THERE is no other team against St Kilda would rather test its resolve on Saturday than Geelong, Saint defender Xavier Clarke said after the team's Friday night capitulation.
As Saints coach Ross Lyon vowed to introduce more "competitive beasts" to the team that was over-run by the Western Bulldogs by 38 points despite leading by 37 at the first change, Clarke said the Saints would needer higher intensity and concentration levels if they were to topple the Cats.
"It's not going to be an easy game for us this week and that's good. Coming off a touch-up like that, you sometimes feel like playing a lesser side that won't give you much of a contest," said Clarke.
"We know we're coming up against the best (this) week and it's a great challenge for us to regroup straight away and see how we measure up and just concentrate a bit better.
"The disappointing thing was that the Bulldogs didn't really surprise us. We'd studied them and they did what we thought they'd do. We knew even after at quarter-time that they'd play on and take risks, but we still let them beat us so easily.
"It's something to have a think about and, hopefully against Geelong we can get our hands on the ball a bit more and make them think a bit."
Brendon Goddard played his first senior match for the Saints since round seven last year, after recovering from a knee reconstruction, and Lyon said that was one positive to come out of the match.
"I really complimented Brendon after the game (playing) under difficult circumstances, what he was able to do coming off a reco," Lyon said. "We know it takes time, but I thought under adversity he contributed really strongly."
Michael Gardiner withdrew before the match with a calf complaint and Lyon said he was unsure whether he would be right to return this week.
"It's whether we take that risk off a minor soft-tissue injury and risk maybe losing him for the longer term," he said. "… but he's been pretty good for us and if you (have been) getting beaten at the clearances, he'll be handy."
Lyon felt his team was "annihilated" around the ball and nominated Clint Jones, Charlie Gardiner, Sean Dempster and David Armitage as possible inclusions against the Cats.
"There are a few blokes who didn't do what we wanted. We'll run them over until we get the competitive boost we want," he said.
"It's not catastrophic, it is in isolation, but in the context of a season, we're 2-1 and we play the benchmark team next week. That will really switch us on mentally straight away.."
With Geelong No. 1 ruckman Brad Ottens sidelined by injury, it creates the likelihood of the Cats' Mark Blake and Saints' Steven King going head-to-head for most of Saturday's match. King, traded from the Cats in the off-season, replaced Blake in Geelong's grand final side last season, after Blake was in the senior side for most of the year.
with AAP
