St Kilda have lost faith in a number of players they recycled from other AFL clubs, cutting seven from their playing list.

The Saints have announced they had de-listed Charlie Gardiner, Shane Birss, Matthew Ferguson, Jayden Attard and Michael Rix, along with rookies Glenn Chivers and Luke Van Rheenan.

Birss played 20 games for the Saints in 2007-08 after turning out 51 times for the Western Bulldogs; Gardiner played 12 last season after 51 for Geelong and Rix 29 games from 2006-08 after spending time on Hawthorn's rookie list.

Attard, recruited from the Brisbane Lions, played 20 games for the Saints in 2007 but suffered a serious knee injury and spent last season on the rookie list, but did not play a senior game.

Ferguson, the other player with senior experience, managed only 12 games in six seasons.

St Kilda's culling - on top of the retirements last season of Robert Harvey and Fraser Gehrig - gives the club plenty of room to stock up with young players in next month's national draft.

However, the Saints are set to recruit one other player who spent time at a rival club, as they are the frontrunner to draft Ben Cousins if the former West Coast star is given the go-ahead by the AFL Commission to enter the national draft.

Off-field, Matthew Drain will oversee player contracts and recruiting in his new role as football list general manager, while Greg Hutchison will succeed him as football manager.

Hutchison was previously coach of St Kilda's VFL affiliate, the Casey Scorpions, but has a wealth of football experience in previous roles as stand-in Melbourne coach, Richmond assistant coach and football manager at the Tigers.

The Saints are yet to appoint replacements for Anthony Rock and John Barker, who have taken assistant coaching roles at North Melbourne and Hawthorn respectively.

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