Speaking before training at Moorabbin on Wednesday morning, Montagna said he had been impressed with the new batch of Saints and expected them to be given plenty of game time in the lead-up to the 2009 home and away season.
“I don’t know what the club’s got in mind. I presume we’re going to play a few youngsters and give them a look early,” Montagna said.
“I don’t think we’d planned to win it in previous years, we’d just played each game on its merits and the results took care of themselves,”
Montagna said the introduction of so many new players brought a fresh feeling to the club that he hadn’t seen since he himself arrived at the same time as Matt Maguire, Luke Ball, Xavier Clarke and Nick Dal Santo.
“It is an exciting time. It’s probably the first time since my draft in ’01 that we’ve had six or seven kids come through together and some really quality players too,” Montagna said.
“We’re hoping to get a lot out of these guys this year, we’ve got guys like Tom Lynch, Alistair Smith and Paul Cahill who have got bodies that can play senior footy early.
“We’re looking for some guys to step up – we have probably lacked some quality kids in the past – and these guys can do that. It’s an exciting time at the club and everything’s going ... Hopefully, we can get some good football out of them.”
Montagna, who played in the 2004 and 2008 NAB Cup premiership sides, said pre-season success was better than failure but was hardly critical to the season’s results.
“I don’t think it makes a big difference to the end of the season. It’s a practice game for us and it’s always nice to win,” he said.
“We had a few young guys getting experience (last year) in what was a grand final. It’s always nice but I don’t think it’s a massive priority for us and I wouldn’t think it would be for most clubs.
“It’s nice to win any game you play in.”
