The club wanted an insurance policy and the ruckman craved a second chance.

So former Richmond player Adam Pattison went to St Kilda in last Thursday's AFL national draft.

Pattison is mindful of how well fellow big men Steven King and Michael Gardiner have performed at St Kilda and he hopes to be the next "recycled" Saint to justify their faith.

The Saints took Pattison with pick No.64 after a season where he only managed eight senior games with the Tigers.

King's knee continues to give him trouble and youngster Rhys Stanley is not quite ready to become a front-line ruckman.

The Saints want to keep Justin Koschitzke in attack as much as possible, so Pattison will fill the gap if King struggles to play consistently.

"Steven's knee has deteriorated a little bit more from the time he got here," said coach Ross Lyon.

"When you see the prices that are extracted out of clubs to get ruckmen through, as in draft picks and what you have to pay in salary ... we just felt it was a forward planning decision as well, it was really opportunistic.

"Rhys Stanley is a really exciting athlete, but he's so raw and it was really based around the premise that if our ruckmen go down and we need someone to support (Ben) McEvoy, do we need to bring Koschitzke out of the forward line?

"We didn't want to lose a power forward and put him in the ruck."

Pattison, 23, has played 61 senior games and is determined to flourish at his second club.

"You get a little bit nervous, but I was pretty confident because I just know within myself that wasn't me last year," he said.

"It's definitely encouraging, they've had some good history with guys from other clubs and also guys who have had some problems injury-wise."

St Kilda presented their new recruits to the media on Monday, with Nick Winmar picked at No.32, former North Melbourne player Jesse Smith joining the Saints at 60 and Will Johnson selected at 77.

Winmar is a distant cousin of Saints great Nicky Winmar, but the newcomer has had little to do with his famous namesake.

While the fans will be keen to see what the latest Winmar can do, player and coach are ignoring the hype.

Nick has not spoken to Nicky since last Thursday's draft and describes the family connection as "no big deal".

"I haven't seen (Nicky) a great deal - I was pretty young when I saw him play," Nick said.

Lyon added the link between the Winmars was by name only.

"For our supporters, more than myself, they'll be able to associate," he said.

"I'm sure Nick is keen to forge his own identity and doesn't want to be cast in the shadow of anyone."

Johnson only watched the draft on television see his friend David Astbury go to Richmond with pick 35.

He then turned off the TV and was shocked when his sister turned it back on and his name was on the screen.

"It was a big shock and my parents were pretty emotional, I jumped through the roof," Johnson said.

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