While the Saints are still very much in a rebuilding stage, the recently turned 30-year-old is confident the current crop of kids will lead the club to success in the not too distant future.
In the meantime, Schneider is refusing to place any limits on what he or his teammates can achieve in 2014.
“We have got a young group coming through and we have some terrific kids who are going to be 200 game players for the club,” he told SEN’s Morning Glory on Friday.
“We haven’t really focussed on results or what’s going to happen. It’s probably more about the process for us. We aren’t putting any expectations on where we are going to finish or anything like that. It’s just sort of week by week.”
Schneider was one of St Kilda’s best players in its upset win over Essendon in round four, however he was suspended the following week for St Kilda’s Anzac Day clash against Brisbane.
His return to the senior team was a sobering 145-point loss to Hawthorn at the MCG, and while he admitted he had never suffered a loss like it, he reaffirmed the importance of learning from each experience no matter how difficult it is to re-live.
“Footy can turn around pretty quickly as we are all aware. It’s all about how you move on,” he said.
“We had a huge week on the track last week. We went old school and did wrestling and all that sort of thing and it sort of got our mind back on the contest. That’s all you can do and that’s focus on the effort. If we can do that then it [the Hawthorn result] won’t happen again.”
This Sunday St Kilda takes on Gold Coast at Etihad Stadium, and Schneider is looking forward to helping his junior teammates cut their teeth against the Suns wealth of developing talent.
“That’s probably the best thing we’ve got for these young blokes; that’s to come up against these other young guys that are sort of in the same boat. It’s a great opportunity for us and we are looking forward to it.”
And while he may be on the wrong side of 30, and in his own words “Closer to the end than the start”, the clever left footer is confident he can put two injury riddled years behind him and play a consistent role for the team this season.
“At the moment I’m actually really good,” he said.
“The last two years have been shocking for me with injuries. I feel like I’m on the outside of that and I will keep playing the rest of the year. The last couple of games I’ve felt really good.”
