David King spent the morning at St Kilda’s pre-season training at their Moorabbin base and has listed his takeaways from the summer session.
The Saints finished sixth in 2023 but failed to win in September as they were knocked out by GWS in an Elimination Final at the MCG.
While the Saints exceeded expectations in Ross Lyon’s first season back in charge, King thinks they’ll improve on that effort in 2024.
King believes the ins outweigh the outs with the likes of Liam Henry, Paddy Dow, Riley Bonner, Darcy Wilson and Lance Collard an improvement in his eyes to the likes of Jack Billings, Jade Gresham, Nick Coffield and a group of delisted players.
The North Melbourne great particularly expects running wingman Henry to compliment the likes of Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Brad Hill on the outside.
The Saints will improve on last year. The offseason In’s outweigh the Outs imo.
— David King (@davidking34) January 12, 2024
The St Kilda additions appear to be perfect fits
The gut running trio Hill, Henry and Wang-Milera are going to be the feature of upcoming St Kida season. So good to watch!! All class, all high speed!
King also expects some improvement to come from within with ruckman Max Heath looking ready to partner Rowan Marshall. He also liked what he saw from gifted forward Isaac Keeler and draftee Darcy Wilson who are both yet to make an AFL appearance.
Max Heath looks AFL ready and did more around ground / fwd 50 than I expected
— David King (@davidking34) January 12, 2024
Isaac Keeler - something there. Great mover, maybe needs another preseason for muscle but kicks it a treat.
Darcy “sweet feet” Wilson …..and can run! Very exciting.
Lots to be encouraged about St fans
But most of all, King was wowed by young stars Marcus Windhager and Mitch Owens who he feels are well ahead of schedule as they enter their third AFL seasons.
Windhager and Owens…..wow.
— David King (@davidking34) January 12, 2024
They’ve bodies of 23-24 year old professionals well ahead of time. They look amazing and train accordingly.
Big 2024 seasons on the horizon.
St Kilda begin their 2024 campaign with a Round 1 clash against Geelong at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday, March 16.
