No matter how many you’ve done previously, pre-season doesn’t get any easier, says St Kilda mobile forward Tim Membrey.

Following a year where he kicked the most goals at Linen House Centre for the second successive season, Membrey began his sixth AFL pre-season on Monday morning.

“You think they do (get easier) every time you’re coming in, but they don’t; they are just as hard,” Membrey told reporters at a press conference in St Kilda on Tuesday.

“I remember the first one was brutal and then yesterday reminds you that they don’t get any easier.”

Excited, not daunted by the challenge says Membrey

Membrey, who played one game for Sydney before arriving at the Saints at the end of 2013, followed up his breakout 2016 with another impressive year in 2017.

The 23-year-old finished with 38.14 from 20 appearances across the winter and recorded the second-best conversion rate of the top 50 goalkickers in the game, finishing behind Melbourne rising star Christian Petracca at a stunning 73.1 per cent.

If he can bank another full summer on the track, Membrey is confident he can take another step forward in 2018.

“I do (feel like I’m poised to take the next step),” he said.

“I’ll have another strong pre-season and look to hopefully improve some areas of my game and look to take the next step again ahead of Round 1.”

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Membrey said the disappointment of missing out on playing finals again, after looking on track to feature in September following the big win over Richmond in Round 16, is something that will motivate the group over another long, hot summer in Seaford.

“It was pretty tough. Obviously that’s what you play footy for, to play in September,” he said.

“It has pretty hard to swallow at times, but I guess going away over the break it burns in your belly and I guess that’s what gives you a bit of fire to come out and have a solid pre-season and hopefully play in September next season.”