Howard, too, is an important piece who could go to another level, even with the recruitment of Western Bulldogs premiership swingman Zaine Cordy.

Then there are the likes of Ben Paton (24), Jack Higgins (23) and top-10 draftees Hunter Clark (23), who wanted to leave for North Melbourne this past trade period, and Nick Coffield (23), who is set to return from an ACL rupture that wiped out his 2022 season.

One of the goals of club great and new assistant coach Lenny Hayes is to help the richly talented Clark realise his potential.

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, the No.11 pick in last year’s draft, offers as much promise as any other player on the list not named Max King. What is abundantly clear, and also highlighted in the review, is the desperate need for more elite talent, which Saints list boss James Gallagher explained as part of the reason for a quiet trade period (although they did have a serious crack at Collingwood restricted free agent Jordan De Goey).

“Retention, development and adding more talent through the draft were our main focuses this off-season,” Gallagher said after the trade period.

“We performed quite strongly in the first half of this season without any real impact from Nick Coffield, Zak Jones, Hunter Clark, Jack Billings and Jack Hayes (after round five), so we made a clear decision to focus on retaining our own talent and adding to it through the draft or free agency.

“The past three years have got us to a point with bringing in established talent, but now it’s about backing in our emerging core to grow and play, alongside our quality cohort of senior players.”

A peek at Lyon’s first few seasons after defecting from St Kilda to a then-similarly mediocre Fremantle in late 2011 shows a restraint from vicious, deep cuts or recruiting bulk established talent.

The Dockers did sign free agents Danyle Pearce and Colin Sylvia, trade for Scott Gumbleton and select Zac Dawson and fellow mature-ager Lee Spurr in the draft across Lyon’s first three years in charge. But they also invested in youth, making 11 national draft picks in the same period, albeit with modest results from their first-round selections Tom Sheridan, Josh Simpson and Michael Apeness.

Fremantle instead performed well with later and rookie picks used on Lachie Neale, Alex Pearce, Matt Taberner, Hayden Crozier and Cam Sutcliffe, and went on to play in the 2013 grand final.

What this suggests is Lyon’s greatest impact may not be in shaking up the Saints’ list but rather in getting more out of a playing group that needs top-end talent but is mature enough to be a finals contender in 2023.

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