NEW St Kilda coach Ross Lyon is enduring a testing initiation as a senior AFL coach. A Friday night flogging by Port Adelaide in the slosh has put the Saints' ledger into the negative. To make matters worse, gun midfielder and captain Lenny Hayes cracked his collarbone and will miss most of the next two months. He will join an already lengthy injury list.

Lyon is tough and smart and will survive this hard time, but after the first five rounds, he will realise there are some big problems he will have to rectify if he is to get the Saints set for some September action.

JUSTIN KOSCHITZKE: The big fella with the big reputation is not living up to it. Now into his seventh season, Koschitzke has averaged only 13 games a season.

After a fine debut season back in 2001, when he won the AFL Rising Star Award, there has been little to write home about. In fact, in the past five seasons, Koschitzke has not once been placed in his team's top 10 in the best-and-fairest voting.

Injuries have cruelled him. First, there was the major back problem, then a dislocated elbow, torn quadriceps and hamstrings and of course the fractured skull resulting from the collision with Daniel Giansiracusa at Telstra Dome last year. Now his career is in the balance.

A few years ago, one scribe wrote of Koschitzke "such is his versatility, his best position is yet to be found". That's no longer the case. Now question marks hover over his mobility, confidence and awareness.

I seriously doubt whether he can now hold down a key defensive or forward position. The role he is now best suited to is the ruck, where he won't be beaten for pace in around-the-ground movement. The trouble is, the Saints have committed to two ageing outsiders in Matthew Clarke and Michael Gardiner.

MIDFIELD PACE: There's just not enough of it, and it's hard to see how it can be improved. The names that run through the middle — Robert Harvey, Nick Dal Santo, Luke Ball and Lenny Hayes — are rated extremely highly, but none of them have breakaway speed.

The first instinct of all of them is to cut to the side when they take possession, in order to buy some time. Disposals then come from a handball or an around-the-corner kick. It's not bad football, but it's not break the lines stuff, either. None of them instigate 70-metre plays when they run, carry and kick over that distance.

In order to inject some pace to the middle, the speedy and developing Leigh Montagna is being given more time in the guts and is encouraged to use his speed. So, too, is veteran Steven Baker, who no longer is kept in the back pocket, but instead is being used to run with one of the opposition's best playmakers. This works well for two reasons. One, Baker usually succeeds in stopping his opponent, and two, he adds much needed foot speed around Harvey and co.

HARD MEN: Who are the hard men of this team? Hayes and Baker are the obvious standouts, but then, who else? A few years ago, Steve Lawrence and Aaron Hamill put a physical presence and pressure on the opposition, but Lawrence is long gone and Hamill rarely plays. And forget Fraser Gehrig. His bark always has been worse than his bite.

STEPHEN MILNE: The little "blowfly" has been a pest to opposition defences for some time. Five years ago, he topped the Saints' goalkicking with 50 goals 11 behinds. Two years ago, the return was 61.20. They are terrific figures. But last year, output dropped to 29.29 and his coach of the previous six years, Grant Thomas, said that had he stayed, Milne would not have been at the club.

The concern with Milne is not so much the goals he gets, but more so the missed tackles, the falls to ground and the effect his complete unpredictability has on his teammates. How do they know what he is going to do when he doesn't know himself? Lyon was entitled to keep him, to see if he could change his ways. But, as we all know, it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

FRASER GEHRIG: Last year, he averaged more than three goals a game. This year, he has kicked five goals from four matches. Part of coach Lyon's tactics is to flood the opposition's forward line when it takes possession. This means Gehrig has to run from his preferred goal square to the opposition's forward 50. It's killing the old man. So fatigued is the "G train", he is struggling to get back to position when his team takes control of the ball. He can't kick goals from the wing, so it's a problem that coach and player will have to nut out.

NICK RIEWOLDT and LUKE BALL: With Hayes out, the leadership falls to them. It's been a difficult start to the season for both because of injury, but their club needs them to stand up now. A home game under the roof at Telstra Dome this Friday night against Carlton is the perfect opportunity to show what the Saints can achieve. A win puts the team at 3-3 and gives cause for optimism with injured players to return. A loss would create serious doubts about the Saints being in the finals mix.

Robert Walls was a member of the coaching subcommittee that recommended Ross Lyon for the St Kilda coaching job.