St Kilda's future stars (from left) Arryn Siposs, Sam Dunell, Spencer White, Jimmy Webster and Josh Saunders. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun
LEGENDS are hard to find, even harder to replace, and in the next three years the Saints will lose some big names. That's the problem. This is the panacea.
ST KILDA football chief Chris Pelchen does not shy away from the size of the task.
Over the next three years, the club will finalise what former coach Ross Lyon said was "an end of an era'' as he packed his bags for Fremantle.
Nick Riewoldt, Lenny Hayes, Justin Koschitzke, Sam Fisher, Stephen Milne, Leigh Montagna.
"Legends'', Pelchen called them.
Replacing this band of warriors might be one of the toughest gigs in the AFL.
But anyone thinking the Saints' cupboard will be bare when life without Lenny and Co begins might need to think again.
Despite the talkback discussion that St Kilda's list has hit a roadblock, a revival has been underway for two years, with 19 new players drafted since Lyon left.
Granted, a chunk of those new faces are still unseen.
But after a lean drafting stretch from 2008-10, the Saints' new football administration has overseen a shift to a level recruiting analysis Pelchen deemed to be among the most thorough he has seen in 30 years in the AFL.
Certainly, he said, the scrupulous sorting of draft talents, headed by recruiting boss Tony Elshaug, list manager Ameet Baines and veteran draft guru John Beveridge, was more detailed than anything St Kilda had produced in the past.
"Not taking anything away from any of the clubs I have worked for, but the amount of work these guys are doing, across our whole recruiting network, is the equal of anything of anything I've been involved in,'' Pelchen said.
"The way of modern recruiting is about applying objective data to your decision-making and that's something we have applied great focus on.''
There have been some surprises along the way.
Brendon Goddard's decision to leave was one. What the club has done with its three highest draft choices since 2011 was perhaps another twist.
At a time when the draft order is king, the Saints have off-loaded picks 12, 13 and 20 in exchange for packages of picks and players, which have yielded eight newcomers.
Pelchen is "extremely confident'' the multi-player strategy was the right one, given the past two draft pools were heavily weakened by the compensation picks to the two start-up clubs.
"We weren't going to get a pure selection 12, pure selection 13, or in 2011, a pure selection 20 because the draft had been so heavily compromised,'' he said.
"So we actually took a strategic view as to how can we better serve our playing group going forward. That was to try and multiply the return on every stand-alone selection.''
It meant that as much as its list was ageing, the Saints needed some mature-age talent as well as younger players. Partly to help maintain the winning culture that the club values so highly and to help correct some of the draft misses from 2006-10.
So, in 2011, St Kilda swapped pick 20 for Seb Ross, Terry Milera and Ahmed Saad. Ross is a tough left-footed midfielder, while Milera and Saad's impact has been immediate, booting 47 goals combined last year.
Likewise, pick 12 last year secured WAFL leading goalkicker Tom Lee and midfielders Josh Saunders and Nathan Wright. In his first game last weekend Wright (below) ran 17km and gathered 22 disposals at 81 per cent efficiency.
St Kilda defender Nathan Wright on the burst. Source: Getty Images
The Goddard compensation pick landed Gold Coast's Tom Hickey, helping fix a major ruck problem, and, ultra-athletic forward Spencer White. Pelchen said the club was "disappointed'' Goddard left but that it "had to make deliberate and considered decisions in the best interest of the club''.
"It is really important that we didn't allow the draft just to dictate to us that we were going to have one pick to replace one player,'' he said.
"People will say Tom Lee was for pick No.12, but that is not the case. We would not have actually consummated that deal if it was purely pick 12 for Tom Lee.
"I'm extremely confident that these guys are going to form a very strong nucleus of the St Kilda side for the next decade.''
Importantly, St Kilda's system is based on the premierships models Pelchen oversaw at Port Adelaide (2004) and Hawthorn (2008), laying proven foundation to the club's recruiting formula.
Leafs have also been taken from Sydney's more contemporary recycling theory and Geelong.
Without the start-up club concessions clouding the quality of draft, this year the club is more likely to hang on to its top pick. But there is no chance the Saints will deliberately dip to the lower reaches of the ladder.
"I don't believe any club should have aspirations to go to the bottom of the ladder. In an 18-team competition, it's a long way up,'' he said.
"We think there is a much better cause to be served by developing players in a winning environment than in a losing one.''
In a bid to fast-track their players' progress, St Kilda has invested heavily in its academy program, based on the model at soccer giant Barcelona.
Development, sports science and welfare staff have been doubled, helping the club put a near-equal emphasis on players' on and off-field development.
Pelchen said the club would stagger retirements to ensure there was no mass exodus.
"We've been very mindful of the fact we've had a very talented list, which has been very successful for a decade,'' he said.
"It's critical we step those retirements which allow us to bring young players through and importantly learn from these older players,'' he said.
"You need players who have experienced the highs and lows, and the changes associated with living in a professional sporting environment.''
Ahmed Saad runs away from Matthew Scarlett. Picture: George Salpigtidis Source: Herald Sun
THE POWER OF THREE
How St Kilda traded its first-round picks
2012
OUT
Pick No. 12 (GWS used on Kristian Jaksch)
IN
Tom Lee (GWS pre-list) forward
Nathan Wright (No. 24) midfielder
Josh Saunders (No.43) midfielder
OUT
Pick No. 13 (Gold Coast used on Jesse Lonergan)
IN
Tom Hickey (Gold Coast) ruckman
Spencer White (No.25) key forward
(Plus an improvement of other picks)
2011
OUT
Pick No. 20 (Fremantle used on Hayden Crozier)
IN
Seb Ross (No. 25) midfielder
Ahmed Saad (GWS pre-list) small forward
Terry Milera (GWS pre-list) small forward
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