At a glance:

• Torrential rain and a physical Giants outfit will have Brett Ratten's troops preparing for a hard-fought contest in the wet.
• The Saints will unveil AFL debutants Paul Hunter and Tom Highmore on Sunday afternoon.
• Ratten says St Kilda won't take any risks with Zak Jones and Dan Hannebery, with both confirmed to sit out the season opener.

A good old-fashioned slog in the wet is on the cards for St Kilda’s season opener against GWS, with senior coach Brett Ratten tipping a hard-hitting contest to open their 2021 campaign.

Torrential downpours – in excess of 120mL – the night before the game, coupled with the big-bodied Giants mids of Jacob Hopper and Tim Taranto, is set to have the Saints preparing for a physical battle rather than their sleek, fast-paced gameplay.

Ratten's side previously met the Giants in Round 18 of last season, dismantling the potential top-eight contenders by 52 points while storming into the finals themselves for the first time in almost a decade.

“(GWS’) ability to win the contest is probably critical to their success, and we know that they’re going to be right at us from the opening bounce,” Ratten said.

“We know what they’re going to do, it’s going to be a contest game and we’re going to have to apply ourselves. That’s really where the game is going to be won and lost.”

Ratten confirmed the Saints will be without midfield pair Zak Jones and Dan Hannebery, however Jade Gresham will be a certain starter after missing the second half of last season with stress fractures in his back.

Gresham played in St Kilda’s AAMI Community Series match against Carlton last fortnight in limited game-time, finishing with 18 disposals and a goal in his first competitive hit-out post-injury.

The No. 4 will be joined in the middle by debutant ruckman Paul Hunter, while mature-age draftee Tom Highmore has also been selected to bolster the Saints’ defensive stocks.

“Zak quite hasn’t done enough, he won’t play this week,” Ratten said.

“He was close, he just missed out on a little bit of running during the week and he got a little bit of a corkie that set him back a little bit.

“We think with some of the injuries we’ve got, we don’t need to take another risk. It’s a long year, he’s a quality player and very valuable, so we need to take fit men into Round 1 and we’re going to do that.”

“Hannebery is still progressing the right way, whether he’s right next or the week after we’ll still be patient with him.