St Kilda will ramp up its preparation ahead of the 2017 season with the club's annual intra-club clash set for Thursday night at Trevor Barker Oval.
With a healthy list at the football department’s disposal, St Kilda will unveil a host of new faces for the first time in red, white and black.
Key defenders Jake Carlisle and Nathan Brown are set for their first opportunity together in defensive 50, while the Saints’ other recent trade acquisitions, Koby Stevens and Jack Steele, will also get some minutes into their legs at Sandringham.
St Kilda’s first pick at last November’s National Draft, Ben Long, will also feature in the practice match, along with the Saints’ other draftees, Josh Battle, Ed Phillips and Rowan Marshall.
The Saints' two Irish international rookies, Darragh Joyce and Ray Connellan, have also been named for their first structured game, after arriving at Linen House Centre at the start of November.
Head of Coaching and Development, Danny Sexton, said the intra-club was an important part of St Kilda’s preparation ahead of their first JLT Community fixture against Port Adelaide next Thursday night.
“It’s just another training session for us really, but with the first JLT Community Series game next we’ve been slowly ramping up our match simulation at training,” Sexton told saints.com.au on Thursday.
“You really need to give the players the best chance of coping in a full hit out so if they haven’t been conditioned towards the intensity of game situations and the amount of km’s at the intensity they are supposed to run you set them up to fail in the first week.
“So one part of it is definitely a conditioning focus and the other key part of it is executing the game plan under a bit more pressure.”
Sexton said the football department will be looking for the key forwards – Josh Bruce, Nick Riewoldt, Paddy McCartin and Tim Membrey – to build synergy in the front half, while new defensive key posts – Brown and Carlisle – will also be aiming to learn the nuances of each other’s games in match conditions.
“You want certain blokes to click so a lot of the forwards will play together. Through circumstances they didn’t play together too much last year, talking Bruce, McCartin, Membrey and Riewoldt, so you want them to build their synergy together,” he said.
“And then we’ll have Brown and Carlisle playing together at the other end of the ground so they can work together too. When guys are a bit unfamiliar you want them to play together and connect, so that’s what we’ll be looking for in the intra-club.”
St Kilda Intra-club
Trevor Barker Oval
Thursday 16 February
5pm
Watch the game via a live stream here.
