St Kilda Senior Assistant Adam Kingsley says the Saints decided to select a near full strength side for their opening JLT Community Series game against Port Adelaide on the back of pre-season training form.
Kingsley will assume the coaching responsibilities from Alan Richardson on Thursday night at Etihad Stadium, with Aaron Hamill to follow suit against Carlton next weekend.
The Saints have included four new faces in their initial 29-man squad to face the Power, with former Bomber Jake Carlisle set for his first appearance in red, white and black, while the three players acquired last October – Nathan Brown, Jack Steele and Koby Stevens – are all in the extended squad.
Speaking at a press conference at Linen House Centre, former Port Adelaide premiership player Kingsley said the Saints will introduce some younger faces in their second pre-season hit out before undergoing a full dress rehearsal for the final fixture against Sydney on March 12.
“We decided in the end to pick the guys who have been most impressive over the summer in our first game,” Kingsley told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
“We’ve obviously got some new guys into the club in Steele and Stevens, Carlisle is obviously back after 12 months and Nathan Brown; it’s a good opportunity for those guys to fight their way into the team.
“The following week in JLT 2 we’ll some of the other guys who missed out or many of them to give them the opportunity and then the final game will basically be a full dress rehearsal for Round 1. That’s our plan, we’re pretty comfortable with who we’ve selected.
“I guess when you look at the squad we view it as quite strong as well, we’re pretty comfortable with where we sit and some pretty good players have missed out.”
The most notable absentee from the this weekend’s team sheet is dual All-Australian, Leigh Montagna, who suffered a minor calf strain last week ahead of the Saints intra-club.
Kingsley said the 33-year-old veteran is expected to face the Swans in the last game of the JLT Community Series.
“He hurt his calf last week so he’s not fully fit, if he was he’d definitely be in our team,” he said.
“He never misses a beat Leigh, but unfortunate he had a minor setback. It isn’t serious, we get these things from time to time.
“We’re expecting him to be ready around JLT 3 give or take; we’ll suck it and see how he goes with that, but we’re expecting him to definitely be fit for Round 1.”
