ST KILDA captain Nick Riewoldt and star midfielder Leigh Montagna have been ruled out of Saturday’s Anzac Day match against Carlton in Wellington.

Riewoldt was a late withdrawal from last Friday night's match against Collingwood with a calf injury, and has not come up.

Montagna is still suffering from a knee complaint sustained during the opening round against Greater Western Sydney. 

St Kilda's general manager of football performance Jamie Cox said putting Riewoldt through a fitness test could have damaged the calf even further. 

"Nick’s injury is probably at the stage where we thought to test him for this week would put him in danger of doing further damage," Cox said. 

"We’ve withdrawn him early and he won’t be making the trip to Wellington. 

"If we were playing at home, he wouldn’t have been available either unfortunately. It’s irrespective of travel. 

"We can’t promise (he'll play) next week but we’ll keep an eye on him. He’s obviously desperate to play as soon as possible and we’ll be desperate to have him back when he can. He will be a week by week proposition now until he emerges."

Montagna faces a similar prognosis following a minor knee operation.

"He hasn’t come up this week which we weren’t overly surprised about. He’s (also) very much week by week," Cox said.

"There was a lot of emotion around round one as well and he absolutely pushed himself hard to get up and played a terrific game. 

"Hindsight is a great thing in footy, but he probably did do some damage there which has seen him miss a couple of weeks."

In better news on the injury front, Sam Gilbert will return to football this weekend via the VFL following a long-standing foot injury sustained in last year’s round 22 clash with Richmond.