St Kilda coach Brett Ratten says impact of recruits will be two-fold as he sets sights on 2020

The Saints lured six new faces from opposition clubs in the trade period. And they will bring more than just individual talent to Moorabbin. Could it be the difference in making their first finals series since 2011?

Bradley Hill and Paddy Ryder were the most high profile of St Kilda’s trade bonanza.. Picture: Michael Klein

Coach Brett Ratten plans to milk St Kilda’s six trade acquisitions for the intellectual property of their former AFL clubs in a bid to lift the Saints towards its first finals series since 2011.

He said each of the players brought the individual skills set that the club needs.

But the added bonus was their experience at rival clubs will also be used to help improve the Saints.

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Brett Ratten is backing St Kilda’s new recruits to bring intel from their former sides.

Ratten told the St Kilda faithful at the club’s AGM last week the team was confident it could make a serious assault on the 2020 season with a slight tweak to its game plan, with the acquisition of players and staff in the off-season and with a seamless pre-season to date.

“It’s not just the players who bring their own skills set (to St Kilda), but it’s some of the IP we will get from those (rival) clubs as well,” Ratten said.

“To have access to their IP is fantastic.

“When you start to gather people who have been involved in success, it starts to roll on to other people (within the team).”

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St Kilda was the most active player in the trade window this year, bringing in premiership players Brad Hill (Hawthorn/Fremantle) and Dan Butler (Richmond), as well as Paddy Ryder (Essendon/Port Adelaide), Zak Jones (Sydney) and Dougal Howard (Port Adelaide).

They also took Ryan Abbott (Geelong) as a delisted free agent late last month.

The Saints were also able to secure four-time Hawks premiership hero Jarryd Roughead and former Hawk and AFL strategist David Rath to the off-field coaching group.

“There has been a fair bit of change to the list, we lost a few players, but there are 45 or 46 men now and we get to change the identity of this football team,” he said.

“We are not changing our brand; we are just changing our identity to chase the success we need.”

The Saints secured the services of Paddy Ryder and Jarryd Roughead in the off-season. Picture: Michael Klein

Ratten stressed one of the key drivers of the pre-season so far has been lifting the skills of the entire group, and he has been pleased with the response from the players.

“We have put a lot of time into that,” he said. “The joy I got to see from those players achieving PBs and coming back in great condition for the time trial allowed us to start the footy programs and to educate with skill acquisition and skill execution.”

There have been a few game plan tweaks which will become more apparent closer to the pre-season series.

“We have shifted slightly (in the game plan), last year it wasn’t completely broken … but you need to keep changing and keep adapting,” he said.

“The players have had a bit of a buy-in around game plan in what they think works for us.

“We can shape it as coaches, but the players must have a buy-in and must own part of the game plan, and what they can do within it.”

The Saints play their first Marsh Community pre-season game against Hawthorn at Moorabbin on February 20.

Originally published as St Kilda coach Brett Ratten says impact of recruits will be two-fold as he sets sights on 2020