St Kilda recalls Jack Billings as Hunter Clark plays first game for 2022

Last time St Kilda played Essendon they lost by 75-points, but the teams are in very different places in 2022.

St Kilda coach Brett Ratten has gone for a couple of big ins to play against Essendon. Picture: Darrian Traynor/AFL Photos/Getty Images

St Kilda midfielder Hunter Clark will play his first game for 2022 against Essendon as coach Brett Ratten calls on three key replacements after a “night of disaster” in Brisbane last Saturday.

Clark will be joined by Jack Billings, who has played just two senior games this season, and Nasiah Wanganeen-Milear in returning to face the battling Bombers as Ratten and his team plot a path to a potential top-four finish.

Ratten was forced into the mass changes after losing Mitch Owens, Dan McKenzie and Zak Jones in the loss to the Lions. St Kilda finished the match with just two fit players on the bench, leading the coach to label the match a disaster form an injury point of view.

But the disaster was mitigated somewhat with scans coming up clear for Jones, who has dodged a hamstring injury and will line up against Essendon, who smashed the Saints by 75 points in their last home-and-away encounter in round 3, 2021.

“He‘s come up, the MRI was all clear,” Ratten said of Jones on Thursday.

“From his point of view, he didn‘t have any power in the game and he had a sort of hamstring pain and, with his history, it was a big risk to take, so the medicos pulled him out and then he pulled up OK.

“The next day he got the scan and there was nothing there, so on Tuesday he trained really well again, pulled up well, so he’ll play for sure.”

A couple of handy ins for #SpudsGamepic.twitter.com/HkEdehuQuO

— St Kilda FC (@stkildafc) June 16, 2022

Billings, who signed a four-year deal to stay at the Saints, has been unable to break into the senior line-up in recent weeks after battling hamstring issues to start the season.

Clark, who made a VFL return from his shoulder injury in May, has lacked consistency in VFL appearances after contracting Covid-19 and then dealing with byes for the reserves team Sandringham.

But Ratten said their return was welcome as they prepared to tackle the Bombers, who have struggled to just three wins in 2022, and testament to St Kilda’s depth that such quality could come in as injury replacements.

“Billings and Clark will come in, which is great and that will strengthen our group,” Ratten said.

“Those players have been waiting and building to play senior footy.

“JB has had a bit of a taste whereas Hunter has sort of been building and then through Covid and VFL bye and being not quite ready, we opted to take a conservative approach.

“It‘s really good for us to have the talent and depth there when you do get injuries.”

St Kilda has surged into finals contention through the first half of 2022, winning eight of their first 12 games to sit sixth, but need to beat the Bombers with clashes against top-four contenders Carlton and Fremantle to follow Friday’s clash.