Slim Saint sets bar

A HUGE off-season weight loss has turned Maverick Weller into something of a pin-up boy for Saints coack Alan Richardson as St Kilda watchers say the forward’s disciplined example has set the bar for the rest of the playing group.

MAVERICK Weller’s off-season trim-down is tangible evidence of the forward’s unwavering commitment to St Kilda’s immediate future, according to a former teammate.

Weller, 25, has cut eight kilograms from his 2017 playing weight over this off-season after a sit-down with coach Alan Richardson made him realise something had to change.

And ex-Saint Leigh Montagna believes it is a positive action that will filter through the rest of the team.

“If every player on the list takes a small percentage increase in their physical or football performance, it all adds up,” Montagna said.

“They’re the little things that you need to learn.

“It’s such an even competition that the little things do matter, and if everyone is doing them then they all add up.

“To have one of your leaders doing that sets a good example to the younger boys that it doesn’t matter how old you are or where you’re at with your football, you can always look to get better.”

Montagna — who retired at the end of the season — said adding extra weight was a problem many players wished to have.

But he credited his former fellow Saint’s commitment to his craft.

“Guys like him — you need to be leaner now and be able to run with the modern game,” Montagna said.

“Mav looks at a weight and he puts on size. I wish I had that problem where I didn’t have to do weights for my whole career.

“That’s just a credit to his professionalism and his dedication to be a really good playy er.

“For the majority of guys, s, they need to bulk up and put ut on size to have a body to play y AFL and then there’s guys like (David) Armitage and Mav Weller and these lucky blokes es that try and do the opposite.

“That’s a positive to hear ar that.”

Weller said this week that he and Richardson had a “private conversation” at the end of the season that prompted the move to trim kilos from his frame after ongoing ankle issues, and conceded he was yet to hit the e heights he had hoped to reach since moving to St Kilda from Gold Coast at the end of 2013.

“We just thought there’s no o point having (the weight) on; n; it’s a running game these days ys and you’ve got to be nice and light,” the Saint told the club website this week.