On Monday night, St Kilda had 12 players in its 22 with less than 35 games under their belts.

It’s a situation the likes of David Swallow have been in before, and not so long ago. When Gold Coast was hammered by the Saints by 95 points in their round 11 meeting in 2012, the GC SUNS had a stack of teenagers and 16 players who had played under 35 matches at AFL level.

Swallow knows a certain amount of inexperience can be compensated for by youthful enthusiasm, but much like he had senior stars Gary Ablett and Michael Rischitelli to guide him through the embryonic stages of his AFL career, the Saints still have veteran guns Lenny Hayes and Leigh Montagna to steer their young side through a rebuilding stage.

With his side coming up trumps against St Kilda just once in five meetings, the West Australian is only too aware of the challenge presented by the mix of old and new midfielders from Moorabbin.

“It’s going to be a good contest. They obviously crack in really hard and have got a lot of experienced players,” Swallow said.

“(It’s a) good challenge for our midfield and we’ll look at them on the tape this week and look forward to the challenge.”

The Saints had picks 3, 18 and 19 in last year’s draft, and went for midfielders Jack Billings, Luke Dunstan and Blake Acres, in that order. The trio all played against Carlton, and the top two, in particular, have shown signs they can make an impact soon enough in the AFL, but tellingly against the Blues on Monday night, it was five veterans – Hayes Montagna, Adam Schneider, Clinton Jones and Farren Ray – who won the most ball for the Saints on the night. Schneider celebrated his 30th birthday on the day of the match, which means of those five, Ray is the only one still in his 20s, and even he is in his 11th season of AFL footy.

While Hayes and Montagna have savoured plenty of precious victories at Etihad Stadium, the young SUNS recorded their first win at the venue last start against the Kangaroos, and Swallow hopes they can repeat the dose this coming Sunday.

“Good to get a win, finally, at Etihad,” Swallow said.

“Going back this week the boys will be full of confidence and ready to take on a St Kilda outfit which have been pretty good this year, and it’ll be a good challenge for us.”