With positive signs at St Kilda in a rebuild that’s gone under the radar, there’s suddenly optimism around Ross Lyon and company’s recruiting drive.
Tom De Koning specifically.
The cashed-up Saints are circling De Koning on a big-money deal estimated to be worth as much as $12 million over seven years, while Miles Bergman and Leek Aleer are also believed to be on the club’s radar.
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Many have recently questioned why players on the market would want to go to St Kilda, who’s failed to land several big names in recent years despite tabling big-money offers and was expected to finish near the bottom of the ladder in 2025.
Ross Lyon’s game plan has also often been criticised for being too defensive minded.
But three-straight wins, including a rousing upset over the Power at Adelaide Oval last weekend while the 3-1 Saints have battled a notable injury toll, could shift their outlook as a more appealing destination.
“The narrative around the St Kilda Football Club is they’re an average football team with little talent that flood and are defensive with no style of defensive power. What we saw against Port Adelaide harnesses the real power of this football team,” Chief Herald Sun reporter Jay Clark said on Fox Footy’s The First Crack.
“The bounce off half back and sizzle with Jack Sinclar and Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera. And with a depleted team — they’re relying on a makeshift midfield and getting the job done. Ross Lyon has squeezed the lemon and got every drop of juice out of this St Kilda side.”
Indeed, Ross Lyon has maximised the talent on the list as the Saints will now try and make a big splash on the trade and free agency front.
De Koning is the big one they’d love to land.
The star Blues free agent, who’s been arguably Carlton’s best player so far this season and the frontrunner to be the All-Australian ruckman, is weighing up his future and a potential big-money move to Moorabbin.
But now potentially for the first time there’s more appeal to join the Saints than simply for the payday, given their exciting brand in recent weeks and general upside with several emerging young guns.
Meanwhile Carlton is 0-4 as one of the big disappointments so far this season and fighting to keep its campaign alive when it faces West Coast in Gather Round.
It’s not a stretch to say the Saints are better set up for the long-term than the Blues.
De Koning could form a potent one-two ruck punch with Rowan Marshall, while both players can effectively swing forward.
“Now a penny for your thoughts. Tom De Koning would be sitting there going: ‘I can get an extra $500,000 a year at this football club and have Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera put it on my chest’,” Clark added.
“Not only De Koing, you’d think they’d be into Leek Aleer to stiffen up that backline and Miles Bergman, who we know is another beautiful ball user.
“It sort of happened without the narrative. Have we underrated some of this growth underneath? Because you see (Darcy) Wilson, Tobie (Travalgia) and Lance Collard. There’s a bit of a foundation there.”
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Dual premiership Kangaroo David King put it on St Kilda’s recruiting team to secure the names the club is targeting on the market.
“There’s been a lot of talk in the back offices. Ross is doing his job and delivering upon squeezing the lemon to get the best out of the talent available,” he said.
“It’s up to those guys who have talked a lot in the background to acquire the talent sitting there waiting to be nabbed. Can they deliver upon their end of the bargain? To give this club a chance to bounce back into premiership contention.”
Saints legend Leigh Montagna thinks the club’s rebuilding has been “three years in the making” that others have “been slow to the party” with.
It included the Saints having two top-10 picks — Travaglia and Alix Taur — in last year’s draft after bringing in Wilson (Pick 18 in 2023), Collard (Pick 28 in 2023), Mattaes Phillipou (Pick 10 in 2022), Mitchito Owens (Pick 33 in 2022) and Marcus Windhager (Pick 47 in 2022) before them.
“We are maybe now starting to see the fruits of some of this young talent get some opportunity,” Montagna said.
“They still need another 20 or 30 games and you realise which are the elite talent that are going to take you to be a top four team … but you mentioned some of the names that are going to come in.
“We’ve already seen with the Adelaide Crows and Gold Coast Suns, if you can bring in two or three ready-made players, what it does for the rest of the side, it can bounce pretty quickly.
“There is some exciting young talent at St Kilda. They’ve obviously got a fair way to go, but the signs are really positive. I think they’ve been pretty bullish. I like the way they’re heading.”
Clark went so far to suggest the Saints are on track to contend for a flag in the coming years.
“Well, 58 years since a flag, you just wonder how soon it can be. Is it 2028 or 2029? It would be a fairytale for the St Kilda Football Club,” he added.
“North Melbourne or St Kilda — who’s got more talent on the list? Who’s getting more out of the players available? You’d say Ross Lyon in the coaches box (against Port) has had another big win.
“They are leapfrogging other clubs. It was a big red letter day for the St Kilda footy club.”
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