JACK Newnes has blitzed the club’s third 2km time trial at Casey Fields this morning, finishing ahead of Josh Saunders and new recruit Dan McKenzie who came second and third respectively.
Newnes has been at the front of the pack in each athletic drill of the pre-season and has shown stamina and endurance to lead St Kilda’s younger brigade of midfielders through a challenging period.
Newnes said following the trial how tough the workload has been leading up to Christmas.
“We came off 10 days in New Zealand where the workload was huge and everyone is just a little bit sore from that, but for myself and all the other boys to run PBs on a day like today is really pleasing,” he told SAINTS.com.au.
“This pre-season has topped it, this has been the hardest one so far.”
“Adam Basil (St Kilda’s High Performance Manager) gave us a huge workload in the pre-season when we weren’t at the club and then came back and got smashed and New Zealand was the hardest away trip that we’ve done, tougher than Boulder. The workload has been huge and the results are showing.”
Coach Alan Richardson expected the middle-tier players would step up after showing some promising signs since returning from the off-season.
"The players are embracing everything we're throwing at them," Richardson said on Wednesday.
"We had some pretty strong footy early in the year when we had our most experienced team at on the park, and we had some misfortune in terms of those blokes staying out there… We'll be in better shape from that point of view.
"We'll certainly need guys in the midfield to step up in the absence of Lenny Hayes but David Armitage couldn't be in better shape, Jack Steven didn't have a great run with his body, and when you consider he was our best and fairest the year before, we'd expect him to get back to that sort of form.
"[The improvement] will really come from our third, fourth, fifth-year players – Jack Newnes, Seb Ross and Tom Curren. "
Jack Newnes was in the lead for the majority of the run.
Wednesday’s time trial was a first for the club’s new recruits who continue to be on restricted workloads to ease them into the elite environment.
Midfielder Dan McKenzie gave Newnes a run for his money, slipping to third place after keeping pace with the 21-year-old most of the way.
“I heard Dan McKenzie was pretty fit so for him to come third in a big group is pretty huge for a first year. He’ll be able to build on his fitness and be at the front in no time I reckon,” Newnes said.
“Even some of the other boys like Jack Lonie made a good time, Hugh Godard all those type of lads, everyone was running well for their first 2km.”
Newnes, touted as an emerging leader in St Kilda’s young list, spoke of the challenges that the group has faced since making a pact to bring stick together through tough times.
He said the group buy-in was the most significant achievement in the lead up to the 2015 season.
“The whole group is looking really good at the moment, everyone is really buying into the hard work and I think it’s paying off so far.”
