Four days to acclimatise to Cairns’ humid conditions may give St Kilda a slight leg-up for Saturday night, but senior coach Brett Ratten is firm in not underestimating the 1-5 Port Adelaide.
St Kilda landed in tropical north Queensland on Wednesday morning, spending the past few days visiting some of the region’s best destinations and attending junior football clubs and schools in-between its training sessions at Cazalys Stadium.
But soaking in the scenery hasn’t diverted the Saints’ attention away from the Power, with preparation for Saturday night remaining as normal as six wins on the bounce presents itself for the first time since 2011.
“Their form in the last month has been really good,” Ratten said about their opposition at this morning’s press conference in Cairns.
“They’ve lost by a kick against Adelaide after the siren, got beaten by Melbourne which every team has so far this year and they lost to Carlton by a point (before) beating West Coast.
“(We’ve had) a look at Cazalys Stadium and the ground is in magnificent condition. Just to have a look at the size and get familiarised with everything… last year was quite rushed, so just to take our time (will be good).
“The other part for us is about what we can give back to the community by coming up earlier. The things that we can put back to the community are so, so important, especially up here in Cairns.
“It’s been a privilege so far, it will make it more enjoyable if we do get the four points and that’s the aim, but we’ve had a great experience and really appreciated the open arms that Cairns people have had for us Saints.”
A squad of 27 Saints departed Melbourne on Wednesday morning, with former Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne ruck Tom Campbell among the travelling party.
The 30-year-old will make his debut tomorrow night alongside the returning Paddy Ryder (suspension) following Rowan Marshall’s withdrawal (corked thigh) and last week’s season-ending knee injury to Jack Hayes.
Campbell was previously named as an emergency in two of St Kilda's opening six matches, with a standout VFL display against Box Hill (31 hit-outs, 20 disposals, nine clearances) marking his best outing for the year.
“He’s a competitor, Tom. He’s worked extremely hard since he’s been at our footy club,” Ratten said.
“It is his third club, but as we know ruckmen get better with age. For him at 30 years of age, there’s still a fair bit of footy in him.
“He’s ready to go, he’s been playing good VFL footy, so we’ve got full faith in him that he’ll help Paddy and get the job done there.”
Jack Billings (hamstring) and Zak Jones (personal leave, AFL Health & Safety Protocols) will play in the VFL this weekend against Frankston, while Hunter Clark (shoulder) – who is with the Saints in Queensland – is expected to follow next week. Jarryn Geary will also be off restricted game-time measures for this week's VFL game
Meanwhile, two of St Kilda’s emergencies for Round 7 – Jarrod Lienert, Ryan Byrnes, Mitch Owens and Tom Highmore – will depart Cairns before Saturday’s game to play for Sandringham the following afternoon.
“(Jones) and Billings will play VFL this weekend. Zak had COVID – his partner had COVID, then he got COVID – it started off as seven days and turned into 10. He'd only played one game in roughly six or seven weeks,” Ratten said.
“No need to rush him. People recover a little bit differently with COVID; some bounce back really quickly and we've found others have just taken their time a little bit, just chesty. We'll take it easy with him.”
