St Kilda's intra-club game at Linen House Centre produced a mix of polished work by seasoned players and encouraging efforts by the younger brigade.

Veteran Stephen Milne looked to be in great touch, as did midfielder David Armitage, while new big man Tom Hickey and rookie listed midfielder Tom Curren were constantly in the thick of the action.

Hickey matched up against Saints No.1 ruckman Ben McEvoy in the early stages and more than held his own.

McEvoy left the field early, but Head Coach Scott Watters said there were no injury concerns.

"Ben's got a massive workload throughout the year, so he completed the appropriate minutes we expected him to play today. He's not a player we want to overwork at this time of the year," he said.

Watters acknowledged the importance of Hickey's presence as a big man.

"To have one ruckman last year was a real handbrake on our season."

Hickey's athleticism and willingness to tap the ball to open space for the ground level players was impressive.

The use of Arryn Siposs as a half-back was one of the more interesting positional strategies. His marking and long-kicking position are assets which could equip him for the role in the long term.

"He did some really good things early," said Watters.

"But there are probably areas of his game that we want him to keep focusing on as well. He's going to be a very important player for us because he can play both ends of the ground. Those players are rare."

Watters was satisfied with a number of other players.

"Farren Ray worked really hard. And Jimmy Gwilt looks a completely different player compared to this time last year (when he was) coming off his knee surgery. Nathan Wright is already showing he has got the maturity that he is going to push for senior selection at some point.

"Josh Saunders is developing into a good kid, and I'd mention Tom Hickey in that bracket too. Tommy Lee – there were some glimpses of excitement from him. It's not hard to picture where they are going to be in a couple of years time."

When asked after the game how the Saints had come up, Watters said: "Healthy."

"To come off with no injuries is the main thing. The ball movement was fairly clean, but they look after each other in practice games."

Watters was content with the way the small forwards worked together, joking that he "didn't want to pump Milney up any more."

"You look for balance between himself, Saady (Ahmed Saad) and Terry Milera. Terry probably only completed 20 per cent of the pre-season last year, so he'll see the benefits of that."

A number of the older Saints sat out the game.

When asked why Nick Riewoldt, Lenny Hayes, Sean Dempster and Adam Schneider didn't play Watters commented; "They are just old!".

Watters said it was normal to modify the campaigns of the older players. One promising young Saint who sat out the game was Sebastian Ross who suffered a cold 48 hours before the game.

Rhys Stanley, whose 2012 season was punctuated by injury was another who was rested, but Watters is happy with his progress.

"He's coming along really well. Rhys has had some durability concerns over his career so he's on a program that will have him prepared possibly for next week, but certainly over the next couple of weeks, he's been training fully. We are in no rush to play them all next week in the NAB Cup. It's all about having them ready for Round 1."