World Footy News

St Kilda is set to be further entrenched as New Zealand’s AFL team of choice, with the club to hold its High Performance Training Camp and AFL Australia Post Community Camps in the country.

With NZ born Shane Savage on their mainlist and Joe Baker-Thomas and Giovanni Mountain-Silberry both on AFL International Scholarships with the Saints they are really endeavouring to position themselves as NZ's number one team to support.

The Saints playing list will be spread over Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch for three days as part of the AFL Australia Post Community Camp from December 1-3 before the squad meets in Queenstown to complete its High Performance training camp.

The Saints will hold a 10-day camp in the picturesque New Zealand town, where they will hike through Queenstown’s famous mountains, tackle the rapids of Arthurs Peak and hone their skills using state of the art training facilities.

The new location of the High Performance Training Camp is in line with the club’s New Zealand strategy after the Saints have played home games on Anzac Day at Westpac Stadium, Wellington for each of the past two years.

St Kilda CEO Matt Finnis said it was exciting for St Kilda to step away from its usual training environment and work together in an outstanding location not too far from home.

“New Zealand is a stunning country and Queenstown epitomises this,” Finnis said.

“Our players are very much looking forward to what lies ahead. While the High Performance camp will be a demanding and difficult camp in many ways, the scenery is amazing and the activities planned will definitely be a step away from standard pre-season training.”

“By developing the Australian game in New Zealand, we are committed to being New Zealand’s team and this has only been further proven by the decision to hold our High Performance Training camp at our home away from home.”