St Kilda’s midfield recruit Jack Steele facing delayed start to pre-season after serious foot injury

Traded to the Saints for a future second-round draft pick, the former Giant suffered the injury in a training mishap on the eve of the finals series.

With St Kilda’s first-to-fourth-year players set to begin pre-season training next Monday before the full list returns later this month, Steele will be on a limited program when he resumes.

He has just started walking without a moon boot and hopes to begin running soon with the aim of being introduced to full training in early 2017.

“It’s feeling good, hopefully I’m running in a couple of weeks,” Steele said.

“I think I’m going to do a bit of rehab before Christmas and then maybe run on the Christmas break and then when I get back from the Christmas break in January is when I’m into full training.”

Steele managed just 17 games for GWS in two seasons as the tough inside midfielder struggled to nail down a senior spot in his former club’s talent-rich side.

He saw more opportunities at St Kilda and the lure of midfield minutes was too good to pass up. The 20-year-old will add more depth to coach Alan Richardson’s growing clutch of onballers.

“I think there was a lot more opportunity here than there was at the Giants,” Steele told the club’s website. “The Giants were stacked with talent and it was hard to get a consistent game.

“So I think St Kilda was the best suit for me.

“He (coach Alan Richardson) sees me as a mid, so hopefully I’ll be playing the majority of football in the midfield.”