Week one of pre-season is officially in the books.
Catch up on the key takeaways from the past five days at RSEA Park.
1. Round 1 is circled on Hayes' and Coffield's calendars
The road back from long-term injury is a challenging one, but Nick Coffield and Jack Hayes are fast closing in on full returns following respective ACL surgeries.
Both are ticking off multiple running blocks a week and have joined in light, contact-free drills on-field, with a full comeback pencilled in for post-Christmas.
Coffield is confident of rekindling his 2020 form which saw him finish fifth in that year’s Best & Fairest, while Hayes’ AFL journey is in only in its early stages following his captivating debut and subsequent four outings.
The Saints are otherwise relatively clean from an injury perspective, with Jade Gresham (knee), Jack Billings (back), Josh Battle (foot) and Oscar Adams (back) hopeful to re-join the main group in early 2023.
2. Windhager's work ethic can’t be beat
Keeping Marcus Windhager away from the training track is almost impossible, but it’s going to do a world of good for the young Saint heading into 2023.
The 19-year-old hasn’t rested on his laurels this off-season, already tapping into the expertise of new midfield coach Lenny Hayes and development coach Brendon Goddard as he looks to expand his game beyond his tagging capabilities.
Windhager, who came first in Monday’s initial time-trial, has eyes on upping his endurance running and touch skills this pre-season to further his midfield case in 2023, and has already shown glimpses of that despite the limited timeframe.
The young Saint was at the front of the pack alongside Bradley Hill during Wednesday’s running block at RSEA Park, and earlier in the morning looked just as clean by foot during an inside-50 connection drill by hitting Max King lace-out on multiple occasions.
3. Banga's still got it
Even at the ripe old age of 51, assistant coach Robert Harvey isn’t one to shirk away from hard work on the training track.
Wednesday’s conditioning session was unexpectedly spearheaded by the 383-gamer and development coach Brendon Goddard, who joined in the treks up and down the wing for the first few reps.
While Banga admittedly drifted to the back of the pack after a run-through or two, there’s still quite a bit of fuel left in the tank for the famed No. 35.
4. A swing to the wing?
One week in and already the magnets are starting to be floated about.
Bradley Hill headlines the first lot of potential shifts, with a move out of defence and back onto the wing being entertained by Senior Coach Ross Lyon. Hill won Fremantle’s Best & Fairest under Lyon in the position in 2017, which saw him average 24 disposals, four inside-50s and 454 metres gained across his 22 outings.
The possible move to the wing undoubtedly opens up a discussion for what St Kilda’s outside set-up could look like in 2023.
Daniel McKenzie will be determined to bounce back after his 2022 campaign was cut in half through concussion and calf setbacks, Mason Wood showed his influence in the role and ability to hit the scoreboard while doing so last season, while Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera will only grow in terms of impact with more time on the outside.
5. All shoulders to the wheel
Ross Lyon has a healthy backlog of Ross-isms ready to go, but sometimes the simplest expressions have the biggest impact: everyone needs to get to work to improve.
It’s been taken in stride by the playing group, with several senior players including Bradley Hill, Dan Butler, Brad Crouch and Tom Campbell checking in ahead of schedule to join the one-to-four-year players on-field.
Work ethic has been one of Lyon’s overarching themes according to Marcus Windhager, who has best embodied the head down, bum up approach that will help initiate the Saints’ rise.
St Kilda’s senior players are scheduled to return on Monday 5 December, with Jack Sinclair, Tim Membrey, Rowan Marshall, Mason Wood, Daniel McKenzie and Jimmy Webster among those to come into RSEA Park during the course of this week.
