Riewoldt, who turned 32 last month, has signed a contract extension taking him to the end of 2016, which would be his 16^th season of AFL football.

Riewoldt is currently sixth on St Kilda's all-time games list with 281. But two more seasons of uninterrupted football would take him past recently retired teammate Lenny Hayes, as well as Barry Breen, Stewart Loewe and Nathan Burke, the only Saint left in front of him Harvey on 383.

The St Kilda captain is already due to break one club record in 2015 when he leads the Saints for a 10^th season, beating Danny Frawley's nine seasons at the helm. It follows a superb 2014 season, when he won a sixth best and fairest award, two more than any other player in the club's history.

Riewoldt said on Monday that while previous knee injuries had made him ponder how long he had left in the game, a full 2014 in which he played every game, had restored his confidence in his body.

"It comes on the back of some continuity with my body and feeling confident in myself that I'm going to be able to live up to those two years and fulfil that obligation," Riewoldt said, pleased that he will remain a one-club player.

"I always wanted to be here. It's irresponsible not to think about those things, though, especially given the climate of AFL now. Free agency has really changed the game, but for me, I'm a loyal person, I really love the footy club, and I'm committed to leading us through this next phase."

While the Saints are at the opposite end of the ladder currently to five years ago, when they came so close to two premierships, Riewoldt said he was genuinely excited about the Saints' future.

"I'm really committed to leading us through that transition and being a big part of it, and hopefully playing in finals again, he said. "It's exciting, it really is, and it's going to get even better in a week's time when you add another three players inside the first 20 picks [of the national draft].

"The club have been really transparent in the approach they wanted to take with going to the draft and getting as many talented young kids as we could. There's having a plan, and there's actually executing it, and the club's executed it really well so far, and this week is another opportunity to get some talent through the door."

Riewoldt didn't take part in St Kilda's two-kilometre time trial at Casey Fields on Monday, having played in Australia's international rules win over Ireland in Perth on Saturday night.

He said he was confident in the concept's future after a generally positive response to the game, in which Australia fielded its strongest group of players for many years.

"It was fantastic to be able to play with so many great players and just associate with great people during the week," Riewoldt said. "The concept has certainly had its critics over the last few years, but I think it was answered emphatically on the weekend that it was a series that can really work, and I really look forward to next year now."