After taking a deep dive into the winless Collingwood's list build last week, it's time to turn our attention to another team yet to pick up four points this year – St Kilda.

ST KILDA entered the AFLW in 2020, and along with its fellow intake of sides, have had a more difficult job in building a list than the inaugural teams.

The 2022 quartet were afforded much more generous list build concessions than the group that had come before it, and the 2020 crew were still struggling to bed in their own lists when they then also lost access to the top end of the draft to the 2022 group.

But the Saints also have had their own individual issues.

They couldn't sell the "big club factor" when attracting players first time around, unlike fellow 2020 member Richmond, while West Coast and Gold Coast were afforded different list concessions and able to raid their cross-town rivals, given the two-team states and state-restricted drafts at the time.

The number of senior AFLW players who requested trades out of St Kilda in previous years created a chasing tails situation, investing draft picks in players to plug holes, while the Saints have also been late adopters to the Irish recruitment zone.

LIST BUILD HISTORY

*Players in bold are still on the list

2019 inaugural list build signings – Alison Brown (delisted), Molly McDonald, Isabella Shannon (retired/West Coast), Kate Shierlaw (North Melbourne), Liv Vesely, Caitlin Greiser (Richmond), Sammie Johnson (Melbourne/delisted), Kelly O'Neill (delisted)

2019 draft – Georgia Patrikios (pick 6), Rosie Dillon (delisted), Nicola Xenos (27), Tarni White (30, Collingwood), Tamara Luke (33, delisted), Hannah Priest (41), Nadia von Bertouch (free agent, delisted)
2019 recruits – Ali Drennan (Gold Coast/West Coast), Darcy Guttridge, Rhi Watt (delisted/Melbourne/retired), Selena Karlson (retired), Nat Exon (delisted), Cat Phillips (Essendon/retired), Jess Sedunary (Adelaide/retired), Courteney Munn (retired), Kate McCarthy (Hawthorn/retired), Emma Mackie (retired), Claudia Whitfort (Gold Coast/Carlton), Mel Kuys (retired), Tilly Lucas-Rodd (Hawthorn/GWS), Clara Fitzpatrick (delisted/Gold Coast), Poppy Kelly (Richmond)

2020 draft – Tyanna Smith (pick 6), Alice Burke (24), Renee Saulitis (34, delisted), Jacqui Vogt (40, Essendon), Tahlia Meyer (free agent, delisted), Jess Matin (replacement, delisted), Bec Ott (replacement, delisted)
2020 recruits – Jayde Van Dyk (delisted), Bianca Jakobsson

2021 draft – Ella Friend (pick 4), Ash Richards (12), Leah Cutting (free agent, delisted/Essendon), Lucy Burke (replacement, delisted/North Melbourne)
2021 recruits – Paige Price (rookie, delisted)

2022 draft – J'Noemi Anderson (pick 16), Hannah Stuart (63, delisted), Deanna Jolliffe (74, delisted), Caitlin Matthews (81, delisted), Simone Nalder (replacement player, retired)
2022 recruits – Nicola Stevens (Geelong), Erin McKinnon (delisted), Grace Kelly (Adelaide)

2023 supplementary draft – Beth Pinchin (21, delisted)
2023 recruits – Steph Chiocci (retired), Jaimee Lambert, Jesse Tawhiao-Wardlaw, Serene Watson, Nat Plane, Maddie Boyd (both delisted)

2023 draft – Kiera Whiley (pick 10, retired), Charlotte Simpson (47, delisted)
2023 recruits – Paige Trudgeon, Rene Caris, Emmelie Fiedler

2024 draft – Zoe Besanko (pick 32), Kyla Forbes (55), Alana Gee (58)
2024 recruits – Nicola Barr, Charlotte Baskaran, Amber Clarke, Lilu Hung, Arianna Clarke (both replacements and delisted)

2025 draft – Jade McLay (pick 26), Chelsea Sutton (32), Abby Hobson (42), Maya Louvell-Finn (60), Carys D'Addario (61)
2025 recruits – Saoirse Lally (pre-season draft), Sophie Butterworth

PLAYER RETENTION

St Kilda has six inaugural players from its 2019-20 initial list build remaining on the list.

