St Kilda are 8-4 through 12 games following their 80-66 win over Sydney at the SCG on Thursday night.
Their strong start under Ross Lyon may have even come as a surprise to the club given they failed to bring in A-grade talent in the off-season after missing out on free agent Jordan De Goey.
While they weren’t able to attract any stars from rival clubs, some potential A-graders taken in the draft are starting to emerge in 2023 in Mitch Owens, Mattaes Phillipou, Max King and Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera.
After the quartet all played a big part in Thursday’s win over the Swans, David King and Kane Cornes discussed their futures on SEN Breakfast with King in particular having huge raps on Rising Star smokey Owens.
King: “I think Mitch Owens sets the standard of this football club well beyond his years and he has become one of the really significant members of this team.
“He’s not just a young player who can do some things, he’s a significant barometer into their game day fortunes.”
Cornes: “That was the best bit.
“You can chuck in Wanganeen-Milera and you can chuck in Phillipou and the upside to him and you can chuck in King and you can go, when they sacked Brett Ratten they said they, ‘Didn't have enough A-graders’.
“Well, you can see four A-graders there that they've got and that is the nucleus of how you can build your side around those four young stars.
“So that was, that was the best bit for me.”
King: “I just want to back over the Owens from a statistical point of view.
“I think that that the most important contests to win are those when the ball's in flow going into your forward half.
“If you can win two contests in a row, you're scoring.
“So it's the post-clearance contest that we talk about.
“Mitch Owens won - he led all comers last night - winning 11 contests when the game was in general play. That's a massive number.
“He was the AFL number one after about Round 9 (for that stat), that’s just what he does.
“I'm thrilled for what they've been able to get out of this group so far.
“I don't know how far they can go to St Kilda, but that's not really a discussion for today, is it?
“It's just congratulations, tick the box.
“It wasn't just (Jack) Sinclair again and it wasn't (Jack) Steele just winning the game for them.
“It was the next wave of player.”
St Kilda will go in search of their ninth win when they face Richmond at the MCG next Saturday.