Tudor spent the last four years as the Cats’ VFL coach before moving to St Kilda at the end of 2008, and he is impressed by his new charges’ motivation.
“Player-wise they are all super keen to be the best player they can,” Tudor told saints.com.au.
“There’s not a whole lot of difference between the two teams. At the elite level everybody’s there for the right reasons.
“The coaching staff is as full-on as where I’ve come from and it has been a really professional attitude and I’ve really enjoyed the first three or four weeks.
“I can see some similarities. At the top end there are some really special players and it is the one thing I’ve noticed so far, with Sam Fisher, Lenny (Hayes) and Nick (Riewoldt) they are just total pros.”
Tudor played 63 games for Geelong and North Melbourne and will take over from the departing John Barker as forwards coach.
Opposition analyst Tony Elshaugh will take over from Anthony Rock as midfield coach.
Tudor, 39, said he was looking forward to working with such a talented group.
“There’s some amazing talent to work with. That’s the most exciting part of it. For me the challenge is to keep those high standards they’ve set and then try to go to another level,” he said.
“They’ve always had some really key players there like Nick Riewoldt, who is a fantastic player. Kosi (Justin Koschitzke) is a really good tall forward as well. The smalls are smart as well, guys like Stephen Milne and Adam Schneider. There’s a couple of young fellas like Rob Eddy and Jarryn Geary coming through who are still developing but are really keen and eager to make the next step and become regular senior footballers.”
Tudor said while he enjoyed his time at Geelong, the offer to join the Saints crew was too good to refuse.
“I’d been there four years as the VFL coach. To be honest, I saw it as an upgrade from what I was doing and it was probably time. Once I got the phone call and had a think about it, I did see it as an upgrade and a bit more responsibility. I’m really looking forward to the challenge.”
