Three of St Kilda's youngest will take to the hallowed MCG for the first time this Saturday night as part of the club's 150th Year Anniversary Game.
St Kilda will celebrate its momentous milestone at the home of football, with 18-year-old Mattaes Phillipou and fellow youngsters Mitch Owens (19) and Anthony Caminiti (19) among those excelling amid a 2-0 start.
The Saints will field four teenagers for tomorrow's special occasion, with Marcus Windhager (19) having debuted at the venue in Round 4, 2022.
Phillipou will be the youngest player on the field when unbeaten St Kilda and Essendon clash at the MCG on Saturday night, but the Saints are backing the teen sensation to handle the occasion.
The pick No.10 from last year's draft underlined his talent with a brilliant performance in attack against the Western Bulldogs, scoring three goals including a sensational, thumping long-range effort.
"He's uberly talented," teammate Mason Wood told AAP.
"He's got a great head on him. I don't know that I've met too many kids that are that driven and he's really, really driven to be whatever he's capable of.
"So it's good to know that other guys like Marcus Windhager and Mitchito (Owens) and Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera are on the same page with that kind of thing and it's a really exciting group of guys.
"If anything they're the guys driving a lot of the standards from the ground up and when you've got that, it doesn't matter who's out there we're gonna be pretty hard to beat."
Funnily enough Phillipou was on Essendon's radar at draft time before the Bombers opted for Elijah Tsatas, who has yet to play due to a knee injury, at pick No.5, and he slipped to St Kilda.
Wood stressed the Saints were determined not to put pressure on Phillipou to perform.
"To say it's gonna be easy sailing his whole career - it's very hard to say if that'll happen," he said.
"But his attitude and the way he goes about football will hold him in really good stead. So if he goes through a period of slump, he'll come good."
150 years in the making…🗓
— St Kilda FC (@stkildafc) March 27, 2023
We need each and every Sainter in the MCG stands this Saturday as we celebrate 150 years with a blockbuster against the Bombers!
Fire up the group chat and get your tickets now!
For his part, 29-year-old former Kangaroo Wood has shone in two games on the wing while enjoying a role as a mentor to younger players at the Saints.
"Coming into the football club, I wanted to change not so much who I was but who you can be as an older guy," he said.
"I certainly would have loved to had somebody that's just stuck out the arm and said 'come around for dinner once a week or whatever or come stay with me' - that kind of thing.
"So I just try to be that guy that you would have liked to have when you were younger."