It sounds alarming, but as a point of comparison, Richmond also has six – three of which are Monique Conti, Katie Brennan and Gab Seymour – while West Coast has just three, and Gold Coast only has Jamie Stanton.

One of the Saints' issues is that two of the six have suffered continual serious injuries, in Nicola Xenos (about to return from her second torn ACL) and Liv Vesely (a litany of injuries, including ankles, concussions, calves and a pelvis/groin issue).

Eleven of the initial St Kilda list went on to play at other clubs, with the vast majority requesting trades.

Kate Shierlaw was keen to play alongside partner Emma Kearney, Caitlin Greiser and Poppy Kelly headed to Punt Road, Tilly Lucas-Rodd was offered Hawthorn's inaugural captaincy, Tarni White headed to Collingwood, Victorians Claudia Whitfort and Ali Drennan went north to Gold Coast, while Jess Sedunary returned to South Australia.

Cat Phillips and Jacqui Vogt were picked up by expansion club Essendon as part of its initial list build in 2022.

Of later recruits who haven't stuck around, Grace Kelly ultimately wanted to reunite with sister Niamh, and veteran Nicola Stevens was offered a longer deal at Geelong.

The Saints had traded away most of their 2022 draft hand to land those two players, along with the ultimately delisted Erin McKinnon.

The club's 2023 first-round selection, Kiera Whiley, chose to step away from the game after just one year, but in a recruiting win that season, key back Paige Trudgeon was picked up for the equivalent of a packet of chips, and has thrived in Saints colours. 

KNOCK-ON DRAFT EFFECTS

The rotating door of recruits means the Saints haven't really gone hard on a draft till the end of last year, although it could be argued they thought it was a better option than banking on a few draft pools hit by expansion.

In 2024, they were keen to boost their talent stocks, and traded out picks 8 and 26 to get Charlotte Baskaran and relatively local girl Amber Clarke, who was commuting from Narre Warren to Tullamarine.

But the 2024 draft looks to be the deepest in AFLW history.

Should they have held onto those selections, it's no certainty they would have taken these players, but pick eight (turned nine post-Academy bid) was ultimately used on Grace Belloni (with Lexi Gregor, Sierra Grieves and Georgie Brisbane also available). 

The Saints ultimately entered that draft at 32, taking Zoe Besanko.

The 2022 draft was expansion-affected, with St Kilda getting first access at 16, using it on J'Noemi Anderson, who has suffered her own injury issues.

Hindsight is everything, but Mia Austin, Lucy Wales and Rylie Wilcox were all available at that mark.

It should be noted that St Kilda wasn't the only club who missed Tess Craven in 2021, opting to taking Ella Friend and Ash Richards before the Roos pounced on the winger with pick 13. That draft also produced Keeley Sherar, Emelia Yassir, Tahlia Gillard and Jas Ferguson (the latter two taken late by experienced clubs who had strong recruiting IQ). 

AN IRISH MISTAKE?

While St Kilda traded Grace Kelly in from West Coast, its first real crack at the Irish market didn't come until this year, picking up Saoirse Lally in the pre-season draft.

The best teams in the league – North Melbourne, Melbourne, Geelong, Brisbane and Adelaide – have all had Irishwomen contributing to their successes in a major fashion.

Irish recruitment isn't an exact science, and heavy resourcing is needed in the space, with trips to Ireland needed for scouting and building a network of contacts in the area, to help with providing tips and tapes of potential stars.

On-the-ground visits are usually looked upon more favourably by prospective players, especially when choosing between clubs to sign with as a rookie.

It's the type of resourcing that needs the backing of the wider club, rather than just the AFLW program ticking it off.

St Kilda men's team has just picked up a huge coup, signing young gun Kobe McDonald, and it could hopefully be a sign of things to come in the women's side, too. 

WHAT'S NEXT?

List manager Darius Boyd is the third to have taken charge of the Saints' AFLW program, and will be coming into his second trade and draft period in charge.

Last year's draft saw five players taken, having split its first-round selection in order to maximise its options in a northern Academy-dominated first round (eight players were tied to Gold Coast and Sydney). 

The list needs some remedial patching and an injection of class, but a lack of on-field form is also exacerbating matters, and will help stop the cycle of recruits leaving.