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“Special”: The draftee who should have Saints fans excited
Andrew Slevison • April 11th, 2025 6:30 pm
St Kilda fans, get excited.
That’s the message surrounding the club’s first-round draft pick, Alix Tauru.
The highly-rated 18-year-old, dubbed ‘the Flying Viking’, was selected by the Saints with Pick 10 in last year’s draft after starring for Gippsland Power and Vic Country in 2024.
His coach at Coates Talent League level, the Power’s Rhett McLennan, says the sky is the limit for the versatile 194cm talent.
McLennan has recently coached the likes of Caleb Serong, Sam Flanders, Charlie Comben, Zach Reid, Bailey Humphrey, Zane Duursma and Tauru’s former Power teammate Xavier Lindsay, so he has seen first-hand what it takes to flourish at the elite level.
“The most exciting thing is that we’re only really scratching the surface about how good Alix can be,” McLennan said on SEN’s Future Stars.
“The interesting thing about Alix is for him to understand how good he can be. I think he’s slowly getting that.”
Tauru arrived at RSEA Park with a stress fracture in his back but returned to action in the VFL for Sandringham last week with seven disposals and some nice overhead marks.
With more footy under his belt in the coming weeks, McLennan is confident that Tauru can soon start to deliver his supreme junior form at the elite level for the Saints.
“It’s a bit of a shame that he’s had his back issues after he got drafted and it’s been a bit of a slow burn,” McLenann continued.
“But in a way that mightn’t be a bad thing to get him acclimatised to Melbourne and the understanding of what a day in, day out fully professional AFL program actually looks like.
“What I’ve seen so far with Alix, his first senior game of football when he was 16 years old for Warragul Industrials he took 16 marks and kicked three goals.
“His games for us last year was what catapulted him so far up the draft order in regards to where he could play which is half-back, half-forward and midfield.
“His scope is enormous. When he gets out on the field it’s all about getting that footy and the ways he can get the footy is sometimes unlike what many others can do.
“His aerial stuff is pretty special. If I’m a Saints supporter I’m pretty excited about what he can be if he gets fully fit.”
With no VFL action at all this weekend, Saints and Zebras fans will have to wait another week before seeing Tauru back on the park.
He’ll continue to build his minutes at state league level before pressing for an AFL debut in the red, white and black before too long.
