St Kilda Coach Alan Richardson says his side didn’t adapt to the windy conditions at Ikon Park, in the Saints’ disappointing loss to Carlton in the JLT Community Series on Wednesday night.

The Blues led from start to finish, booting the first four goals of the game with the wind at their backs, before keeping St Kilda at arms distance for the rest of the encounter to win by 22 points.

Despite amassing 11 more inside 50 entries and eight more clearances than Brendon Bolton’s side, St Kilda didn’t handle the conditions well at the Blues’ Headquarters, much to the frustration of Richardson.

“We were pretty rusty, there’s no doubt about that. Our execution was poor, we took a long time to adjust to the conditions,” Richardson told reporters after Wednesday night’s game at Ikon Park.

“We were disappointed with our ability to cope with the conditions and cope with Carlton’s pressure.

“Guys kept thinking they could kick the ball 50 or 60 metres against the breeze; forwards kept thinking it was going to come over the back.

“We weren’t able to convert some pretty good looks because of that. We just didn’t read the conditions and that was frustrating.

“It was the quality of their ball that was the difference in the end; they were able to make a really good play from congestion and our stuff was scrappy.”

Highly-rated half forward Jack Billings was one of only a couple of senior regulars to not feature on Wednesday night, with the 22-year-old recovering from a minor hamstring strain.

Richardson expects Billings to be fit to face Melbourne at Casey Fields next Thursday night in St Kilda’s final game of the pre-season.

“It’s very likely he will play,” he said.

“In fact, he was pretty keen to play tonight. But we felt he just needed another solid training session, which he will do tomorrow. He’s fine.”