IT WILL take some time before St Kilda and Hawthorn shake the ignominy earned from last year's round-eight game, where the teams managed just four goals between them to half-time and were lambasted for offering up such a squalid snore-fest.

Although they met in a much more interesting match eight weeks later, that infamous display of slow and stodgy football is what still comes to mind for many football fans when they conjure the image of the two teams playing each other.

Hawthorn's coach Alastair Clarkson was quick to acknowledge the legacy of that match yesterday.

"That wasn't a real rip-roaring game," he said. "It was nearly the worst game of footy for the year so we don't take credit for playing scintillating footy that night."

But, Clarkson expects the Saints to take a much more attacking approach to tonight's match at the Telstra Dome.

"I reckon St Kilda have played their best footy when they've tried to run and carry the ball in recent weeks so the St Kilda side have got some talented players and it'll be another good test for us," he said.

That run and carry has earned the Saints three consecutive victories over the past month and will be tested against the third-placed Hawks, whose own running brigade has been bolstered by the return of Chance Bateman to the side from a corked quad he received in round 12 against Adelaide. For St Kilda, tonight's match is an opportunity to prove its mettle against a higher ranked opponent, the Saints' football operations manager Matthew Drain said yesterday.

"Let's face it we're playing one of the premiership favourites, and outside of round one when we beat Sydney, we haven't beaten anyone who's currently in the top eight," Drain said.

However, the Saints have shown good form against the Hawks in recent years, winning four of their past five matches, Drain added, so he expected his side to challenge Hawthorn tonight.

"Both teams match up pretty well as we've seen from the contests over the last two or three years, so it's a good contest in that regard," he said.

Hawthorn's veteran superstar Shane Crawford has been ruled out of tonight's match due to tendonitis in his knee.

While it has been reported that the club hoped to manage Crawford's injury by resting him every other week, Clarkson said that at the moment the injury was a week to week proposition.

He said there was no guarantee that he would be available for next week's clash against Geelong.

"It's a difficult injury to manage, tendonitis in the knee, and he'll have a spell this week and we'll see how he gets back into training early next week and that'll determine whether he plays the Geelong game or he has another rest," Clarkson said.