Pre-season camp: Tick.

Month of January: Tick.

Games around the corner? Yes.

January has now come and gone, AFLX is a fortnight away, the JLT Community Series is not far away, and Round 1 is edging closer by the day. Finally, football is nearly back.

St Kilda’s entire playing list and football department underwent an intensive pre-season camp at the prestigious Geelong Grammar last week, where the focus was on football and strengthening the groups bond.

High Performance Manager Matt Hornsby said the Saints achieved exactly what they set out to last week, putting another building block in place ahead of Round 1, which is now just 51 days away.  

“Our ambition leading into the camp was to have the guys spend time away together and connect a bit more out of their own normal environment, but given the time of the year it also had to have a real strong football focus to the program,” Hornsby told saints.com.au.

“So in many ways, we replicated the program we have at the club down at Geelong Grammar.

“The amount of work we were able to get into the group was what we were really impressed with.

“It’s always our highest workload week of the year, so it was really pleasing to get the group through that and not only feel like they achieved something physically but also the mental duress that comes with the unexpected sessions.

“They were able to cope with that really well and support each other which builds a good level of physical and mental resilience.”