AFL Team Profile: St Kilda

St Kilda have not won a premiership in 57 years and hopes are high that they will break the drought under the leadership of current head coach Ross Lyon.

Saints Kilda returned to finals in 2023 in Lyon’s first season in charge and they will be looking to kick on in the year ahead.

Grand final glory could be beyond them in 2024, they are 34.00 to win the flag, but they will be targeting further progress under Lyon.

Western Bulldogs, Richmond and Melbourne have all broken big droughts in recent seasons and St Kilda hope to follow in their footsteps.

It would be a big surprise if they managed to do it this season, but at least there is hope for their success-starved members.

Let’s take a look at St Kilda heading into the 2024 AFL campaign.

Saints return to finals

St Kilda made a return to finals in 2023 as they finished sixth on the ladder with 13 wins from the 23 games played in the regular season.

Following an electric start to the season it looked as though a spot in the top four could even be on the cards.

In his second spell in charge of the club Lyon was working his magic, as Saints won five of their opening six games of the season.

Only a narrow defeat to Collingwood blotted the copybook and the Saints fans were already starting to dream.

However, they were inconsistent for the remainder of the season and it soon became clear that a place in the eight would be the best they could hope for.

It was tight with St Kilda finishing just four points ahead of Western Bulldogs, who ended up in ninth, but at least they were in there.

Their hopes were cut short by Greater Western Sydney in the opening weeks of finals however.

The Giants picked up a 24-point victory at Marvel Stadium and it was season over for Lyon and his troops.

Making the top eight once again will be the main objective for St Kilda in 2024, with a view to going deeper into finals.

They can be backed at 3.00 to make the top eight and 1.38 to miss out.

Key players

There is some experience in the St Kilda camp, but Lyon will mainly be focusing on a young crop of players to take the club into the future.

Lyon admits it was hard to let some ‘loyal servants’ move on during the off-season, but he has every faith in his young guns.

Mitch Owens, Marcus Windhager, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, Anthony Caminiti and Mattaes Phillipou are the kinds of players that Lyon is building his team around.

They will all be stars to watch out for in the 2024 season and beyond as St Kilda target grand final success.

Owens and Wanganeen-Milera impressed in 2023 and will look to kick on, as will Phillipou, who played every game in his debut season.

St Kilda also had a positive trade period, with Liam Henry and Paddy Dow, both under the age of 23, arriving at the club.

Darcy Wilson, who was a first-round selection in the draft, could also be in for a big season and is priced at 34.00 to win the Rising Star.

The experienced heads are still there in the form of Bradley Hills and Brad Crouch, while Jack Steele will be another player to keep an eye on.

Cats first up for Saints

St Kilda will begin their 2024 AFL campaign with a trip to take on Geelong on Saturday 16th March.

Saints are priced at 2.55 to start with a win, while the home side can be backed at 1.52.