BRINGING players into the club with the right work ethic and drive to succeed is just as important as their pure footballing ability, according to Chief Operating Officer Ameet Bains.
In a wide-ranging interview with SAINTS.com.au, Bains was adamant the Saints would not entertain bringing a player in if his character traits did not fit the mould – regardless of his football ability.
It’s this holistic approach that has won plaudits over the last two years, with the club introducing 15 new players via the trades, National Drafts and Rookie Drafts and undertaking a full scale rebuild that began to take shape in 2015 but still has some way to go.
“Our recruiting philosophy remains the same regardless of whether it’s a draft aged player or a player from another club,” Bains said.
“Clearly the skills, athleticism and performance have to stack up, but the character side of things is just as critical.
“We’ve placed enormous emphasis on bringing in players with high end talent and high end character. We owe it to them to continue to surround them with similar minded teammates.”
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As for what type of player the Saints are looking for, Bains said it was vital the list management committee kept “an open mind with respect to any trade scenario that is presented to us.”
“What I would say is that we clearly have a well-defined strategy in place that we won’t be deviating from,” he said.
“We won’t look to trade that first pick for something or someone that didn’t fall within our strategy.
“From an age perspective, we are still keen to bring in players who are aged 24 and under to complement our existing first to five year players and have these guys join the journey. This is with a view that older free agents will become more attractive for us this time next year and beyond.”
Over the last two years, Josh Bruce, Billy Longer, Maverick Weller and Tim Membrey have been brought in from other clubs, while Jack Billings, Blake Acres, Luke Dunstan, Hugh Goddard, Paddy McCartin, Jack Lonie and Daniel McKenzie arrived via two fruitful National Drafts.
Jason Holmes, Jack Sinclair, Eli Templeton and Brenton Payne were selected in Rookie Drafts, as was Weller.
None of these players arrived at the club older than the age of 23, while all but four were teenagers when they first stepped inside Linen House Centre.
“Over the last few years we have had a balanced list management approach and gone to the draft with clear strategies,” Bains said.
“At the same time, we’ve brought in players from other clubs who are young and seeking opportunities to complement the players we have selected in the National Draft.”
“Guys like Billy Longer and Josh Bruce who have come in and played a role, are examples of this.”
For the moment, St Kilda will not make any formal list changes until at least next week.
“From a list management perspective there are a number of things happening as we speak,” Bains said.
“I guess this year is a little bit different compared to the last couple of years with our VFL team still deep in the finals.
“As a result, we won’t look to finalise any initial list changes until Sandringham finishes its 2015 campaign.”
