St Kilda Football Club CEO Matt Finnis has described the club’s post-season position as “enviable” while backing the development of the Saints’ current crop of young stars.
Despite recent speculation about a host of big names who could potentially join the Saints during the Trade and Free Agency Period, Finnis said the club would take a wait and see approach to its recruitment strategy.
Speaking on SEN Radio on Saturday, Finnis said the club “owed it to its supporters” to consider all options during the trade period.
"Fundamentally we haven't decided (how to use the Saints’ two first round picks). We won't decide that until literally the trade period," he said.
"In the ideal situation [we ask], what is the best young talent to come through? What are those picks going to be – are they going to be top 10? Are they going to be between 10 and 20? And what kind of players can we attract to our club?
"It is an enviable position to have. I guess the worst-case scenario for us is we get two of the top 18 young players in the game coming to our club.
"We have been pretty open that we are in the mix (for big names out of contract). We owe it not just to ourselves but we owe it to our supporters.”
While keeping the options open, Finnis was also quick to stress the club’s delight in the current development of the Saints’ young talent.
"The growth we’ve seen from our emerging players such as Seb Ross, Jack Billings, Jack Steele, and Blake Acres, the way they are developing each week, we think we’ve got a good list build going on at present," he said.
"We’ve always said they we will build through the draft and bring in players who can play specific roles form other clubs, but there comes a time when you have to look at adding great talent.
"We certainly created the capacity, particularly with the banking mechanism and the way in which the salary cap is going, we have created the capacity to be able to do that but we have also got to make sure we can look after the players growing on our list right now."
The Saints’ senior side currently boasts a balance of players brought in from other clubs, and those selected in the NAB AFL Draft and Rookie Draft.
Nathan Brown (Collingwood), Jake Carlisle (Essendon), Koby Stevens (Western Bulldogs) and Jack Steele (GWS Giants) are all having a significant impact in their first season at the Linen House Centre, while the development in Jack Billings (2013 Draft), Blake Acres (2013 Draft) and Seb Ross (2011 Draft) has been clear to see.
