St. Kilda defender Sam Fisher will not be playing for the upcoming AFL match with Hawthorn on Saturday. Fisher will instead appear for the VFL match on Sunday.

Alan Richardson, the Saints coach stated that Fisher missed the coach as he was on the way to recovery from a hamstring injury. Fisher also has to play another match with Sandringham to get back on the list.

"He travelled with us to New Zealand and we were really hopeful he would be able to play but he didn't quite come up in the training sessions ... He's a really important player but he has missed too much footy now, so he'll play VFL (with) fairly significant minutes and he might be a chance for the following week," Richardson said.

The Saints are also likely to make a change in the team as rookie Eli Templeton suffered a broken arm in the match against the Brisbane Lions.

St. Kilda has not been impressive so far as they lost another three points in Wellington.

"We had a really disappointing game against the Crows and responded really well against the Bombers the week after ... I would be surprised if we didn't respond strongly in terms of our energy and effort, particularly early in the game against the Hawks," Richardson added.

Captain Nick Riewoldt also was unable to show great performance against the Lions as he scored only one goal. Coach Richardson has high hopes for the skipper and expected his performance better than before.

"He didn't have a great game but he, like the team, responded in terms of him wanting to get the team over the line late ... He seems to be in pretty good shape and I'm expecting him to be strong again this one," Richardson added.

Richardson's strategy against the Hawthorns was to place a formidable defence against the reigning champions.

"Their rebound is as good, if not better, than any team in the competition ... If we don't get our team defence strong, we'll struggle to keep them to a losing score," Richardson concluded.