Former Essendon forward Jayden Davey has started the 2026 season in hot form for the Saints' VFL side.
Davey kicked five of the Saints' first six goals in their tight loss to Frankston in Round 2, providing polish and liveliness in the forward half to net a team-high five VFL coaches votes.
“The pleasing thing was, he played his role as a small forward, applied great pressure and adapted the feedback the coaches gave him from the week before in his game,” Saints VFL coach Brendon Goddard told Zero Hanger.
“Pleasingly, he was able to respond from what wasn't a bad game, just a few things in the (Round 1) game we gave him feedback on, he grew in and applied against Frankston."
A distant relative of St Kilda star Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, Davey crossed to the Saints from Port Melbourne, where he managed just three games last season, spending most of the season at local level for Anakie.
He spent 2023 and 2024 on Essendon's AFL list, but didn't manage a game, his first year a write-off due to an ACL rupture.
He has also played 17 NTFL games across the past two seasons for Palmerston, before AFL-listed Isaac Keeler connected Davey with Goddard.
Goddard played the 2013 season with Jayden's Dad, Alwyn Davey senior, at Essendon, who played 100 AFL games from 2007.
"Jayden was a late comer to the program so we had some good chats when he was playing in the NT. I spoke to people up there and ironically, I remember kicking the footy in the rooms with Alwyn (junior) and Jayden in the rooms pre and post games and at training when I played with his old man, (Alwyn senior) at Essendon,” Goddard said.
“He's been great since arriving in mid-January. He had a really good season in the NT playing off half-back so I knew he could do that but he also mentioned that he played forward for our junior career and he played and trained as a forward at Essendon.
“So against GWS (in Round 1), he played half-back, and he's got good speed and agility and he's a handy user but we thought with our match-ups and looking at the backs Frankston had, we thought we'd go a little bit smaller (forward) and he was great.
“His attitude and training standards have been really good and he's fitted in really well.”
The match starts at 1.05pm with the club encouraging members to support the VFL side while the AFL team has a bye.
