While decisions over the futures of senior players at Geelong and North Melbourne have hogged the headlines, St Kilda may also be facing a difficult call, with versatile veteran Adam Schneider yet to decide whether he will ask the club to continue in a playing capacity in 2016.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Schneider, 31, was delisted at the end of last season, only to be picked up by the Saints as a rookie.
Keen to enter the coaching ranks full-time when he stops playing, Schneider could have become a development coach elsewhere had he not been re-drafted, having been in discussions with another AFL club.
Eventually signed for a dual role in which he has been coaching the club's young small forwards in addition to playing, Schneider was elevated to the club's senior list before round one. The 2005 Sydney premiership player has been a steady contributor, playing 13 of the side's 16 games. He even survived a mid-season face-off against fellow rookie Jack Sinclair for the right to be promoted again after Daniel Markworth and Arryn Siposs returned to the senior list from long-term injuries.
From a coaching perspective, he has been involved both midweek and on game day, building a rapport in particular with first-year small forward Jack Lonie - who is known around the club as "mini-Schneids."
It's understood Schneider hasn't made up his mind about whether he will retire at the end of the year, or seek to go on, given his consistent form.
Saints chief operating officer Ameet Bains said that a decision would be made at the end of the season, depending on how Schneider was feeling both mentally and physically, with the state of the club's list and bevy of small forwards also taken into account.
"In a nutshell it's 'let get through the last six games of the season and make an assessment from everyone's perspective'," Bains said said.
"Things have exceeded expectations in everyone's mind."
Bains said the conversation between the parties would be "transparent and mature," similar to those had at the end of 2014.
The Saints would be open to keeping Schneider in a purely coaching role if he doesn't play on.
"He has done a really good job in terms of what he's done game day, and the stuff he's done during the week, not only for the small forwards, but overall given his experience."
The respective futures of defenders Sam Fisher, 33, and Sean Dempster, 31, are also unclear, with both out of contract at year's end.
