St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt says he has never felt so excited to be leading the AFL club.

The Saints officially confirmed on Wednesday that the five-time best and fairest will captain them for a seventh season.

He will head an eight-man leadership group which also includes Brendon Goddard, Nick Dal Santo, Sam Fisher, Leigh Montagna, Adam Schneider, James Gwilt and Ben McEvoy.

Veteran midfielder Lenny Hayes, who is coming back from a knee reconstruction, was not included but was given the official title of leadership mentor.

Captain and leadership group was selected by a player vote, with new head coach Scott Watters and head of football Chris Pelchen also having input into the decision.

Riewoldt said he had welcomed the process and felt reassured to have been reinstalled after the captaincy was thrown open.

He said the new process, instituted by Watters, along with the state of the club’s list had him as excited as he had been entering any season.

“It’s a combination of a lot of things,” Riewoldt said.

“Clearly the club is going through a transition at the moment.

“You’ve seen a lot of different things in the few months we’ve been back at pre-season training.

“I think the list is in a really exciting position.”

Riewoldt said he felt the club was coming from a position of strength despite having dropped to seventh last season after making grand finals the previous two years, followed by the shock departure of Ross Lyon, the Saints coach of the past five seasons.

Riewoldt said despite those setbacks, some off-field scandals that the club has endured in recent seasons and his own struggles with knee soreness last year, he felt the resilience the players had shown to make a fourth straight finals series was a good base to build on.