At a glance:

• CCO Simon Lethlean says there are "a few reasons" why St Kilda has opted not to stay in South Australia between Rounds 7 and 8.
• The Saints are scheduled to face Adelaide on Monday night, before playing Port Adelaide the following Saturday night.
• Lethlean also confirmed Brett Ratten's comments during the week about selection changes ahead of Round 7.

Chief Operating Officer Simon Lethlean says there are “a few reasons” why St Kilda has opted not to stay in South Australia during the five-day turnaround between Rounds 7 and 8.  

The Saints are scheduled to play back-to-back matches at Adelaide Oval against Adelaide and Port Adelaide, but will return to their Noosa hub in-between matches.

“We leave on the day that our quarantine finishes to go to Adelaide, we’re only taking a smallish squad and we’d be leaving behind half our squad and all the families,” Lethlean told AFL 360.

“We’d be staying the CBD of Adelaide having to find training grounds without half of our stuff we’ve taken with us as well.

“We’d rather go to Adelaide, get the points, go home, be able to leave the resort for the first time and actually have a light training week and get back to Adelaide again.”

“We haven’t travelled all year, the flight doesn’t bother us, we’d rather come back to our hub which we’re building our own environment at and take it from there.”

St Kilda will look to get back on the winners list against Adelaide after an unacceptable capitulation against Fremantle last Saturday.

Brett Ratten declared post-match that out-of-form Saints would “be in trouble” at the selection table following the disappointing result.

Now, Lethlean has reaffirmed the senior coach’s statements.

“There will certainly be some changes, we’ve got a fit list apart from Dunstan and Hannebery,” Lethlean said.

“We’ll have a good look at who’s performing and who’s not, if there are players not performing, they’ve certainly heard all about it in the review this week.”

While Lethlean said “everyone” will be feeling the heat based on the weekend just gone, the blowtorch has been angled slightly more towards St Kilda’s senior players.

“Some of our leaders need to step up and own how to change momentum in games too," Lethlean said.

“There’s some guys with some runs on the boards that need to step up this week and own that, but there’ll certainly be some selection pressure and there’s a long week to make those decisions.”

St Kilda will arrive in South Australia this Monday to battle the Crows at Adelaide Oval.