Now that Christmas has come and gone and 2017 is well underway, St Kilda’s pre-season program has entered an important phase ahead of the Saints' first pre-season game against Port Adelaide, which is only 43 days away.

Having banked the more technical and individually tailored phase of the pre-season in the lead up to Christmas, St Kilda Coach Alan Richardson explained how January becomes far more game specific with match simulation the cornerstone of training, as games loom on the horizon.

“There is a lot of technical work done pre-Christmas in terms of individual player development.  We also roll out the evolution of our method; the way we attack; the way we defend; the way we setup at stoppage. More often than not this work is done in an explicit manner, smaller groups to ensure quality learning," Richardson told saints.com.au on Wednesday.

“After Christmas training is a continuation of learning the same concepts but we do so in a more implicit way - with more numbers, game sense style training. The design of the sessions is less technical and getting closer to game simulation.

“If you look at our training pre-Christmas, we have six or seven drills per session which are both technical and tactical and hitting on facets of our method in detail with the guys in their lines (forwards / mids / backs). Post-Christmas, everything starts to come together (as a group); the boys are doing much more scrimmage work, 16 v 16, 18 v 18, as we try to replicate games.”

Since arriving at Linen House Centre at the end of 2013, Richardson has seen the clubs running standards and endurance depth come on in leaps and bounds.

While Jarryn Geary still holds the title of endurance king, Sean Dempster and Jack Newnes are no longer the only challengers, with Daniel McKenzie, new draftee Ed Phillips, Seb Ross and Mav Weller helping drag the entire group to new territory. Below the top bracket sits a wave of youth and experience edging towards the elite category.

Richardson is pleased with the ground made in this area but concedes he would be disappointed if the group wasn’t improving given the age profile of the list and direction the club is marching in.

“The running has improved significantly (in my time at the club), but so it should. We are a young group that is continuing to grow; they are obviously getting extra sessions under their belt,” Richardson said.

“We would be disappointed if the guys weren’t running PB’s and better times, it would mean they were going backwards.”

And with the modern game being more physically demanding than ever before, the issue regarding weight management has become somewhat of an art form, with players and sports science personnel seeking to find the optimum balance between size and the detrimental effect it can have on endurance running.

“The challenge for most of our younger players is to build their running capacity whilst building strength to be competitive physically in the game, and when you put on size it can compromise their running, particularly their endurance,” he said.

“So what has been pleasing is that they have been able to find the right balance through their work with (Strength and Conditioning Manager) Josh Low in the gym and their endurance work with Matt Hornsby. Post Christmas most of our conditioning work is done in our football sessions.

St Kilda will begin its pre-season campaign against Port Adelaide at Etihad Stadium on February 23, in the second week of the JLT Community Series, before facing Carlton and Sydney ahead of Round 1.