AFL 2025: St Kilda is looking to unleash young gun up the ground

St Kilda is working towards giving a young gun more midfield time as it pushes towards future proofing the engine room.

St Kilda is looking to unleash young gun Matteas Phillipou with more midfield minutes for its clash with winless West Coast on Sunday.

Phillipou played his first game of the season last week against Carlton as a predominant forward and kicked two important goals.

He didn’t attend a single centre bounce against the Blues as he eased back into senior footy after a pre-season hindered by injury.

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says Phillipou is a part of the club’s midfield vision and wants to solidify the left-footer there long term.

“We’re looking to play him a bit more midfield, we’ll have to balance that up,” Lyon said.

“We really liked him forward, he was dangerous, he kicked two goals – we’re going to have to figure that out.

“We drafted him to be a big inside mid, as we did (Tobie) Travaglia, as we did (Hugh) Boxshall and as we did (Hugo) Garcia.

“Really, (Jack) Macrae and Jack Steele are bringing those guys through. Hunter Clark got through last week, two weeks in a row now.

“He’s a really good player for us, in particular experience. Zak Jones was really unwell the previous week or so, we’re looking to build.”

St Kilda is working towards giving young gun Mattaes Phillipou more midfield time. Picture: James Wiltshire/AFL Photos via Getty Images

A win over the Eagles would edge the Saints back within reach of the top eight as Essendon and Western Bulldogs (both a win ahead) face off on Saturday night.

The Eagles have made a historically poor start to 2025 but Lyon says the Saints “swim in deep water every week” and are under no illusions out west.

“They’re really fighting, they fought to the line and it was just a big tackle that probably cost them the game,” he said.

“Particularly at home, I obviously know the environment, I know the ground, know (how) big a club they are – proud club.

“Essendon, they probably should’ve got the chocolates, Melbourne a lot of the metrics were very strong and their form has been very good against Richmond.

“We’re certainly under no illusion and we’re not a team that just rolls out and wins. We’ve got to bring great effort and play our system.

“We feel we’ve tightened our defence against Fremantle and Carlton because we were leaking, Matteas back, Mason Wood should play.

“We’re not without challenge, third youngest last week against Carlton sixth oldest. We wanted to get over the line, frustrated we didn’t. It sat heavily with the coaches and players.”

Originally published as AFL 2025: St Kilda is looking to unleash young gun up the ground