St Kilda could line up with two ruckmen on Saturday in a bid to quell the influence of Todd Goldstein.

Goldstein has been in a rich vein of form over the past month and Saints coach Alan Richardson admits he’ll play a big role in the outcome of the match.

“It’s certainly something we’ve spoken about (playing two rucks),” Richardson said on Thursday.

“He’s (Goldstein) in outstanding form and he’s a really good runner; it’s not just ruck play, it’s not just centre bounces or ball-ups or boundary throw-ins, so we’ve got to be able to go with him.

“He’s a fantastic player. There’s no doubt that you need to give your onballers first use – he does that, and then you basically want that person to consider themselves an onballer and be part of an 18-man team defence or offence, and he does that.”

Tom Hickey played as the Saints’ standalone ruckman last week in the absence of Billy Longer (soreness), but the latter could make his return against North.

“We were reasonably pleased with Hickey on the weekend. (Aaron) Sandilands is a big ask and we thought he did a reasonable job,” Richardson said.

“Billy Longer has been really strong for us. He needed to go out because he was a bit sore, but he’s back in the mix this week.

“We have young rucks – Hickey and Longer are in between 30 and 40 games. Their craft and their development is about ruck play, but it’s also about playing footy away from stoppage, away from contest and we’ve got a fair bit of work to do.

“Goldstein is a handful for us.”

Despite the Dockers’ dominant first half last week, St Kilda’s five goal last quarter will give it some confidence.

“Our focus this week, while we clearly play the Kangaroos and while we clearly play them in Tassie, is to play the sort of footy we played late against Fremantle,” Richardson said.

“It wouldn’t matter which opposition we are playing, it happens to be the Kangaroos … it’s a great challenge for us. Our guys want to apply that same aggression, that same pressure. We look forward to it.

“We’ll get on the plane with real confidence, that if we played that sort of footy that we played late in the game that we can be really competitive with any team.”

Richardson confirmed Jack Lonie (leg) and Daniel McKenzie (concussion) will miss the clash at Blundstone Arena, but there’s better news for Jack Sinclair, cleared to play despite copping a head knock and suffering a should injury against the Dockers.

Luke Dunstan will spend another week on the sidelines with a calf injury.