WIN, lose or draw, the lessons come quickly for football coaches.

Ross Lyon's Saints won six games in a row, including the NAB Cup games, before they fell in a heap last Friday night. After a scintillating start, the Saints stopped to a walk. The worry for Lyon is that he has problems all over the field. The good news is that he has time to fix it.

Playing three tall forwards is fine, if the team is winning the clearances and pumping the ball forward quickly. If it is not, as happened in the last three quarters against the Western Bulldogs, changes have to be made.

Justin Koschitzke plays well in the ruck and short bursts there would help get him and his team going. His five disposals in the last 90 minutes of play were a waste.

Nick Riewoldt gets more attention than any other Saint. In the middle of the game, he touched the ball three times in 50 minutes. A run on the ball or the wing would release the shackles and maximise his athleticism.

The G-Train, Fraser Gehrig, has to stay inside the forward 50. His opponents like to run off him to drag him upfield. Instead of choofing off after them, Gehrig should be encouraged to play Russian roulette, hold his post and be used on the rebound.

In essence, the tall forwards, one of the Saints' biggest strengths, can be a major weakness unless they are handled more efficiently.

"Should the Saints have kept Gehrig in retirement?," is a question many people ask. I think they made the correct call in welcoming him back. Few teams have three quality tall defenders, and that is what's needed when you play St Kilda. Gehrig will always attract a quality opponent, and that helps Riewoldt and Koschitzke. Last year, the Train led the Saints' goalkicking with 59 from his 20 games. If he averages three goals a game this season, and I think he will, it will be a decision for the good.

In the midfield, two of St Kilda's young guns aren't firing. Nick Dal Santo put in a selfish, disturbing performance. Never mind that the papers put him in the best players, he wasn't. He is far too concerned with taking easy out-wide handball receives in the back half than he is winning contested ball through the midfield, where he can then help his forwards with precise foot passing.

His stats three rounds in show him to be high on receives and low on hard-ball gets. He might also think about being responsible for an opponent at the appropriate times, rather than freewheel 100% of the time.

Luke Ball is the other concern. You couldn't fault his endeavour, but does he have the engine to go the distance, the speed to break clear from packs or the confidence to kick the ball? At the moment, the answers are no, no, no.

In the ruck, Michael Gardiner was missed. It meant Steven King had to do the bulk of the hitouts and he rarely got off the ground.

The biggest headache, though, is the lack of genuine pace through the middle. It may well be worth teaching the two forward pocket specialists, Stephen Milne and Adam Schneider, to be of use at the centre bounces.

The back line needs bolstering, too. Max Hudghton is on his last legs. The opposition is happy to see Max get the footy, as his kicks are wobblers that can end up anywhere. Max knows that, too, so he doesn't like to kick; instead, he will prop and stop to try to dish off a handball. This in turn stops the run and flow out of defence.

Against bigger opponents, the Clarke brothers are fragile, so, too, Sam Gilbert. Increasingly, the opposition try to isolate this trio to be one-out in marking contests where they struggle. It was terrific to see Brendon Goddard return to the back line after almost a year out. What is desperately needed now is for Matt Maguire to come back and stand up as a big defender.

So, three rounds in, the Saints have received a big wake-up call. No better challenge than to bounce back with a win against the Cats on Saturday.