ST KILDA'S rebuild appears to be on track with the next generation of Saints' players impressing new coach Alan Richardson so far this summer.
Richardson won the senior coaching role in mid-November after the sacking of Scott Watters following stints as an assistant at four clubs and the 2013 season as Port Adelaide's director of coaching.
Richardson said it was the second tier of players that had stood out to him so far, after the club embarked on a Colorado training camp in December before they resumed training last Monday.
"It's certainly been the younger guys – people like Webster, Curren, Ross, Saunders – in their second and third years, Newnes would be another one, that have really big bodies, are really good people and are very hard working,” Richardson told SEN on Wednesday morning.
"From that point of view, I've been pleasantly surprised about the next tier coming through."
The Saints' two-week training camp produced some testing moments with the weather plummeting to minus 24 degrees on some days and the players subjected to long hikes through the conditions.
Richardson made no apologies for the tough pre-season venture and was pleased with how his side responded.
"Certainly it was tough. We mentally and physically challenged the guys," he said.
"We're at that stage where we're rebuilding and we need to make sure that that physically and mentally the guys are in really good shape and that there's no illusions about what's required when it comes to the way we approach our training.
"It was a fantastic opportunity for me to get away and see the guys work hard and watch them apply their trade.
"It was a really challenging camp. The weather certainly threw a bit in there and the guys responded really well."
The Saints play their first NAB Challenge match on February 19 against the Western Bulldogs at Simonds Stadium.
They had a number of players undergo surgery in the off-season, including Sam Fisher (foot), Arryn Siposs, Jack Newnes and Tom Lee (shoulder), Terry Milera (leg), Adam Schneider (thumb), Tom Simpkin (shin), James Gwilt and Sean Dempster (knee), and Rhys Stanley (collarbone).
Richardson said the list was in "pretty good shape" and was optimistic about availability for the first pre-season game next month.
"We'd be mid-30s (of numbers in full training), and those guys would have been able to get significant load into them in terms of prep for a game in a few weeks time," he said.
"There are certainly others who might not be in that 35 that are also in pretty good shape that would add to that group by the time we get there.
Richardson also said he expected captain Nick Riewoldt to play forward this season.
"We're not blessed with tall forwards and let's just go on last year, he's rated as the best tall forward in the competition from a Champion Data perspective, which is his ability to score, mark the footy deep and give the defence something to hit," he said.
"He's an outstanding forward and I couldn't see his role changing too much.
"The fact that he's such an impressive athlete certainly makes you think about other roles but I would doubt whether we could not afford to have him forward of the ball."
