AARON Hamill, Michael Gardiner and Matt Maguire are all expected to play football this weekend. This is not a misprint.

Sunday's VFL program at Casey Fields between the Scorpions and the Northern Bullants will have to be seen to be believed because two men whose senior outings have been scarce of late — one a former captain with a huge reputation, the other an ex-Eagle who landed at the Saints this year and brought a huge reputation with him — should at last be making meaningful appearances.

"All three are in the same phase of conditioning, if you like," Saints football manager Ken Sheldon said yesterday.

"There will be both grades out there, seniors and reserves, and as to which game Aaron is to play, or kick off in, would be determined by the level of intensity that his program requires. I would have thought he'd be most likely to play some game time in the seniors.

"The intention is for that to happen … our intention is for Aaron to continue to build his program, and that would include some game time with the Casey Scorpions."

Last Tuesday, Gardiner, who has been troubled by foot injuries, and the veteran Hamill, who has been slowly and carefully rehabilitating an injured knee, were listed on St Kilda's injury roll as needing one more week on the sidelines.

Defender Maguire, who played in round one this season but has been out since with a foot complaint, was listed as a test, though he didn't play last weekend.

St Kilda's medical and conditioning staff will direct how much game time each player will get. And that, Sheldon said, would be determined by how well they trained, and how much training each got through, today and on Thursday.

Full-forward Fraser Gehrig, who missed the Saints' inspired away victory over West Coast because of a broken hand, also will be put through a fitness test this week before the team takes on Richmond at Telstra Dome on Saturday night.

At the season's mid-point, the injury wheel of fortune seems to finally be turning for St Kilda. Only six Saints have played in all 12 of the club's games this year: Jayden Attard, Jason Blake, Aaron Fiora, Stephen Milne, Nick Dal Santo and Justin Koschitzke.

For Koschitzke, that is as notable a milestone as the commanding, four-goal performance he put on in Perth. But he finished off the ground and will have a niggle, believed to be back-related, assessed.

Not since 2001, when he won the Rising Star award in his debut season, has Koschitzke managed to play a dozen consecutive games.

In five months last year, Koschitzke was mentally and physically battered. Last May, his skull was fractured in a collision with Bulldog Daniel Giansiracusa. In June, he collapsed during a television interview. Then, in his second match back, he ran into an umpire during a VFL reserves match. That left him with a split lip, mild concussion, a chipped tooth and a one-match ban.