On a night where St Kilda’s midfield didn’t get the job done, Luke Dunstan made a statement in Sydney.

In his first game back from his third stint at Sandringham this year, Dunstan grasped his opportunity against a Swans midfield stacked full of All-Australian’s and contested ball winning stars.

St Kilda Coach Alan Richardson praised the inside midfielder after Dunstan collected an equal career-high 29 disposals, 11 contested possessions, and game highs for inside 50s (eight) and clearances (seven).

“The areas we were poor as a team we thought Luke was positive,” Richardson said in his post-match conference at the SCG on Saturday night after the 42-point loss.

“He was good in the contest; he was good in terms of putting on pressure; he was able to spread and get a bit of the ball.

“So from that perspective we thought he was able to play his role.”

Dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna strained his hamstring late in the game and will undergo scans to determine the severity of the injury.

With five home and away games left in 2017, Richardson is hopeful the 33-year-old veteran will return before St Kilda’s season draws to a close.

“He’s done his hammy, but we’ll just wait to see after scans to see the extent of that,” Richardson said.

“But clearly he couldn’t come back on the ground, he wasn’t going to be able to contribute again.

“Yes we are (hopeful he’ll play again this season). It’s always a tricky one, we’ll just have to wait and see, get all the evidence, do the scans."