Charlie St John continuing to impress Wodonga Raiders coach Marc Almond

In his first season of senior football, the 20-year-old played 17 games in 2022 and continues to impress Raiders coach Marc Almond.

St John is the younger brother of captain Brad.

"Charlie had a breakout year and he just keeps getting better and better," Almond enthused.

"I've seen him come back in unbelievable shape.

"He just looks sharper and a bit more competent.

"Everyone's confident in how to play footy but he looks like he understands what the standards are.

"There's a few others, like Max Glass, a player who's got an enormous amount of talent.

"He did a lot of work over the off-season and in our exit interview, we were both pretty honest with each other.

"He was honest with himself, which was great, and he's come back in decent nick.

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"He's got a bit to go but he's a player who I've been really pleased with."

The young guns are making their way in a Raiders side facing another challenging season after winning just one game in 2022.

Almond has seen the quality and intensity of training rise since he arrived at the club but admits progress will be taken in small steps.

"It definitely doesn't equate to wins and losses," Almond said.

"I remember when I was at Corowa, we won three in our first year after not winning a game in three years and in the second year, we won two.

"But that second year's list was better than the first year's list, quite comfortably, it's just that everyone around us was improving.

"From where we were coming from, we just needed good players through the door. We obviously need a ruckman, we needed some more experience on our list and Cam Ellis-Yolmen will help with that.

"We needed to get some locals back, which we've done in Hayden Clarke, Tom Bracher and Will Donaghey.

"We've obviously lost three pretty good ones in Jarrod Hodgkin, Isaac Muller and Max Beattie but I feel, talent-wise, we've replaced them with those guys I just mentioned."

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