St Kilda makes four changes for clash against Adelaide

ST KILDA made four changes for its game against Adelaide on Saturday night, handing a young ruckman his second game and introducing a debutant.

Saints coach Alan Richardson has made four changes. Picture: AAP

ST KILDA made four changes for its game against Adelaide on Saturday night, handing a young ruckman his second game and introducing a debutant.

The Saints replaced injured ruckman Billy Longer (groin) with 201cm Rowan Marshall, 22, who played one game last season.

They named Nick Coffield, 18, the No.8 selection in last year’s draft, for his debut.

Also in for the game at Etihad Stadium are onballer Luke Dunstan and defender Brandon White.

Koby Stevens, Jack Steele and Hunter Clark were dropped as the Saints reacted to last week’s 52-point loss to North Melbourne, in their first Good Friday game.

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They delayed picking its Round 3 line-up until after Thursday’s training session as under-fire coach Alan Richardson anticipated another intense hitout from his players.

The Saints have lost their past seven matches against the Crows by an average of 57 points.

Richardson said his team “naively” expected their strong last-quarter form against Brisbane Lions in Round 1 to “roll on” against North Melbourne on Good Friday.

Richardson was disappointed with his side’s inside grunt in Round 1 and the Saints were again smashed in contested ball 150-119 in their 51-point loss to the Kangas.

Nick Coffield will make his debut for the Saints. Picture: AAP

“And Adelaide are good at that (contested ball),” Richardson said.

“They were +48 themselves (against Richmond) last week. If you don’t get that right you can be embarrassed.

“Fundamentally it’ll be addressing areas that were not good in terms of the contest. Whether that be your one-on-one, I think we broke even at clearance, hardball gets we were down.

“But it was more the work to get to the next contest that was our biggest concern.”

After Round 2 the Saints are ranked 17th for contested ball with the Crows in the top four.

Three-time best-and-fairest winner Jack Steven left the track early at Moorabbin.

The Saints usually settle on their squad earlier but Richardson said yesterday’s session was “important for us” after the Good Friday failure.

“We’ve normally had the meeting and gone through what the team looks like,” Richardson said.

“(But) we’ll do that after training. We’ll see initially how guys train and then probably just as importantly how they pull up and then we’ll select a team.

“Our training has been really intense, and that’s all we can ask. Your attitude won’t change unless you get to work. That’s been our approach philosophically.”

Jack Steele was one of four changes the Saints made. Picture: Getty Images

The Saints were caught off guard last week when Kangaroos tagger locked down on Seb Ross instead of Steven and Richardson said they were “naive and immature in many ways”.

Richardson said it was time for players to step up after the departure of club greats Nick Riewoldt and Leigh Montagna.

“Those guys retired,” Richardson said.

“We think it’s time for our next group of leaders and young players, and more experienced players more to the point like Ross and (Dylan) Roberton did last year, to step up.

“I’m confident they will.”

A loss to the Crows — who Richardson is yet to beat — would see St Kilda start 1-2 for the fourth consecutive season.

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