Experienced St Kilda stars Nick Riewoldt and Leigh Montagna are expected to play the final two games of the NAB Challenge series against Brisbane and Melbourne, according to Saints coach Alan Richardson.

With St Kilda playing three games across the next four weekends ahead of round one, the pair aren't part of this weekend’s squad to face North Melbourne in Wangaratta on Saturday.

Richardson explained that given the age and experience of both Riewoldt and Montagna it was best for the pair’s preparation to play a certain amount of minutes in the final two games of the Saints’ pre-season campaign to have them cherry ripe for round one.

“He’ll [Riewoldt] play a couple. All going well he’ll play in MacKay and then back here at Etihad [Stadium],” Richardson told reporters at a press conference at Linen House Centre.

“And that mightn’t be full games, but we think and he thinks that it’s best for his preparations that he gets a couple of games in (ahead of round one).”

As part of Montagna’s preparation for the season, the 32-year-old played in last Friday night’s intra-club clash at Trevor Barker Oval, and is set for a couple more hitouts prior to the Saints opening clash of the season against Port Adelaide.

With a gulf in intensity between internal practice matches and the NAB Challenge games, Richardson explained that Montagna was able to get an extra run in ahead of round one by playing in the intra-club.

“We only wanted him to play a couple of games. There’s a difference in intensity between intra-club and playing against opposition – we can’t really control everything in the NAB Challenge games; we can in an intra-club,” Richardson said.

“So we just wanted him to play a couple and we think it’s best for him to play in the last couple.”

Both Montagna and Riewoldt should begin the season in a memorable fashion with the pair set for back-to-back milestone games in the opening two rounds.

Montagna will play his 250^th game in round one at Adelaide Oval against the Power, before Riewoldt becomes just the fifth player in the clubs history to reach the 300-game milestone a week later against the Western Bulldogs.