A SIGNIFICANT part of Dylan Roberton’s improvement as a footballer has been due to having Scott Watters as his coach, according to the lanky defender.

Roberton played 37 games in three years at Fremantle before moving to St Kilda where he has been a key part of each of the team’s first 10 games in 2013.

The 21-year-old has impressed in his role in the back half for his new club and credits his new coach with showing faith in him.

“Scott’s really honest and easy to talk to. As a young bloke I was always scared to talk to coaches or I found it a bit daunting but with Scott he is really open and easy to talk to,” Roberton said.

“He’s good with all the players and for me he gave me the direction I needed and it has worked out pretty well.”

[ RELATED: Lessons learned from slow start ]

Roberton joined the Saints after telling Fremantle he wished to be back home with his young family at the end of 2012.

With his girlfriend Amy giving birth to the couple’s first child Boston towards the end of last year, Roberton was keen to move back to be closer to his family in Melbourne’s south-east.

As it happened, the AFL club closest to Roberton’s family took a particular interest in recruiting the laconic youngster.

“Being a young bloke, it was a pretty hard decision (to leave Fremantle). But coming home and having the family support was really appealing to me,” he told Melbourne radio station SEN.

“The fact that it worked out as well as it did – I’m living in my local area now which is only five minutes away from the club. I didn’t think it would pan out this well. It’s pretty good.

“With the little fella being born it is good having mum and my brother and sister around so they’ve got to spend a lot of time with him. Even if I was playing with say the Bulldogs it would be hard to see them as much as I can.”

Roberton bears no malice to his former club, saying that part of his improvement is a natural part of being in his fourth year in the AFL system.

“I don’t blame anyone but myself, I sort of found it hard to cement my spot in the team. Obviously it is a very good team and the back six down there was really strong so even starting on the ground was really hard,” he said.

“I managed to play a couple of games so I wasn’t too unhappy with my time there.”

The two captains Roberton has played under – Nick Riewoldt and Matthew Pavlich are two of the most dominant forwards in the game and Roberton can see plenty of similarities in the way they go about their business.

“Roo’s a lot like Pav. They lead by example and they’re both dominant forwards,” he said.

“With Roo, when you’re running around the ground and feeling pretty tired you still see him burning off his opponent with all the space in front of him. It’s unbelievable the way he works.”