St Kilda is building belief as it prepares to face Melbourne, with Dermott Brereton joining coaching panel

The only way is up for on-fire St Kilda as the club welcomes a goalkicking great to its coaching ranks — and a returning star to the line-up to bolster an already formidable team.

Dermott Brereton in his first session as a part-time forwards coach at St Kilda. Picture: Alex Coppel

Belief has become a key ingredient at Moorabbin.

And while there is still plenty to work on, coach Alan Richardson has conceded, the Saints are relishing the task of facing a resurgent Melbourne.

Midfielder Jack Steven and skipper Jarryn Geary will return after missing the last fortnight and week respectively, with Richardson saying the team’s 3-1 record is having an effect.

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“The boys are really building belief that if they can give great effort, if they commit themselves to the plan and to the system that we want to play, we’re a chance to beat anyone that we come up against,” he said.

“That’s the belief that we’re building. Are we there yet? No — there’s still some areas that we need to work on.

St Kilda coach Alan Richardson watches on as Jack Steven stakes his claim for a return. Picture: Alex Coppel.

“(Melbourne is) a quality opponent, we’ll need to go to another level this week to make sure we’ve got an even contest, but the guys are up for the challenge.”

AFL great Dermott Brereton yesterday joined the Saints as a part-time forward coach, with Richardson joking he may have to allow extra time in meetings for the former Hawk.

“We presumed it’d only go for a few minutes, but Dermie spoke so it went for about half an hour. Lesson learnt,” he laughed.

The idea to install someone of Brereton’s ilk was the brainchild of assistant coach Brett Ratten to assist the young forwards.

“I played a year with Dermie — his last year of footy with the Pies — and what he did for Sav Rocca was enormous,” Richardson said.

“He was really able to elevate and support the coaches in elevating Sav’s game.

Dermott Brereton in his first session as a part-time forwards coach at St Kilda. Picture: Alex Coppel

“Any time you can get a real expert into your program …. any of those levers that you can pull to go to another level is advantageous, and we think Dermie can help us.”

St Kilda’s forwards averaged in the bottom half of the competition for forwardline output in 2018, and while they have narrowly lifted their scoring, they still rank 16th in the league for marks inside 50 and 17th for offensive contest win rate when one-on-one.

Brereton — who will focus on forward craft rather than goalkicking — was vocal throughout the session, donning a marking bag to work closely with forwards including highly-touted draftee Max King, who completed his first full training session since his knee reconstruction.

The Saints didn't hold back during new part-time forwards coach Dermott Brereton's first session at the club.

“It’s early days yet with the lads, so I’ll just have to look and learn and see what they’re doing, not going, capable of and not capable of,” Brereton said.

“(The forwardline) has got some real talent in it and it’s got some real workers in there as well. It has the makings of being a team which can consistently kick 15-plus (goals) a week.”

While yet to play after rupturing his ACL 12 months ago, Brereton said King has “extreme” ability.

“He’s a huge gold nugget with just a few edges that need knocking off at the moment,” he said.

“But he’s going to be a player in the league of considerable note.”

Top draftee Max King impressed at St Kilda training on Thursday — his first full session. Picture: Alex Coppel.