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been a 'Grouse' Weekend
“It’s been grouse,” Gresham, last year’s Northern Knights captain, said of the experience. “We got up nice and early, had some brekkie and a few of us split up in different boats and went fishing and scuba diving.
“We caught heaps of fish — tuna, salmon, crayfish, everything that you could imagine. We get to cook it up now and have a really good mea
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That is a massive cray
JADE Gresham, St Kilda’s top pick in last year’s national draft, had a good feed Saturday night, but it will be the lessons he learnt at Camp Riewoldt this weekend that will live with him for a lot longer.
Gresham, 18, joined the rest of the Saints’ first year players, including former Magpie Nathan Freeman, at Nick Riewoldt’s family home in Orford on Tasmania’s picturesque east coast.
The trip to the small fishing village has quickly become a club tradition. It started last year when Riewoldt invited the club’s new players to his family home for a weekend of fishing and diving.
Purely from a fishing and diving sense, it produced a large haul, and in terms of team bonding the bounty appears to be just as fruitful.
“It’s been grouse,” Gresham, last year’s Northern Knights captain, said of the experience. “We got up nice and early, had some brekkie and a few of us split up in different boats and went fishing and scuba diving.
“We caught heaps of fish — tuna, salmon, crayfish, everything that you could imagine. We get to cook it up now and have a really good meal.
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“It has been a great bonding experience. We are just getting to know each other better and we’re talking about the expectations we have for the year ahead of us.”
The first-year players, along with Riewoldt, who is expected to captain the side again this year, and emerging leader Jarryn Geary, as well as coach Alan Richardson, spent part of yesterday over at Maria Island.
Saints Jade Gresham getting his hands dirty at leadership camp. Picture: Colleen Petch
The club’s player development manager Tony Brown said the first-year weekend camp provided some great opportunities for the players.
“It’s more of a bonding weekend, where the captain and the coach come down and we get out on the boat and do a bit of fishing and swimming, have a barbecue, play beach cricket and then sit around the fire and ‘Rooey’ and ‘Richo’ talk about the expectations for the year and what it is to be a Saints player,” Brown said.
Gresham has settled in seamlessly with the Saints since he was taken pick 18 in the draft, with his destination surprising the hardworking midfielder.
“I was pretty nervous leading into the draft, not knowing where I was going to end up,” he said. “I thought there were a few clubs who seemed interested in me ... Carlton and North Melbourne were pretty keen, but it was a bit of a surprise because I didn’t think St Kilda was all that interested.”
“It has worked out really well for me. They’ve got a young, exciting list and I’ve settled in really well at the club.”
The former Parade College student has had a bit to do with North Melbourne veteran Brent Harvey, who played with his father in the Northern Knights in the mid 1990s.
Gresham originally started playing with Harvey’s junior club, Preston RSL, before moving to South Morang in the under 12s.
“Dad and Boomer grew up together, so I spoke to him a fair bit and caught up with him, which was great,” he said.
He won a swag of consecutive club best and fairest awards in his junior years, was equal runner-up in the Morrish Medal and won the Knights best-and-fairest as well as being named Vic Metro’s MVP and an All-Australian.
Gresham was always confident that he could overcome any concerns about his height (177cm) by simply working as hard as he could.
“The one thing you can’t control is your height, you’ve just got to go about your business as best as you can,” he said.
Gresham said he was eager to learn as much as he could in his first season. “Probably the first goal was to earn the respect of the boys and to train hard,” he said.
“But I’d love to be able to play a few NAB Challenge games if that opportunity comes about.”
