With the ink still drying on a two-year contract extension that ties him to St Kilda until the end of 2020, key forward Paddy McCartin put his best foot forward at his old school on Monday.

McCartin, 21, returned to the main group on day one of the Saints’ weeklong pre-season camp at Geelong Grammar, after overcoming an ankle injury that sidelined him in December and for the first half of January.

On a perfect day for pre-season on the Bellarine Peninsula, the 2014 No. 1 pick was pleased to commit his future to the Saints and get back on with the job at hand.

“It’s a two-year deal on top of this year as well, so until the end of 2020, which is really exciting. It’s good to get it out of the way and just focus on footy,” McCartin told saints.com.au at Geelong Grammar on Monday.

“It’s good being back out there. I’ve done a lot of work in the last six to eight weeks to get back. I got out there today and feel really fit and confident.”

While frustrated by another unfortunate setback late last year, McCartin said the injury hadn’t undone the block of work he compiled late last season, across the off-season and in the first month of the pre-season.

“I had a little setback with my foot, but that hasn’t really set me back at all; I feel fitter now than I do before. I’m looking forward to getting stuck back into training fully,” McCartin said.

“I had a really good block heading into the off-season.

“With my head (concussion) I had a lot of time to get really fit and do a lot of work, and then I took that into the off-season. I felt really good when I came back at the start of pre-season.”

McCartin said the change of scenery this week would not only help reinvigorate the group during the toughest month of the pre-season, but also help strengthen relationships.

“It’s relatively similar to a normal training week, but just in a new environment which I think sometimes is really refreshing," he said.

“We’ll do a lot of work together on specific things and train, then we will go up to Jack Steven’s farm on Friday night.

“It’s going to be a really tough training component, but also a good opportunity to bond as a group.”