The emergence of Josh Bruce last year was one of the more captivating stories from a St Kilda perspective, and on the back of his breakout season inside 50, the spearhead says he has found a long-term home, both in terms of position and club.

The 23-year-old produced a stunning 2015, booting 50.24 to become the first Saint other than Nick Riewoldt and Stephen Milne to post a half century since Fraser Gehrig reached the mark in 2007.

After spending his formative seasons plying his trade at the other end of the ground, firstly at Greater Western Sydney before crossing to St Kilda at the end of 2012, Bruce returned to a role last year he grew up playing, producing a masterful season in attack that even surprised the man himself.

Become a 3 Game Plus member & watch Rooey's 300th in Round 2

“I feel like I’ve found a position where I belong and the club. I’m looking forward to staying there for as long as the club needs me to.” Bruce told foxsports.com.au over the weekend.

“I always thought I had the ability and I always backed myself, but for me to be able to do it on a consistent basis over a full season — even though I did trail away a little bit late in the year — did surprise me a little bit I guess.”

Three five-goal hauls and a bag of six against Gold Coast paved the way to a 37-goal tally midway through the year, before teams went to work on Bruce on the back nine.

But that experience and the belief it instilled in the Canberra product overcame the surprise of his leap in performance and has illustrated for Bruce what he can do at AFL level.

“Last year playing forward was very foreign to me. I hadn’t played down there for a number of years. I’m a little bit more used to it this season given my experience in 2015,” Bruce said.

“As soon as I got the confidence up early in the season, it was quite easy to keep rolling from there. While it was a little bit surprising, I always believe in myself.”

Bruce and fellow emerging key forward Paddy McCartin are two key pillars in St Kilda’s pursuit of an elusive second premiership.

And with synergy between great partnerships crucial to success, the powers-that-be at Linen House Centre have ensured the pair work closely together, particularly during the recently completed pre-season, where they went stride for stride, pushing each other along the journey.

“At the end of last year they sat me down in my exit meeting and said ‘look mate, we’d really like you to take Paddy under your wing from a running perspective,” Bruce said.

“Paddy has been unbelievable. We’ve done all the running sessions together. We compare GPS results and discuss it.

“We made sure we were always together and working on our chemistry, which was really evident I thought in the intra club match. Hopefully we can be a dangerous combo in the years to come.”

Whilst McCartin didn’t make the trip to Adelaide on the weekend as he works his way back from a hamstring strain with Sandringham, he may return to work alongside Bruce sooner rather than later given he booted seven goals against Box Hill.

At Adelaide Oval on Sunday afternoon, Bruce opened his 2016 account with two goals and five marks from 11 possessions.

Book your ticket today to St Kilda's Hall of Fame & 1966 Premiership Anniversary Celebration