football program

St Kilda received pick No. 32 from Gold Coast in exchange for Ben Long to land two selections inside the second round, but signalled its intentions early on to retain its first-round pick.

The Saints won’t rule out the possibility of trading out a future selection to add another pick inside this year’s top-30, but would be reluctant to do so given the anticipated strength of next year’s crop.

The 2022 NAB AFL Draft will be held over two nights, commencing on Monday 28 November.

2022 Continental Tyres Trade Period

  IN OUT
  Zaine Cordy Nil
  Pick No. 32 (from Gold Coast) Ben Long, future fourth-round selection (to Gold Coast)
2022 Draft Hand: 9, 28, 32, 47

EXPLORE