Koschitzke, 30, has serious competition for his spot this year with the Saints recruiting Tom Hickey to back up Ben McEvoy in the ruck and mature-aged goalkicker Tom Lee to bolster the forward stocks.
There's also Rhys Stanley, who was fit until he bruised bone in his knee on the weekend, young forward Spencer White and a firing Beau Maister.
But, for the second year running, the 195-game veteran has had a big summer on the track and his midfield teammate Montagna says he is ready to fight for his spot.
"He's a competitive animal and internally among the other players at the club I'm sure he'll compete as hard as he can to cement his spot in the team," Montagna told AFL.com.au.
"I certainly think he's aware of [the challenge]. We've got Tom Lee to the club and we've got Tom Hickey that can maybe play as a forward option. I'm sure Kosi would be well aware of that.
"Any of us who are starting to get older, you start feeling the threat from the younger guys coming up from underneath.
"I think that's just natural and keeps the older guys like him on his toes and I think that will bring out the best in him."
Koschitzke played 19 games last year and was used in the ruck on many occasions with Stanley, Ben McEvoy and Jason Blake all battling injury at times.
Still, the pre-season he had after spending the majority of his summers overcoming operations saw him have a relatively consistent year punctuated by a few quiet games.
Montagna said the experienced big man was feeling upbeat despite the threat from the new talls at the club.
"He's in good spirits, he's been positive and he's training really well and hopefully he can contribute to the team and play his role," he said.
"He's probably done more of a pre-season than he has in previous years.
"It's been a bit of a deliberate ploy by both the club and him to just get him out there and run him and just get a good work load up and a good base.
"Hopefully that can really consolidate to playing a lot of football and playing really well."
Koschitzke, like many other players in the twilight of their career, is thinking beyond his days as a footballer and is working one day a week with UD Trucks.
He is part of the club's leadership development program, along with Lenny Hayes, Stephen Milne, Sam Fisher and Jason Blake, which mentors players in the emerging leaders group.
Rookie-listed small forward Tom Curren, who was voted into the emerging group despite not playing a senior game, said Koschitzke had "been good in just showing the way".
"Even though he is getting on in his career, he still works hard on the track and shows great leadership even though he doesn't have a title of being a leader," Curren said.
"He does show the way for a few of us younger boys and we do try and follow in his footsteps because he has had a reasonably long career and been quite successful.
"He just tries to set the standard and we just try to follow, as do a lot of the older boys.
"We're lucky here at the Saints; we've got a few older blokes who have had long careers and still have years to come.
"It's good to watch them and follow."
Justin Koschitzke is a forward in NAB AFL Fantasy. He averaged 54.58 points in 2012. Register your team at our AFL Fantasy Hub .
Jennifer Phelan is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenPhelan.
