The expectation is that St Kilda will improve on last year's 12-10 season and make the finals, but according to coach Alan Richardson, further improvement won't necessarily translate to football in September.
In an interview with AFL.com.au, Richardson said a key focus this summer has been bridging the gap between St Kilda's best and worst.
The best was a rattling 8-4 finish to the season that included wins over eventual premiers the Western Bulldogs and third-placed Geelong.
But the Saints also endured some horrendous beatings on the road including 103 points to West Coast and 88 points to Adelaide. They also lost by 40 points to Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium.
"We could still improve as a team with our road record, not have that 100-point loss to West Coast, be much more competitive and potentially only win 11 games of footy," he said.
"We have worked out why there's a gap and we think we have narrowed it through the trade period."
The Saints were active last October, bringing in former Collingwood premiership full-back Nathan Brown through free agency and midfielders Jack Steele from Greater Western Sydney and Koby Stevens from the Western Bulldogs.
St Kilda's list movements for the last four years have been geared around being in top-four contention from 2018. Experienced and talented players such as Brendon Goddard, Nick Dal Santo and Ben McEvoy were jettisoned to bring more and higher draft selections to the club.
"We want to win a premiership and every decision we made, including some before me, was geared around that. We had to become a little bit less competitive to compete in the draft, to bring in players such as Luke Dunstan, Jack Billings and Paddy McCartin," Richardson said.
"If you look at the timeframe, 2018 to 2020 is when we think, historically, when you look at the number of games and our age demographic, that we are much more likely to be at our best.
"But at the same time we're not going to put limitations on this year. I know this team is going to be really good and the work we have done with the list build is really strong and I'm really comfortable," he said.
One theory about the Saints is that a sign of genuine improvement will be when they no longer need such great contributions from veterans such as Nick Riewoldt, Leigh Montagna, Sean Dempster and Sam Gilbert. At 34, Riewoldt had an outstanding 2016, capped off by a nine-goal haul against the Brisbane Lions in the season finale.
But Richardson isn't buying it.
"Philosophically we need the younger players coming through but we also need our experienced players and our guys who have been in the system a long time to be consistent and they are challenged to be that every day.
"Riewoldt has done a significant amount of work on his leg strength and he's lifting much larger weights so he can play slightly differently. 'Joey' (Montagna) has done the same thing. Dempster has improved and these guys are still setting PB's and they're still committed to their craft.
"We need them to be strong but we need Jack Steven, Seb Ross, Jarryn Geary and Tim Membrey to step up some more. That's been really positive and needs to continue," he said.
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