PADDY McCartin could be in line for a NAB Challenge debut after an impressive first pre-season at St Kilda.

The number one draft pick had a brief stint in hospital with a skin irritation in January but has hardly put a foot wrong otherwise according to coach Alan Richardson.

“He is preparing really well. If he was sitting here he certainly would be putting his hand up,” Richardson told SEN’s Hungry For Sport.

But the Saints coach stressed that the greater good of the team and McCartin’s development would take priority over a strong curiosity St Kilda fans would have to see the first draft pick in action.

“The reality is that we’ll make a decision for the team and if he’s in really good form, if he’s got a real understanding of his role and physically he’s in good enough shape to be able to play and execute his role without any compromise to his long term then absolutely he will play but there are a few ifs in there,” he said.

“He couldn’t be doing any more. He had a minor mishap with the skin irritation before Christmas but he has been really impressive and he is certainly in the mix.”

McCartin will have his first hit-out in Saints colours at this Saturday’s intraclub match at Linen House Centre.

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Richardson approaches his second season as a senior coach with a strong emphasis on consistency and improvement across the board and said experience and age were irrelevant when it came to picking a team for round one.

“We need to be much better and much more consistent with our performance and we are a young group but if you are good enough you are old enough which will be our catch cry amongst our playing group and the coaching staff,” he said.

“We will judge players on what we see and the way they perform, not their birth certificate. We need to raise expectations and be much more consistent with our performance.”

Richardson sat in the SEN studio alongside St Kilda CEO Matt Finnis who will also be embarking on his second season at the club.

Finnis said improvement was as big an emphasis for off-field performance as well as on the field.

“There have been a lot of aspects of our business which have been going the wrong way whether that is membership, attendance or sponsorship. We are really keen to turn that around and build some momentum,” Finnis said.

“We have been able to do that now, we’ve seen a real spike in our membership and we have announced a new sponsor with Dare Iced Coffee coming on board. There are some green shoots which we are watering and we think that momentum we will start to build on and we can really take the club forward.”

The St Kilda CEO said the club was aiming for 35,000 members in 2015, acknowledging the latent supporter base in bayside Melbourne as a high priority.

“We are very fortunate that it is quite regionalised in terms of that bayside corridor from Port Melbourne down to Portsea where we have some good share in terms of supporters,” he said.

“But we are underdone in what that should look like in terms of converting our fans into members of our club. They have got to have a sense of pride in the club, they’ve got to want to be part of something and be proud of being a Saints person and that is what we are working on.”

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One issue that the club is exploring is the sense of home with the Saints having a presence at Seaford and Moorabbin while openly looking at the possibility of a return to its original home at the Junction Oval.

“People feel a lot of grief around the departure from Moorabbin because it formed so much part of what you loved about the footy club. For others it doesn’t matter where you are, it matters where you play. So we have to make sure we provide a great Saints experience at Etihad Stadium,” Finnis said.

“There is no doubt we have got to improve our connection with people and somewhere like the Junction Oval would be tremendously symbolic of moving closer to our heartland. We are continuing conversation with the local community which is very important that we talk to them about what that could look like. We’ve got to get that decision right in the next few months.”