DEVELOPMENT of younger players continues to be a high priority for St Kilda, according to coach Scott Watters.

Speaking two days after the disappointing loss to the Western Bulldogs, Watters said it had been a high priority since the beginning of his career at the Saints that the team blood young players.

“This isn’t over the last week, two weeks or five weeks. We started this in round one last year. As of two weeks ago, we had exposed more players than almost any other side in the AFL to footy this year,” Watters said.

“We have played more players right now than we played last year in its entirety. We’ve had five debutants and we’ve probably got another three or four more over the course of the season.”

Since Watters was appointed St Kilda coach in October, 2011 the Saints have recruited Ahmed Saad, Beau Maister, Terry Milera, Seb Ross, Nathan Wright, Jimmy Webster, Tom Lee, Tom Hickey, Brodie Murdoch and Josh Saunders – all of whom have since experienced senior football.

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Other players such as David Armitage, Jack Steven and Rhys Stanley have become important senior players after struggling to get a regular game in their first few seasons at the Saints.

“If you have a look and analyse the players we have brought in over the past 18 months, we know where our list is at and we know where we need to improve but we’ll continue to expose players,” Watters said on Fox Footy program AFL 360.

“At this level, you want to win games of football. That is a given. Our supporters should expect that we go out to win, we prepare to win and our players want to win. We reviewed today and our players are focusing on trying to get a result against North Melbourne this week.”

Last year’s off-season saw experienced players Brendon Goddard, Jason Gram, Raphael Clarke and Brett Peake leave the club for varying reasons.

“We have made strong cultural decisions on our list over the last 18 months, we have made really strong salary cap decisions on our list that may have taken our performances backwards at times,” he said.

“We have an eye to the future, we know where we’re going and we’re very clear on that.”