St Kilda Coach Alan Richardson says the Saints have had to make some adjustments to their planning after Gold Coast superstar Gary Ablett was ruled out with a calf injury on Friday.

The dual Brownlow medallist was set to play his 300th game against the Saints at Etihad Stadium on Sunday night, but has postponed his milestone celebrations by at least a week.

Speaking at St Kilda’s captain's run on Saturday, Richardson said the Saints quickly turned their attention to who is coming into the Suns' side after they were forced to make a raft of changes this week due to injury and suspension.

“Obviously Ablett is an outstanding player and the focus of most teams when you come up against a player of that calibre, so that changes things a bit and it can be a bit of a challenge I reckon to make sure your group get real clarity on what’s expected,” Richardson said at a press conference on Saturday.

“But we’ve had time to plan and have those conversations. Our focus is then on who’s coming in. Most of those guys have played a fair bit of AFL footy; most of those guys were picked early in drafts and have real talent.

“Those guys will be playing for their lives so irrespective of who becomes fit and available in the coming weeks they stay in the team. We’ve been in that situation ourselves.

“We don’t spend a lot of time on who’s gone out, it’s who’s come in and what does that mean and what are their strengths?”

Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade made seven changes at the selection table this week, with all but one forced.

Michael Barlow (broken leg), Aaron Hall (hamstring), Brandon Matera (foot), Kade Kolodjashnij (concussion), Ablett (calf) are all sidelined due to injury, while Matt Rosa is suspended and Mackenzie Willis has been omitted.