Nathan Buckley has identified an area of St Kilda’s game that he believes will make them a dangerous proposition in 2024.
The Saints were impressive in their 66-point practice match win over Essendon at RSEA Park on Friday and it was their speed out of defence which caught the eye.
Buckley loves what he saw from their rebounding defenders off half-back, believing the speed of those weapons could wreak havoc this year.
“Are they going to have potentially the best rebounding group from the half-back line in the competition this year?,” he asked on SEN Breakfast.
“I love (Nasiah) Wanganeen-Milera. I reckon he's going to be a future gun and I thought he came on really well last year.
“We already know that Jack Sinclair is an established All-Australian. He has been going in the midfield a little bit more.
“Brad Hill is one of the best up and back runners, and Liam Henry, who is probably the next Brad Hill, with the way that he played the back half of last year for Freo off the wing.”
Buckley also feels the Saints’ key defensive stocks are in decent shape, despite being somewhat undersized.
He insists that a practice match victory isn’t anything to write home about, but does believe Ross Lyon and his coaching staff have made a point of having speed and pace off the back and around the periphery.
“I think they've got an undersized defence that gets the job done,” he added.
“Cal Wilkie is one of the best key defenders in the competition, but he intercepts and rebounds.
“I really think that Josh Battle is an underrated player in that regard, Jimmy Webster, who's got speed and a lethal left foot, and Riley Bonner who's come in.
“So you look at that mix. They do need a big one like Dougal Howard, who is the big guy that's going to play in the back.
“I reckon there's an argument there that Ross Lyon and the St Kilda group have established a player that is going to rebound really hard off turnover. So whether that's through the middle of the field or through half-back.
“I don't get carried away with practice matches, but speed is something that you can't fake and it's something that will always be there.
“I’m not talking about a one-off game. I don't think you can take a lot from scoreboards, let alone even method in a practice match, because there are so many things that are hard to measure.
“But one thing you can't fake is speed, the athleticism.”
The former Collingwood coach is expecting Lyon’s Saints to be a much slicker outfit than we saw upon his return to Moorabbin in 2023.
They won 13 games, finished sixth and played one final last season, but could be on track to at least match that or even surpass it.
“You have to imagine that a Ross Lyon-coached side is going to be even more slick after 12 months of his coaching because we rate him as a coach,” Buckley continued.
“I think the connection of his teams, he’s always got the best out of his groups and I think he's got more weapons in this St Kilda squad already than potentially he's had in any of his teams.
“In particular I'm looking forward to seeing how hard they go off the back, how they use this speed and how difficult they are to stop on turnover, which is an aggressive attacking question about a Ross Lyon-coached side, which we probably haven't seen that often.
“I just can't see a way that they don't improve.”
St Kilda will next be seen in action against North Melbourne in the AAMI Community Series at RSEA Park on Sunday.
Their 2024 season proper kicks off against Geelong at GMHA Stadium in Round 1 on March 16.