ST KILDA hopes that its most experienced defender Max Hudghton will require no more than three weeks on the sidelines after the veteran's first outing for the season lasted only 21 minutes on Thursday night.

On an early assessment, the Saints' medical team is confident that Hudghton has only a grade two quadriceps strain, following the club's 52-point away loss to the Brisbane Lions.

Before boarding a flight to Melbourne yesterday, Hudghton had a cooling device attached to his upper leg, but could walk freely. He will have his injured left leg scanned.

"Obviously it's disappointing and something that's happened a fair bit to us in the past but, no disrespect to Max, I think if he was out there we still would have got beaten last night," said Lenny Hayes, the only one of St Kilda's three captains fit to play in the round-two match.

Last year, young Saint Raphael Clarke was out for 10 weeks with a severe quadriceps injury, but the standard mending time for the muscle at the front of the thigh is two to three weeks.

St Kilda's next three games are against the Western Bulldogs, Essendon and Port Adelaide and it will have to do without its best two defenders, Matt Maguire (out for an expected six weeks with a foot complaint) and Hudghton.

Both players had compromised pre-seasons because of injury before both succumbed to further troubles within a week.

At the front of their teammates' minds, though, after a disappointing second-round defeat, is recapturing the gritty attitude shown in the club's season opener against Melbourne.

"After the game (in Brisbane) we sat down and we sort of asked each other who beat their opponents and there weren't too many guys who put their hands up," Hayes said.

"I think it's just a mental thing, I think they were just prepared to get in and do the hard work.

"They were a lot harder than us and I thought that the way we played against Melbourne last week, Brisbane really worked us over in the same fashion.

"We've got a lot of room for improvement. It is only round two but to back up the first-round win with an effort like that was really disappointing."

Nick Riewoldt is expected back for the Saints' next match at Telstra Dome in seven days, as is Luke Ball, who was a late withdrawal before the Brisbane game because of concussion.

Hayes, who formed part of the midfield combination that was comprehensively beaten at the Gabba, had 13 touches in his fourth competitive hitout since a knee reconstruction last year.

"I didn't play very well last night and I suppose the expectation is to just gradually keep getting better week by week," Hayes said. "I still don't feel 100 per cent but that's just a process you've got to go through."