St Kilda aims for finals in 2020 after landing five trade targets
A new-look St Kilda has boldly declared its intention to play finals for the first time since 2011 after landing its five trade targets — and a bargain Swan might be the smartest move of all.
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St Kilda has firmly set its sights on September action next year, boldly declaring: “We are on the march”.
New coach Brett Ratten will enter next season with footy’s most-hyped side after the Saints finally turned into the destination club they had dreamed of becoming.
St Kilda used a series of masterful trade manoeuvres and the massive cap space they had squirrelled away to land all five player targets who should be in their best 22 in Round 1.
They farewelled inconsistent No.19 pick Blake Acres but nailed a trade for Brad Hill.
Then they secured Richmond’s Dan Butler and Sydney’s Zak Jones to add to Port Adelaide recruits Dougal Howard and Paddy Ryder.
Hill’s manager Colin Young told the Herald Sun his deal was for five seasons, having told Fremantle in June that his client would depart.
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Acres, also a Young client, was in the St Kilda gym at 11.30am on Tuesday when he was told a deal he had been alerted might be possible was suddenly in play.
St Kilda football boss Simon Lethlean said Ratten was thrilled with the club’s haul.
“We certainly want to improve. We have a new coach, a new list manager that has done a good job and a team with a good appetite to improve and play finals footy so we think we are on the march a bit now to have momentum with membership and a solid fan base that thinks we will have a crack.
“Ratts is a pretty positive guy and he is thrilled we can bring in players of that calibre. We have now a second ruck (in Ryder) who can help (Rowan) Marshall get better and is a senior indigenous player with our five or six indigenous players.
“Hill has got the biggest engine in the comp and we have a roof he can play under 13 or 14 times a year, and we think Butler is going to add the pace, class, premiership passion and the standard we need. Ratts is pumped and so is the playing group.”
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Hill has been pitched as the star-studded recruit but Sydney’s Jones might be the golden nugget that helps drag the Saints into the finals for the first time since 2011.
He adds a brutal edge, having had to change his approach to reduce his suspensions, but also a tough inside game that comes with solid kicking. He has agreed to a three-season deal.
St Kilda handed over pick 10, 58, Acres and a future second and fourth-round pick for Hill, then secured Jones after Josh Bruce was traded to the Dogs for picks 32 and 51, with the Saints then on-trading some of those picks for Jones.
Fremantle gave back a future third-round pick, with football boss Peter Bell unapologetic about his hard-line trade stance.
“I don’t think you want a reputation as not being hard to deal with during trade week because I think if you’ve got a reputation as being easy to deal with you might be out of a job pretty quick,” he said.
“I will never be embarrassed about really valuing our players. I think that’s what our stakeholders want us to do and I think hopefully in time that’s what this deal will reflect.”
St Kilda fans will be sorry to farewell fan favourite and four-time best-and-fairest winner Jack Steven, having let him go for pick 58.
But the Saints are aware he was unlikely to play his best football at the Saints, happy to let him go to Geelong after a long-running battle with mental health issues.
Originally published as St Kilda aims for finals in 2020 after landing five trade targets