Selection posers for Saints

St Kilda has come through the week's break for the Hall of Fame match revitalised and looks like going into Friday's clash against Collingwood with some fresh personnel, according to senior coach Ross Lyon.

The Saints were one of three clubs - Essendon and Melbourne were the others - without Dream Team or Big V representation, and Lyon was not complaining.

"All signals out of most camps was that everyone was appreciative of the week off to nurse some sore spots and analyse where you're at and put a good training performance together," said Lyon at Moorabbin on Tuesday.

"We're no different."

Lyon described as sensible the decision to exclude midfielder Nick Dal Santo from the Victorian squad on fitness grounds, and said the week off had allowed the 24-year-old to recover fully from his shoulder problems.

Dal Santo, according to Lyon, would be a definite starter against the Magpies, while the club's No.1 ruckman Steven King is a chance to return after straining a hamstring against Essendon in Round 5.

Lyon said the Saints had missed King's presence and the veteran would add some flexibility up forward in the absence of injured skipper Nick Riewoldt.

If King should come up short, however, then young ruckman Ben McEvoy, the club's top selection at last year's National Draft, may be a chance to debut.

"We're really keen to bring him in at some stage because he's a talented young ruckman," Lyon said of the 201cm 18-year-old, taken with pick No.9 from the Murray Under-18s.

"He played really well and the Casey Scorpions had a good win (over the Northern Bullants last weekend) - it's a fair way off AFL level but he's still going OK."

A negative for the Saints, apart from Riewoldt who is likely to miss up to a month with a medial ligament strain, is that tagger Steven Baker is in 'severe doubt' with his own knee issues.

"We were more confident earlier in the week that he would definitely play but he banged his knee a bit and there's internal bleeding ... so he's not as fluid as we would like," said Lyon of Baker.

"At this stage he's probably more unlikely than likely."

Lyon nominated former Caulfield Grammar schoolmates Andrew McQualter and Robert Eddy as contenders to be promoted from the rookie list in place of Matt Maguire, and said second-year forward Jarryd Allan was in the mix to come in for the injured Riewoldt.

"I don't think anyone's irreplaceable, I think everyone brings something unique to the team." Lyon said of Riewoldt.

"We'll pick a team that's balanced and that can run for a hundred minutes. We just need someone to work hard and present in the forward line and lock the ball in and we're confident we can find people to do that."

Asked how he assessed Justin Koschitzke's first seven rounds and whether he expected more, Lyon said: "We need a bit more out of everyone."

"We're one of the middle tier group ... we're there, but there's a number of players who could improve their performance and Justin's just one."