St Kilda star Jack Steven could miss Sunday’s clash with the Gold Coast SUNS after Saints’ coach Alan Richardson flagged he may be rested this week.

The club’s reigning Best and Fairest winner struggled in the loss to Carlton on Monday night, picking up just four kicks and 15 touches in total as Blues speedster Dennis Armfield wore him like a glove for most of the evening.

Steven broke his right foot during the pre-season which meant he missed the whole NAB Cup, as well as the first three games of the home and away season, and Richardson admitted after the loss to the Blues that the 24-year-old needed some further work on the training paddock to get himself right for matchday.

“He’s a workhorse and he needs to work.  He’s in that situation now where we’ve got to sit down and have a chat about where he’s at,” Richardson said.

“If we can get some more work in to him, then we’ll keep going, (but) if we think not, then perhaps he needs to have a break, but we’ll assess that this week.”

Steven was relatively subdued in both matches against the SUNS last year where he collected 25 touches - predominantly while tagging Gary Ablett - in the loss at Metricon Stadium, as well as 22 disposals in the Saints’ victory at the back end of the season when he went head-to-head with Dion Prestia.

In 2013 he was named an All-Australian and had seven games where he picked up more than 30 possessions.  He hasn’t been able to reproduce that form or his blistering speed so far this campaign, following his injury lay-off.

“He can do a bit (of training), but he’s not quite doing what he needs to do.  When you’ve had a considerable lay-off, you’ve almost got to have a mini pre-season to get back to that level,” Richardson said.

“He’s doing what most of the other guys are doing, but he hasn’t been able to do that bit extra to get himself in to really good midfield running shape.”