AFL ‘sleeper’ club back from dead, set to unleash mammoth war chest
An often forgotten AFL team is preparing to unleash a massive war chest, while other clubs are “in a hell of a lot of trouble”.
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St Kilda is set to unleash a massive war chest this off-season that one club great is hoping will allow the perennial battlers to recruit three gun players.
The Saints have been the surprise packet early in the AFL season, claiming wins over Geelong and Port Adelaide in Adelaide despite missing captain Jack Steele and spearhead forward Max King.
“The Saints have been the sleeper for me,” Fox Footy’s Garry Lyon told news.com.au ahead of Gather Round in Adelaide, where St Kilda take on premiership contenders GWS on Sunday.
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“I think St Kilda have probably surprised everyone with how well they’ve started the season, they get a test against a quality side in GWS,” St Kilda great Leigh Montagna said.
St Kilda have the longest premiership drought in the AFL stretching back to 1966, with heartbreaking grand final losses in 2009 and 2010 the closest they’ve come to breaking that drought.
The Saints have been linked to several big name free agents in recent years but they now finally seem poised to recruit some star players with the club’s top draft picks and young talent showing signs of promise.
Carlton ruckman Tom De Koning has been offered a monster $12 million deal by St Kilda, while young GWS defender Leek Aleer and classy Port Adelaide halfback Miles Bergman are also set to be offered big money deals.
“It feels like this is part of their continued rebuild,” Montagna told news.com.au.
“The names they’ve been linked to are all going to be really good.
“Leek Aleer, who just can’t get into the Giants’ backline, is an athletic freak, he’s been playing some good footy at VFL level. St Kilda desperately need another key defender after losing Josh Battle. He would be one that makes a big difference.
“I love Tom De Koning. He would be a huge influence on the team because then Rowan Marshall can play more forward, which just makes the forward line more potent.
“Another one is Miles Bergman, another local Bayside boy who grew up in the area and is a quality user off halfback.”
On Friday North Melbourne midfielder Luke Davies-Uniacke re-signed with the Kangaroos until the end of 2032, taking one big name off the table.
“Look, three would be ideal,” Montagna said.
“We’ve seen with the Adelaide Crows, if you can get a couple of players in one off-season how quickly you can turn it around. If not all three, at least one or two of them.”
Emerging youngsters Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, Mitch Owens, Mattaes Phillipou, Marcus Windhager, Darcy Wilson are giving St Kilda fans plenty to like alongside established players like Jack Steele, Jack Macrae, Jack Sinclair, Rowan Marshall, Callum Wilkie and Max King.
“Absolutely I’m happy to see them up and about,” said Montagna. “What can they achieve this year? No one really knows.
“We all just presumed that because it’s a young list they probably wouldn’t be good, but we’ve seen with Hawthorn last year and some other teams that you can spike pretty quickly.
“I think still think it’ll still be a stretch for them to make the eight, but after the start they’ve had, maybe there is a bit of a change in expectation for what they can achieve.
“More importantly as a Saints man, if it’s not this year, you’re now really starting to see what it’s going to look like 2026-2027 onwards with this young high end talent. They’re coming through together and really showing some promise.”
Montagna and Lyon are tipping St Kilda to seriously challenge GWS in their clash at Norwood on Sunday afternoon.
“The way both these sides are moving the ball from half back — Wanganeen-Milera and Sinclair at one end and Lachie Whitfield and Lachie Ash at the other end — I think this could be a high octane game of footy.”
AFL trend spells trouble for Carlton, Demons
In 2025 contested ball domination is out, coast to coast transition footy is in — and it doesn’t bode well for a couple of teams.
Carlton and Melbourne have struggled to start the season and commentators are calling on them to shake up their one-dimensional midfields.
The Adelaide Crows have had a highscoring start to the year thanks to exceptional field kicking across the whole field, and the ability to slice through oppositions with precision kicking has never been more important in the AFL.
Brisbane (Dayne Zorko, Hugh McCluggage), GWS (Lachie Whitfield, Lachie Ash), St Kilda (Jack Sinclair, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera), Sydney (Nick Blakey), Hawthorn (James Sicily, Massimo D’Ambrosio), Gold Coast (Touk Miller, Dan Rioli) all have halfbacks and wingers who are lethal by foot.
The Demons are one team that are grappling with the change in how AFL footy is being played in 2025, much differently to the contested style that saw Melbourne win the 2021 premiership.
“If you can’t kick, you’re in a hell of a lot of trouble,” Demons great Lyon said.
“The best kicking teams are going to be well placed to take advantage of the way footy is going now.
“Melbourne have got all sorts of troubles at the moment.
“They’ve been disappointing, no doubt about that. They can’t score a goal, they’ve got to get moving on that front. They’re not quite where they need to be right now.”
Montagna said rule changes have made football generally more free flowing with high disposal efficiency pivotal for teams.
“The game has slowly evolved over the past four or five years,” he said.
“The rules they’ve brought in — the man on the mark, the insufficient intent and keeping the ball alive — the game has opened up and seems much better offensively.
“For a while it was a rolling maul and all about contest and those big bodied midfielders like (Nat) Fyfe and (Patrick) Dangerfield and (Patrick) Cripps. But as the game has opened up, the game is all about skill and run and moving the ball effectively.
“The top teams in the competition — Brisbane have been the best at it, Sydney were elite at moving the ball last year and now we’re seeing Adelaide and Gold Coast do it. That’s the way forward.”
Originally published as AFL ‘sleeper’ club back from dead, set to unleash mammoth war chest
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