Spearhead Tom Lynch returns to face St Kilda at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night after serving his one-game suspension for an incident during the NAB Challenge series.

With Lynch and Charlie Dixon both absent last weekend, the SUNS lacked a focal point inside attacking 50. Lynch emerged as one of the competition’s premier young key forwards in 2014 and his addition is substantial for a side looking to put behind them an unsatisfactory start to the season.

Defenders Seb Tape and Sean Lemmens have also been included, at the expense of Trent McKenzie, Daniel Gorringe and the suspended Matt Shaw.

Gold Coast SUNS coach Rodney Eade revealed the club undertook a stringent review process after the Melbourne loss and is confident the group is ready to get their season back on track against the Saints.

“After a disappointing game last weekend, obviously we need to rebound pretty strongly from a really poor performance,” Eade told SUNS TV on Thursday afternoon.

“(We’re) coming up against a young St Kilda side who were actually quite promising last week. I thought their form was pretty good against GWS – the last quarter especially, they showed they’ve got a lot of run, a lot of dash, so it’s going to be a test for us.

“I’m confident after the work we’ve done this week that the players seem to have rebounded pretty well after a strong review and some good training. Hopefully we can take that effort into this week’s game.”

After debuting against the Demons, Adam Saad, Touk Miller and Jarrod Garlett have all held their spots, following promising starts to their careers in the red and gold.

Round 2 AFL Premiership Team

B: S. Tape, S. May, G. Broughton
HB: A. Saad, R. Thompson, N. Malceski
C: K. Kolodjashnij, G. Ablett, J. Harbrow
HF: H. Bennell, T. Lynch, J. Martin
F: J. Garlett, S. Day, D. Swallow
R: Z. Smith, M, Rischitelli, D. Prestia
INT: A. Sexton, M, Hallahan, S. Lemmens, T. Miller
Emergencies: D. Gorringe, B. Matera, A. Hall

IN: Lynch, Tape, Lemmens
OUT: McKenzie (omit), Gorringe (omit), Shaw (susp)