St Kilda Senior Coach Alan Richardson says Brodie Murdoch’s selection is just reward for his sustained form with Sandringham in the opening half of the season.

The rebounding half-back has put his hand up for another opportunity at senior level across the last month on the back of providing the Zebras with plenty of drive and penetrating ball use.

Murdoch, 22, has not played for the Saints since the final round of last season, but Richardson indicated he has been looking to slot the South Australian back into his side for some time now.

“He’s been really good for us at VFL level for five or six weeks now. We’ve been pretty keen to get Brodie into the team. We want to reward those who perform strongly at the level below,” Richardson told reporters at a press conference on Friday.

“Brodie will predominantly play back; he’ll play a bit of wing for us. He’s a powerful man, he’s got really good speed and endurance and he’s been in good nick.”

Ahead of Saturday’s clash against winless Fremantle, Richardson acknowledged the Dockers injury woes, but said the challenge for his side is to not allow the wounded West Australian’s to rebound at Etihad Stadium.

“Freo have certainly been building. They’ve obviously had some inconsistency with respect to personnel; they’ve been hit really hard with injuries and injuries to good players. But they’ve got 14 players that played in their prelim,” Richardson said.

“The whole industry has enormous respect for the way that they’re coached and how strong they are in terms of committed to the way they want to play.

“We know that they’re going to bounce back and win games of footy pretty soon, our challenge is to make sure it’s not this week.”