THE SAINTS have experienced pure New Zealand in Queenstown; embracing everything the pre-season camp threw at them during an arduous 10 days of training.
Players were put through their paces in a brutal program of mountain bike riding, hiking, hill sprinting, running, skills and swimming sessions in picturesque conditions.
“All of the boys have really embraced this trip.” David Armitage told SAINTS.com.au.
“It’s been very tough and challenging but they’ve embraced it and it’s been a real success.”
No. 1 draft pick Paddy McCartin said the camp had fast-tracked the new players’ bonding with new teammates and was glad to finish the trip on a high by completing a gruelling five hour hike through the mountains.
“It was good to finish it. I think doing it with all the boys being a first year player it fast tracks those relationships because you are sort of going through something tough together,” McCartin said.
The hike through Coronet Peak provided a peaceful backdrop to a tough challenge where players were tortured with steep hill climbs and downward turns.
“You really had to concentrate there for a little bit, there was bits when you were on the side of a cliff and if you weren’t concentrating and you went to either the right or the left you weren’t real good, but everyone made it through unscathed,” Armitage said.
“It’s brutal because it takes so many different strengths. Some drills when you do hills you only do 30 minutes, so it’s just 30 minutes of pain.
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"[Whereas] this was over five hours and we have some massive gradients where we went straight up. Your legs were just giving way and you had to pull yourself up in the grass and then on the way down it was a little bit muddy and greasy so it wasn’t easy, it was definitely tough but we’ll be better off for it.”
St Kilda will now continue its pre-season training at Linen House Centre before breaking up over Christmas and returning in early January.
