By Josh Gabelich of St Kilda Football Club

Logan Austin spoke to SAINTS.com.au during day one of pre-season.
It’s been a bit of a whirlwind couple of weeks obviously with the trade and then moving across. It’s just so exciting to actually be here.
Logan Austin
It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for Logan Austin.

St Kilda snared the young key defender from Port Adelaide on the final day of the trade period, before he uprooted his life in South Australia over the weekend and drove to Melbourne ahead of his first day at the club on Wednesday.

While his life is still packed into a suitcase, and despite not ending his season until nearly a month after his new teammates, Austin made an impressive start in the opening three-kilometre time-trial of the pre-season.

“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind couple of weeks obviously with the trade and then moving across. It’s just so exciting to actually be here,” Austin told saints.com.au on his first day at Linen House Centre.

“It’s obviously daunting when you’ve got to come in and run a bit of a time-trial. But it was pretty impressive how well all the boys ran on the first day.

“We’re heading off on a camp for a couple of days and it should be good fun. It’s actually come at a good time for me; I can come in and get to know the group.”

After playing 11 games at the tail end of his second season at the Power, opportunities dried up during 2017, with Austin only managing two senior games late in the year despite a strong season with the Port Adelaide Magpies in the SANFL.

When the opportunity to pursue a fresh start arose during the trade period, the Belconnen product snatched it with both hands, landing at St Kilda in a deal that also involved an exchange of future third and fourth-round picks.

“The big one for me was opportunity,” Austin said. “I think I can add a little bit to this group and at Port the opportunities were just a bit too few and far between.

“I thought this would be best for my football to come across here; it’s such a great club and Melbourne is such a good city, so it’s a good fit for me.”

Austin hasn’t had to look too far for an insight into the inner workings of St Kilda.

His old schoolmate Jack Steele has taken him in as a housemate until Christmas, rekindling a friendship that appeared destined to be long distance when the two were drafted to clubs in different states at the end of 2014.

“Jack and I met each other when we were about 12, started playing footy together around then as well and then I moved to the same school that Jack went to, which was pretty much in our same neighbourhood,” he said.

“We’ve kind of grown up together, so it’s a pretty cool experience that we’re both on AFL lists together and now at the same club.”

http://www.saints.com.au/news/2017-11-08/whirlwind-lands-in-yea-via-seaford-for-austin