"Our club has a growing interest in New Zealand. We have played some games in Wellington and there are some on-going discussions to continue that arrangement.
"Now we are here, it is almost perfect for what we need. The facilities are fantastic."
Adams Centre's manager of strategy and high performance, Justine Brennan, said the opportunity to host St Kilda was exciting.
"We hope that, now we have a world-class facility, this will be the start of more exciting things to come with St Kilda and other AFL teams," she said.
"Without fail, every national or international team coming through the facility is impressed with its calibre, plus its proximity to the on-field infrastructure required to support their sport."
Having St Kilda training at the Bay Oval was a real coup, said Bay Oval Trust general manager, Kelvin Jones.
"We have certainly never had an AFL group here. We always say we are a multi-use venue but this just ticks another box," he said.
"When you see the entourage and the number of people with the team, they are clearly a very big and very professionally run organisation. We know the Aussies go mad for AFL and I imagine there will be people in Australia who are aware of this.
"It is great for us."
Jones is not sure if AFL will ever be played on the Bay Oval but it has that potential.
"To be honest, I don't know if we are big enough or not. It has certainly been mentioned before that AFL could be an option here. At the right time of year and under lights it would be a great thing to see here.
"In this instance, they had the opportunity to train on some of the rugby fields around here but they really wanted to be on the Oval.
"It felt exactly like what they are used to training and playing on at home."
Bay Venues chief executive, Gary Dawson, said the high performance centre was the key piece of infrastructure which was, up until recently, missing in Tauranga's sporting landscape.
"It is exciting that the centre is achieving what it was designed to do, fulfilling its potential in becoming a leading national and international centre of excellence for sport, attracting top sporting teams and individuals," Dawson said.
The St Kilda AFL team is not the first Australian sporting squad to use the facility, but the first to travel specifically to do so.
Other high-profile teams to have used the facility in the nine months since it opened in April include NZ Rugby Sevens, Junior All Blacks, Chiefs, Black Sticks hockey men and women, White Ferns NZ women's cricket, Surf Lifesaving NZ surfboat, Auckland Aces and Northern Districts cricket, and Fever netball.
