St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says the club is likely to make changes to get more "competitive beasts" into the AFL side after fading out against the Western Bulldogs.

The Saints led by 37 points at the first change at Telstra Dome before the Bulldogs kicked 18 goals to six to run away to a 19.11 (125) to 13.9 (87) victory.

Lyon said the Saints were "annihilated" in contests for the ball in the midfield, failed to man up well enough once the Bulldogs won it and executed their skills poorly when they did have opportunities.

"It gives a real opportunity for a couple of players in the seconds to come under strong consideration," Lyon said.

"Obviously Clint Jones, Charlie Gardiner, Sean Dempster's got a couple (VFL games) back (after injury) now, (David) Armitage has been good for us.

"So blokes who didn't do what we wanted, we'll turn them over until we get (the) competitive beasts that we want."

But Lyon said while Friday night's performance was very poor, some grace would be given to the squad given the good form they had shown in winning the pre-season competition and the first two home and away games.

"It's not catastrophic, it is in isolation, but in the context of a season, we're 2-1 and we play the benchmark team (Geelong) next week," he said.

"So that will really switch us on mentally straight away, we'll analyse it, we'll get it done tomorrow, we'll learn from it and we have an opportunity to rectify it."

Ruckman Michael Gardiner was a late withdrawal from Friday night's match with a calf strain and Lyon was uncertain whether he would return against the Cats.

"It's whether we take that risk off a minor soft tissue injury and risk maybe losing him for the longer term," he said.

"... But he's been pretty good for us and if you (have been) getting beaten at the clearances he'll be handy."

With Geelong No.1 ruckman Brad Ottens sidelined by an ankle/foot problem, it creates the likelihood of the Cats' Mark Blake and Saints' Steven King going head-to-head for most of next Saturday's match at Telstra Dome.

King, traded from the Cats in the off-season, replaced Blake in Geelong's grand final side last season, after Blake was in the senior side for most of the year.

Meanwhile, Lyon said one positive to come out of Friday night's match was the return of defender Brendon Goddard after almost a year sidelined by a knee injury.

"I really complimented Brendon after the game under difficult circumstances, what he was able to do coming off a reco," Lyon said.

"We know it takes time but I thought under adversity he contributed really strongly."

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