With eight players on their current injury list – six of which will miss at least another month – the Saints have had to reshuffle parts of their line up in recent weeks.
In Sunday's 38-point loss to Gold Coast at Etihad Stadium, they picked up two more with Luke Delaney tweaking his hip and Blake Acres hurting his ankle.
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Richardson said while it was disappointing to enter the break on an unsatisfactory performance, it was a necessary breather for where the players were at physically."It's a good opportunity for us to rest up - get a little bit of work in, but work that means the guys will be potentially in better shape after the break," Richardson said.
"We have some really strong competition - we play three of the better teams in terms of ladder position straight after the bye and we're going to need to be in really good shape to be competitive.
"We need to make sure that we're right physically, so we'll review the game, they'll rehab tomorrow … then we'll have a reasonable hit-out on Wednesday and then they'll have a couple of days off.
"We'll be back on deck over the weekend to make sure we're ready to go."
Richardson wasn't sure about the severity of Delaney and Acres' injuries but believed at least the former would be right to play after the bye.
David Armitage is on the verge of returning from the sickening knee laceration he suffered in round four but still needs to tick a few boxes.
"It's progressed in the right way," Richardson said.
"He's running reasonably strong, he's not doing much change of direction stuff just as yet and he hasn't trained with the group so he'll do that now."
It would be fair for Richardson to rue the injuries that have cruelled his list – and in particular, his backline - in a rebuilding season that was always going to be tough.
But he said they were taking a developmental approach to the run of bad luck and the likes of Seb Ross and Brodie Murdoch could benefit after strong showings in the VFL.
"It's probably happened for a couple of years, hasn't it?" he said.
"It's not just been in my time here - the club was hit pretty heavily last year.
"But our attitude has been that it just gives someone else an opportunity."
Richardson said there were positives in the way the Saints fought back in the contest after half time with their revival sparked by pride and the supreme leadership of Lenny Hayes.
While he emphasised the club wouldn't accept performances like the first half, he praised Cam Shenton for his 22-disposal game in defence, Jack Newnes for his 29 touches and Billy Longer for taking another step against Zac Smith.
And, a week after suggesting Jack Steven might need a "mini pre-season" to get himself back to the required level after his foot injury, he said the reigning best and fairest had responded well.
"He found himself in more space [than against Carlton] but he had much more power," he said.
"He didn't do much more training but he was able to do a little more last week and I think that's important for Jack.
"He's one of those guys who needs to do a bit of work.
"He's made a decision that he needs to do a bit more work and we thought it was a positive performance from him."
