A RUNNING capacity rivaling St Kilda superstar Nick Riewoldt is one of the secrets behind Josh Bruce's star turn in attack this season.



Bruce has booted 18 goals – including a career-best haul of six against Gold Coast in round two – to provide the Saints with a surprise marking target.



But his success has come as little shock to Saints ruckman Tom Hickey who played in the same national under-18 championships as Bruce, and has seen first-hand how hard the former Greater Western Sydney backman works to burn off his opponents.

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"He was All Australian full-forward in our under-18s year; he kicked a few goals and always had really good hands," Hickey told SEN.



"I think GWS tried to turn him into a defender when they recruited so many forwards so when he got his opportunity (to play up forward for the Saints) he relished it.



"He works super hard and had a huge pre-season. He's almost doing the Nick Riewoldt thing where he tries to run his opponents into the ground, and it's working.



"I would hate to play on him."



Bruce, 22, has booted 11 more goals than his next best teammates Jack Sinclair and Jack Billings.



And as St Kilda fought back from 55 points down to snatch an incredible win over the Western Bulldogs last round, it was the 196cm big man who commanded the forward 50 arc while Riewoldt moved onto a wing.



However, Hickey hinted that Alan Richardson's Saints could load up on talls, including himself, in their forward line this Saturday when they travel to Adelaide and face the undersized Crows defence.



"They haven't got too many tall defenders but they run off and they're pretty good out of there," he said.



"Richo's really been big on that we may be two metres tall and 6'7", but as soon as the ball hits the deck we need to be 5'10" blokes running and chasing the ball.



"That's going to be our biggest challenge I think."