St Kilda should be fairly busy this off-season as the club plans for next year and beyond.
The Saints were eliminated from the finals series at the hands of GWS at the MCG on Saturday and will now begin plotting a more fruitful 2024 under Ross Lyon.
Already there is talk of player movement with Fremantle’s Liam Henry keen to get to the Saints this trade period.
Add to that a group of players who are yet to re-sign - such as Hunter Clark, Nick Coffield, Jade Gresham, Daniel McKenzie, Jimmy Webster and others - and there should be a fair bit happening at Moorabbin.
But how do the Saints get the Henry deal done?
“That is a great question given that they have told all 17 other clubs that they are to prioritise the draft,” Tom Morris explained on SEN Breakfast.
“Then they are presumably going to use one of these draft picks. Fremantle would like between pick 15 and 25 or thereabouts for Liam Henry.
“It’s between Hawthorn and the Saints and Liam Henry has chosen St Kilda as his preferred destination. So I’m not sure how they get it done.”
Morris outlined what sort of activity the Saints could be involved in to secure the appropriate draft picks to lure Henry east.
He suggests that St Kilda’s current early draft hand of picks 12 and 31 does not quite sit in Fremantle’s valuation of the 22-year-old, so some established players may have to be moved on.
“It might be a future pick, they might have to find a way to get picks back in, if they want to trade out a Jack Billings or Dougal Howard or Hunter Clark or Nick Coffield, Daniel McKenzie is an unrestricted free agent as well,” he added.
“I’m sure Ben Paton would go if there was a deal for him elsewhere, even though he is contracted. Jimmy Webster is an unrestricted free agent.
“The big one is Jade Gresham. He had a lot of interest earlier in the year but I think that has probably faded in recent weeks. I know Carlton were interested but I think it’s more likely now that Jade Gresham stays.”
Morris added: “The Saints have pick 12, that’s too much. Pick 31 is not enough.
“Fremantle value him around 15 to 25, so I don’t think it’s going to be pick 12.
“The key to that deal is Colin Young, the manager. He is going to have to broker the deal and they’ll have to get creative to get it done.
“I’d be surprised if he (Young), (Graeme) ‘Gubby’ Allen, ‘SOS’ (Stephen Silvagni) and Ross Lyon can’t come to an agreement of some sort.”
With that in mind, Nathan Buckley feels there is a fair bit of intrigue surrounding Lyon and the list changes the Saints make in the wake of his first year back at the club.
He expects the coach to work feverishly to improve the overall quality of the playing group.
“That’s the most fascinating watch for me this off-season is what St Kilda do with their list,” Buckley said.
“The fact that they played the least number of players across the home and away season. That might have been a little bit around injury, but I do’t think so, I think it was mainly around the faith of the depth of the list.
“Ross will have a fair bit to say about who stays and who goes. We’ll get a real understanding of where he thinks the list sits on the other side of the off-season.”
It led to Kane Cornes speculating on the type of player St Kilda could part with if they were to successfully bring in an outside runner in the form of Henry.
“The one you would trade is the captain (Jack) Steele, but you’re not going to do that because he’s the captain and he’s an important figure for the club,” Cornes added.
“In terms of what they need they don’t need Jack Steele. And there are clubs out there who need inside midfielders. So ideally he would be the one who is expendable, but he’s your skipper so there’s some players you don’t go there with.
“They’ve just got too many of the same type through that midfield. Henry is a great get for them, her’s perfect for them.”
Morris concluded: “No coach will be more involved in exit meetings across the league than Ross Lyon this week.
“He will be a central player even more than any other coach into what happens with the futures of these players.”