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After spending every day soaking up advice from two of St Kilda’s greatest ever midfielders, Hugo Garcia is ready to test his mettle against the Brisbane Lions’ champion on-ball brigade.
A youthful St Kilda outfit will attempt to bounce back from a disappointing loss to the Western Bulldogs when they host the reigning premiers at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.
Hugo Garcia of the Saints gets a kick during Gather Round in Adelaide.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
Brisbane’s midfield, headlined by dual Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale, Josh Dunkley and Will Ashcroft, is coming off a loss to Collingwood and will pose a stern test.
But it’s not one Garcia, still just 19, will shy away from.
“It should be a good challenge for me. I like competing against the best – that brings the best out of myself,” Garcia told AAP.
“It’ll be good to compete against a Brownlow medallist like Lachie Neale
“It’ll be good to see what he does and hopefully implement that in my game for the future.
“Josh Dunkley is also one of the star players in the competition and Will Ashcroft’s an up-and-coming young midfielder, so it’ll be good to test myself against those players.”
Coming off nine games in his debut season under Ross Lyon in 2024, Garcia has appeared in the Saints’ past six games, impressing through the midfield and averaging 16 disposals and four clearances.
He’s got plenty of experienced heads to guide him.
“It’s been great to learn and grow off experienced midfielders in there like Jack Macrae and Jack Steele,” Garcia said.
“They’ve really helped me develop and become a better footballer.
“Then on the coaching side of things, Robert Harvey and Lenny Hayes have really been helping me learn midfield craft and just getting better as a whole.
“We’ve got a really talented young group coming through to push each other every day.”
Growing up, Garcia admired Collingwood skipper Scott Pendlebury’s composure, while he’s reaping the benefits of reviewing vision with club great Hayes.
But above anything, he credits his improvement to hard work.
“It’s a brutal competition and if you’re not working hard and not trying to improve every week, you’re not going to get very far,” Garcia said.
“I’ve just put in the hard yards and hopefully you reap the rewards
“A lot of us young players have really bought into Ross’s system and had a really good pre-season. So it’s good to see us young boys getting a crack at it.
“There’s a real hunger within the group to earn a spot in the side and then perform to keep it.
“As each week goes on I think my confidence will keep building.”
St Kilda (3-3) have already claimed one big upset this year, beating Geelong, and are ready to take it up to Brisbane (5-1).
“We’re very optimistic,” Garica said.
“We think that we can challenge any team in the competition.”
St Kilda have regained Dougal Howard and recalled Isaac Keeler while Liam Henry and Arie Schoenmaker were dropped.
Brisbane forward Kai Lohmann returns from injury in place of Sam Marshall.
AAP
After spending every day soaking up advice from two of St Kilda’s greatest ever midfielders, Hugo Garcia is ready to test his mettle against the Brisbane Lions’ champion on-ball brigade.
A youthful St Kilda outfit will attempt to bounce back from a disappointing loss to the Western Bulldogs when they host the reigning premiers at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.
Hugo Garcia of the Saints gets a kick during Gather Round in Adelaide.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
Brisbane’s midfield, headlined by dual Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale, Josh Dunkley and Will Ashcroft, is coming off a loss to Collingwood and will pose a stern test.
But it’s not one Garcia, still just 19, will shy away from.
“It should be a good challenge for me. I like competing against the best – that brings the best out of myself,” Garcia told AAP.
“It’ll be good to compete against a Brownlow medallist like Lachie Neale
“It’ll be good to see what he does and hopefully implement that in my game for the future.
“Josh Dunkley is also one of the star players in the competition and Will Ashcroft’s an up-and-coming young midfielder, so it’ll be good to test myself against those players.”
Coming off nine games in his debut season under Ross Lyon in 2024, Garcia has appeared in the Saints’ past six games, impressing through the midfield and averaging 16 disposals and four clearances.
He’s got plenty of experienced heads to guide him.
“It’s been great to learn and grow off experienced midfielders in there like Jack Macrae and Jack Steele,” Garcia said.
“They’ve really helped me develop and become a better footballer.
“Then on the coaching side of things, Robert Harvey and Lenny Hayes have really been helping me learn midfield craft and just getting better as a whole.
“We’ve got a really talented young group coming through to push each other every day.”
Growing up, Garcia admired Collingwood skipper Scott Pendlebury’s composure, while he’s reaping the benefits of reviewing vision with club great Hayes.
But above anything, he credits his improvement to hard work.
“It’s a brutal competition and if you’re not working hard and not trying to improve every week, you’re not going to get very far,” Garcia said.
“I’ve just put in the hard yards and hopefully you reap the rewards
“A lot of us young players have really bought into Ross’s system and had a really good pre-season. So it’s good to see us young boys getting a crack at it.
“There’s a real hunger within the group to earn a spot in the side and then perform to keep it.
“As each week goes on I think my confidence will keep building.”
St Kilda (3-3) have already claimed one big upset this year, beating Geelong, and are ready to take it up to Brisbane (5-1).
“We’re very optimistic,” Garica said.
“We think that we can challenge any team in the competition.”
St Kilda have regained Dougal Howard and recalled Isaac Keeler while Liam Henry and Arie Schoenmaker were dropped.
Brisbane forward Kai Lohmann returns from injury in place of Sam Marshall.
AAP
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