A lot can change in 12 months.

For third-year rookie Jack Redpath, one year of football has the former country league power forward now transitioning into a key post player in the Bulldogs’ defense.

With last year’s NAB Cup the 23-year-old’s only foray in the senior ranks, Redpath was keen to put a summer spent training as a dedicated back to the test at Simonds Stadium last night.

“All your craft comes out, we’ve done so much work with Matty Scarlett and Rohan (Smith), and having Joel there now, I think all that comes out,” Redpath told BulldogsTV after the Dogs’ 11-point victory.

“Having that good pre-season behind you, and having Dale Morris out there too [helped make it easier for me].”

Watching-on from the bench in the first half in the sub’s vest, Redpath was thrust into the thick of the contest out of the main break with the Saints having drawn within two points.

A couple of choice words from backline general Morris helped the rookie defender hone his focus on the task at hand.

“We had a really good first quarter, second quarter we dropped off a bit, we went away from the things that we’re really good at,” Redpath said.

“So third quarter we just wanted to come back to that,  that strong , tough, in around the ball .”

“Moz just said ‘create a contest, give them nothing’ and we ended up getting on top in that third quarter.”

While only gathering a handful of possesion, a couple of critical spoils and chases was enough to show that the 194 centimetre key position prospect had made his first steps in the right direction of mastering his craft. 

After not tasting success in last year’s NAB Cup campaign, Redpath was enthused by the positive reinforcement victory provided after a tough summer on the training track.

“We didn’t come here just to play well, we came here to win for sure,” Redpath said.

“To get the win fantastic, and [now we] get back into the training and recovery and look to get in there and knock Fremantle off next week.”