WHEN St Kilda's Jack Newnes spoke to AFL.com.au in early 2015, he set forth his ambitions to be in the thick of the battle, as an inside midfielder.

He had bulked up so he could stand his ground against the bigger bodies at the coalface.

His desire to be at the heart of the contest made sense, seeing as he played that role as a junior.

Instead, Newnes ended up on a wing and at half-back, in the positions he had become accustomed to during his AFL career.

A year on and Newnes is a full-time wingman. He is enjoying his football but believes he can offer more to the Saints.

By his own admission though: "It's pretty tough to get in there (the middle) at the moment."

His point has a lot of merit. Jack Steven is one of the competition's elite two-way players at stoppages, David Armitage is not far behind, Seb Ross' body is finally allowing him a decent opportunity to show his ability and Luke Dunstan is as hard as they come.

Perhaps the most significant barrier to Newnes joining the centre square rotation is his form on a wing is almost too good to put him elsewhere.

Newnes sits sixth in the competition for inside-50s and is a reliable contributor, only once this season accumulating fewer than 20 disposals.

"I started OK. I've kind of plateaued a little bit at the moment, the last month or so. I've been playing reasonably but haven't been too strong," he said.

It hasn't been a massive dip for Newnes, but rather a blip on the radar that he believes should correct itself quickly.

"With football, you can go up and down and around. My preparation and effort is always the same. I always offer the same thing when I'm playing for the side, I just probably haven't found as much of the ball," he said.

"But things turn pretty quickly in footy. I haven't been playing shocking football, I just haven't really had any of my bigger games."

However, if he wants to develop his game further, the 23-year-old will need to hit the gym in the next pre-season.

"If I wanted to get in there (inside midfield), I'd probably need to put on a little bit more size," Newnes said.

"I need to work on my game a fair bit more in there because I'm pretty new to the role. There's a fair bit that goes on with centre bounce and around the ground stuff."

He refers to the need to hit the classroom, so to speak, to learn about the complexities of the set-ups.

"There's a lot of structures that I probably haven't worked on with the other guys as much," he said.

"They know if things aren't going well, what to change, that sort of thing."

Newnes is not particularly concerned about his ability to win the ball.

"I definitely have to work on the contested ball side of things, which I think I'm reasonable at, (but) just don't get as many chances as the inside boys would," he said.

Standing on the wing opposite to Newnes is often skipper Nick Riewoldt. In his 11th year as captain, the 33-year-old may pass on the mantle next season after what has been a brilliant run.

Newnes, who is in leadership group for the second consecutive year, does not see himself as being ready for the captaincy just yet.  

"Probably not in the next couple of years," he said.

"I've still got a lot to work on in that space. I've loved being in the leadership group."