St Kilda honoured its word on Monday afternoon by selecting young ruckman Lewis Pierce in the Rookie Draft.

The Saints delisted the 23-year-old last month with the intention of picking him up as a rookie to open up another spot on their senior list.

St Kilda State Recruiting Manager Chris Liberatore said the decision to delist and then re-select Pierce opened up another spot on their senior list so they could use four picks instead of three last Friday night.

“We were committed to picking Lewy and it all worked out well in the end. It was more just about list spots to be honest," Liberatore told saints.com.au on Monday night.

"It just gave us the flexibility to have more selection in the National Draft on Friday night which allowed us to have pick 46 which was Ben Paton.

"With next year’s rules you have the flexibility to play anyone off the rookie list – anyone who is on the rookie list can play next year." 

After breaking through for an AFL debut midway through 2016, Pierce fell down the ruck queue behind Billy Longer and Tom Hickey this season.

The Dandenong Stingrays product played 11 games for Sandringham in the VFL in 2017.