Why the St Kilda Saints won’t back down in their pursuit of rival stars; Essendon Bombers; Carlton Blues; GWS Giants; North Melbourne Kangaroos; Seek; trading

“It would have been a good signal if we would have been able to attract someone of that quality, but we were able to attract Jack Macrae, a three-time All-Australian. We feel that, as long as the players see the signs of us moving towards success, we will have no trouble attracting top-end talent.”

Asked further about Davies-Uniacke, and recruiting as a whole, Bassat said the time to strike was now.

“We are not going to go down the path of who we are looking at and who we are not looking at. But we have said either this year or next year, probably feels like the right time,” he said.

“We have had four years of [the] draft. History shows that [in] four years of drafting, if you draft well, [it] gives you that solid base. You can then look to free agents or trades. We feel now it could be the time [for that].”

The war chest

The Saints have opted for the minimum salary cap spend this year. However, this saved money can be “banked”, and then used to spend over the cap by up to 5 per cent, if a club has underspent on players in the two previous seasons. By doing this, the Saints have allowed themselves more room to acquire elite talent.

“I think we will probably end up paying 95 per cent, rather than 105 per cent, or 100 per cent. Then you can carry that over,” Bassat explained.

“You end up needing to pay 95 per cent, so everyone pays that minimum. But you do that by pre-paying some players [front-ended contracts], if that makes sense. That gives you some room in latter years.”

Why no lift-off for Houston?

Bassat said the Saints, despite missing the finals last season, opted against pursuing Power free agent Houston because they felt they were well-equipped at half-back.

“We have been honest about the fact that we are under our salary cap. We did not go down the path of trying to get Dan Houston, and we could afford a couple of Dan Houstons, right?” Bassat said.

“If we adjusted for all those things, we would be much better in ’25 than we are likely to be. We feel this year is a year of balance. We hope to make finals, we feel we are a good shot, we really believe in the talent we have got, [and] we think we will surprise a lot of clubs this year. But we are not likely to peak until next year or the year after.”

Are recruiting chiefs Steve Silvagni and Graeme Allan getting the job done?

Bassat endorsed the experienced pair, declaring they had transformed a list that was the second-oldest in 2021 to the fifth-youngest in 2025.

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“We have gone from a list that was old, that somehow, despite the fact that we were finishing outside the eight, we were overspending the salary cap – which, on our club, is an error. You can’t really justify that,” Bassat said.

“We have gone to a situation where our cap has essentially been fixed. Our drafting the last two or three years has been really good. You look at some of the talent we have got – Mattaes Phillipou, if the draft was redone, he would be a long way ahead of [his initial draft position] 10, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera would go a long way ahead of 11. Darcy Wilson would go a long way ahead of 18, and getting Tobie Travaglia at pick eight was really important. Similarly, if you look at some of our second-round and third-round picks, they would also go a lot higher.”

Expectations for season 2025

Bassat, the co-founder of Seek, remains as passionate a Saints supporter today as he was in his youth when standing in the outer at Moorabbin. He loves nothing more than hanging out with fans at training, and understands the frustration that comes from a club that is still chasing its second flag. But he is adamant the foundations have to be right, including getting more games into the young talent, eschewing what he calls “sugar hits”.

“There is a bunch of statistics that we have been looking at over the last month that give us great heart,” he said. “That two years of build when you look at our list profile, when you look at our coaching group, it has changed dramatically and the quality of our coaching group, when you look at our program, generally, at the fundamental level, we feel really good.

“We hope that means finals, we hope that means winning finals – it would be wonderful if that means the flag. But our bigger focus is getting the fundamentals right.”

Bassat, having extended Lyon’s contract until the end of 2027, admits more on-field success will aid the Saints’ recruiting plans.

“The missing piece now for us is to show we are on the road to contention. Once we do that, I have no doubt we will attract top-end talent,” he said.

The Saints open their 2025 campaign in Adelaide against the Crows on Sunday.

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Father-son and academy concessions

Bassat led the charge last year over what he, and other club bosses, felt was inequality in concessional rates allowed for father-son and next generation academy products. “[It’s] absolute rubbish,” Bassat said at the time. There is change this season, but Bassat wants the entire system overhauled, with concessions scrapped.

“They [the AFL] have made it fairer to their credit, and clubs have got in the way of making it fairer still, but I don’t think they have done enough,” Bassat said.

He pointed to the Gold Coast Suns’ hauls in recent national drafts where they have been boosted by elite academy products.

“They [still] had enough trade cap to get [Daniel] Rioli and [John] Noble,” Bassat said of the former Tiger and former Magpie respectively.

Bassat pointed to the Suns having potential No.1 draft pick Zeke Uwland in their academy this season, while they also have access to Kalani White, the son of former Melbourne star Jeff White. Kalani could yet go as a father-son to the Demons. The Saints, with three NGA players on their list, have highly rated running half-back Kye Fincher in their NGA pathway program.

“You can’t keep giving two first-rounders, or two top-five picks [as father-sons or NGA products] to sides every year and have a fair competition,” Bassat said.

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