Delisted St Kilda veteran David Armitage believes his old side should be pushing for finals in 2020.
The Saints added five players in the trade period – Brad Hill, Dougal Howard, Paddy Ryder, Zak Jones and Dan Butler – and will couple that with several key players returning from long-term injuries and youngsters on the improve.
Armitage believes they should be able to turn that mixture into top eight contention.
“When we started losing the belief dropped away and that’s probably the biggest thing. Getting guys in who are really established who they’ve picked up this year is going to help that belief,” he told SEN’s Time On.
“I think they will, I know it’s a big call – actually I don’t think it is a big call, people listening probably do, I think they should be pushing for the eight and playing finals to be honest. No pressure on them!
“I think with the calibre they’ve picked up and another pre-season into Jade Gresham and Hunter Clark and those types, they really should be pushing for September action.”
Armitage was delisted by the Saints following 169 games with the club and says he isn’t expecting to get a call from another AFL team.
“I wouldn’t say I have a burning desire. There would have been if someone came to me early with an opportunity, but I have sort of mentally set myself that it’s not going to happen,” he said.
“I’m looking for my next chapter of my working life and I’ve put my head down and reached out to a lot of contacts and made sure I’ve had some things in place towards the back end of my career and I’m pretty confident that in the next few weeks I can make a decision on work life and then choose a local footy club or a VAFA footy club or something like that.”