St Kilda have declared that they are going to be aggressive in luring star talent to the club now that they have some salary cap money to splurge.
St Kilda football department chief Simon Lethlean told Fairfax Media that the Saints are the next “destination club” for players now that they have a well-balanced list and are on the brink of moving to revamped facilities in Moorabbin.
“We’ve now got a $32 million facility in the heart of the bayside. We’ve got a stable coaching group and we think a really strong list profile, and you add to that, I think in our view as good a TPP [total player payments] position as anyone in the competition,” Lethlean said.
“That means that we can structure our payments and our future payments across the next few years better than any club we think. That enables us to retain the players we want and hopefully add to that with some elite talent or talent that will help our performance improve.
“So we’ll be aggressive in those conversations and be seeking to improve our list as best we can.”
St Kilda have picked the right year to target free agency with this year’s pool including star talents Rory Sloane, Tom Lynch (Gold Coast), Andrew Gaff and Jeremy McGovern to name few.
St Kilda are most in need of some extra talent through their midfield to ease the workload of Jack Steven and Seb Ross but Lethlean has indicated they aren’t being picky.
“We don’t discuss specific players, but we’ll look for any player who wants to play at a Victorian club that can improve our performance,” Lethlean added.
“We’d be negligent if we didn’t.”
Another factor that could potentially make St Kilda the new destination club for players and attract some big names to the club is the move back to the updated facilities in Moorabbin.
Not only are the facilities “as good as you can ask for”, the location in the heart of bayside is desirable for players looking to move back to Melbourne.
“We are now a strong, stable Victorian club with a state of the art facility, stable coaching group and a good young list," Lethlean said.
"[It’s a] much easier conversation now. We are a destination club people want to come to.”
“We develop our players well ... We’ve got a good history with [Tim] Membrey, [Dylan] Roberton, [Billy] Longer and others in developing good players from other clubs, and developing good young talent, so we’re well placed on all fronts.”
