At a glance:

• Brett Ratten says the opportunity for young Saints to play against a high-end opposition will be beneficial moving forward.
• Ratten singled out Jack Bytel, who put together a solid debut game while competeting alongside greats Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood.
• The Saints will look to respond to Monday's loss against Essendon this coming Sunday.

Monday’s defeat to a polished Geelong outfit will yield positive effects for the Saints’ young brigade, according to Brett Ratten.

The well-oiled Cats were impressive from siren-to-siren, but the opportunity to go up against an in-form, credentialed side will prove be a major learning curve for the contingent moving forward.

St Kilda entered the game with 11 players under 50 games, including Jack Bytel, who put together a sound performance on debut.

“For some of our younger players to get the opportunity to play on some of the greats of the game in Dangerfield and Selwood around the midfield…. I thought Bytel did a reasonable job in his first game,” Ratten said post-match.

“It was a good introduction to AFL football, and even for Max King to play on Harry Taylor and a few others, I think there’s some good growth in what they learned from today.”

Bytel’s debut game ended with 18 disposals and five clearances to his name, while fellow draftee King was well held by the wily Cats veteran to finish with two behinds.

Ultimately, Geelong’s quality with ball in hand won the night.

The men in hoops gave the Saints a “touch-up" in clearances in the second half before going on to hit the scoreboard with nine unanswered goals.

“We won some possession, but it was just all in tight and we didn’t get any flow,” Ratten said.

“Their ability to get some flow in their game and really get going, that was the difference between the two sides. They’ve played a lot of finals footy, and they just back it up each year and pretty much week-in, week-out.

“They defended very well and we defended very poorly, I thought.”

St Kilda won the inside-50s 43-40, but only generated 14 shots on goal to the Cats’ 23.

But Ratten is steadfast in using Monday’s result as a valuable teaching.

“I think you try and learn every week, even if you win,” Ratten said.

“We might not play the way that we want to and we get beaten, but we don’t want to be getting beaten by 10 goals.

“But for us, the good part in our game this year has been every time we’ve had a hiccup we’ve responded, so we get the opportunity.”

The Saints have followed their three previous losses this season with stirring successes against the Western Bulldogs (Round 2), Richmond (Round 4) and Adelaide (Round 7).

St Kilda will be intent on another bounce back against Essendon this Sunday at the Gabba.