Leigh Montagna and Jack Newnes on St Kilda's community camp in New Zealand. Picture: Sean Garnsworthy/AFL MEDIA Source: Supplied EVER felt the person you were talking to wanted to get out of his seat and belt you, because they felt you were hearing and not listening? Leigh Montagna felt like that. He wanted to talk about 2013 and its promises and potential riches, when the subject matter was continually dragged back to 2009 and 2010, when the Saints were the bullies, and then dragged to 2011 and 2012, when the Saints were the halfway team, not knowing whether they were coming or going. In the past two years they won 24 games and lost 20. Last year, they didn't win more than two games in succession. To go forward, surely you had to look back? Yeah? Montagna agreed - for a short time - and then lost it, the frustration needling him. "I understand in 2011 we were asked about our year in response to 2009 and 2010, that was fair, and in 2012, we were still asked ... but we should be talking about 2013 and what it's going to bring," he said. The group has moved on. It's different. Half our list is different, our coaching staff and football department is completely different and all our sports science department is completely different. It feels like a different team, a different time. That was a long time ago, it feels like a long time ago. We were in different places, in different head spaces. We did have a lingering bad taste, or whatever words you want to use, the fog, whatever. But it genuinely feels like a fresh start. Yeah, the scars will always be there, but they aren't fresh anymore. They aren't on the surface, they are tucked away where they should be. I don't think they will be an issue any more. That's what I'm trying to say. Most importantly, the players who survived St Kilda's "almost" era have a different mentality. The new kids, such as Jack Newnes, have a different mentality altogether. At 29, Montagna says they want to have a crack again. At 19, Newnes is building towards his first crack at it. For the older gang, time heals and so does talking about it, and two different kinds of meetings in the off-season helped senior group understand that battles have been fought and lost, but the war continues year after year. One discussion was impromptu. In December at Seaford, the club's training facility, coach Scott Watters suddenly sprung a question at recruit Trent Dennis-Lane, who had been shopped by premier Sydney at the end of the last season. In front of the group, Watters asked: "Trent, what was the single biggest attribute Sydney had?" Before Watters had taken another breath, Dennis-Lane responded: "Self belief." A lot of teams want to play finals, but only a couple of teams have that real maniacal belief and attitude ... I can feel it. The maniacs are back in charge of the asylum. The other discussion was in Colorado at the club's high-altitude training camp. The coach was there, and 11 or so senior players - Nick Riewoldt, Lenny Hayes, Nick Dal Santo, Montagna, Sam Fisher, Stephen Milne, Justin Koschitzke, Jason Blake, Ben McEvoy, James Gwilt and Adam Schneider. The players made a pact. "For some guys it's their last year," Montagna said. Some guys have got two left, some three, maybe four years, but for the core of us it was about having one last serious crack at it. What gave us hope was Sydney, looking at how Sydney have done it. They didn't bottom out, they didn't get rid of all their senior players and start again. They kept their quality senior players and led really well. Had the Saints given up hope after you know what? "I wouldn't say that," Montagna said. That it had gone past us? Had we missed ... what's the word? We probably didn't have the feeling we were right at the top. We felt we were competitive and on our day we could win, but it was that feeling you have when you know you're a good side. Teams who are successful have that feeling. It's hard to describe. You know you are going to win, and all the good teams have it. But we lost that for a number of reasons. We thought we could still play finals, but that real killer instinct you need to win a premiership was probably a bit harder to grasp. We went through a period when it was hard to get ourselves up again, deflated, we just didn't get ourselves to the levels to be a premiership side. You need to be maniacal. That's word I'm looking for. A lot of teams want to play finals, but only a couple of teams have that real maniacal belief and attitude. We're building towards that. And we are holding each of us accountable to it. If we can get that feeling back - and we know what it feels like - the younger boys, like Jack Newnes, he won't know what that feeling is like. But he will feel it coming from us. It will evolve. Just the way we talk at training. You know, talk about why we're doing this and that, why the structure has to be right, because in a prelim final, when the pressure is on ... that's the talk. The words "self belief" were the trigger for Montagna. When Dennis-Lane said those two words at Seaford, the Saints latched on. This time last year, no one thought Sydney could win the flag, but they did. In the pre-season they would've been talking themselves up, being positive, setting the standards, and that's what we're trying to do," Montagna said. And I can feel it. I talked about Sydney. Their leaders led. O'Keefe, Bolton, Goodes, McVeigh, Ted Richards. And they topped up with some players to fill the void and they've got good quality youngsters in Hannebery, Jetta, Alex Johnson. There's a belief we are in a similar situation. If us older blokes can lead like we know we can, drive the middle tier like Jack Steven and Ben McEvoy, who will continue to get better. And we believe we have quality young players. (Aaron) Siposs can seriously play, Rhys Stanley can seriously play. And we bought guys in who can fill holes, Tom Hickey and Tom Lee. Leigh Montagna with his bandaged up right leg. Picture: Michael Dodge Source: Herald Sun Self-belief, he said, evolved from preparation and actions. "Right now it's preparation, doing everything right and then once the games start you believe through actions," he said. If the ball is there to be won, David Armitage wins it. If there is a goal there to be kicked, Ahmed Saad kicks it. Your self-belief is always going to be challenged, there will be injuries, you might lose a game you should've won, and then it becomes your resilience. You know, s--- happens, let's go again. I'm not saying we are there, but we are feel we are building momentum and belief. I'll be interested when you talk to Jack Newnes to see where he sees the leadership this year. I want to hear what vibe he feels. Newnes and Montagna are historically close. Northern suburbs boys, Montagna's brother is mates with Newnes' older brother. Both played with the same junior football club, Ivanhoe, attended the same school, Marcellin College, and were drafted at No.37. Newnes played seven games last year and is an up-and-coming midfielder, Montagna has played 187 games as an out-and-out mid, although a new role last year, which was not so much shut down when Clint Jones wasn't selected, but an accountable one, gave him fresh perspective. Leigh Montagna congratulates Jack Newnes on his goal. Roles on players such as Marc Murphy, Kieren Jack, Daniel Rich, Brent Stanton and Joel Selwood were rewarded with a runner-up placing in the best-and-fairest award. Newnes says the differences between his first and second pre-seasons is vast. Colorado made a huge difference. Everyone has bonded a lot more, the younger guys and older blokes, a real coming together. Everyone is more fired up. In Colorado, they had a chat, then we had a big team chat, and there's a lot of possibilities that could happen. The leadership group from this pre-season to last year has really turned the switch. Obviously they had those two big years ...  We may not get there again ... but we are going to leave a legacy of what it's like to be hungry and maniacal and have self-belief and it's guys like Jack Newnes who might prosper from it. Hunger lost and hunger regained is foreign for Newnes. He wasn't at the club when the Saints challenged, so he's not about rediscovery. To him, it's about discovery. "I haven't asked too much about it, you don't speak about it too much," he said of 2009-10. But they reckon they have new life now. Montagna acknowledges the young blokes don't know the pain and nor they should. "You think of the an analogy," he said. We've got through that valley, and we've come up the the other side or the haze or the trough ... we are through it and the club is in great shape. We may not get there again, and it may happen in three years' time when we are all gone. But we are going to leave a legacy of what it's like to be hungry and maniacal and have self-belief and it's guys like Jack Newnes who might prosper from it. That's how we want to leave the game.