FRESH off proving St Kilda's saviour, Jade Gresham showed why he's emerging as a genuine star of the future with a "special" performance against Melbourne, coach Alan Richardson says.

The small forward's blistering two-goal third term set up the Saints' nail-biting two-point victory, his match-winning efforts extending into a second game.

After pulling St Kilda from the doldrums with a late snap to end a 12-match winless streak against Gold Coast before the bye, Gresham's pace proved too much to handle, finishing with four goals.

One effort in the first term excited Richardson, Gresham starting behind the ball to burst through a centre bounce stoppage and set up the first of Tim Membrey's four majors.

RICHO ON THE WIN Watch the full post-match media conference

"I think that Gresh has the ability to be a really special player for a long time," Richardson said post-match.

"He wins contests, he's creative, he's pretty tough.

GAMEBREAKER Gresh the great

"That ball that he got coming off the back of the square and ended up going out the front door at a clearance against a pretty physical team is symbolic of what he can do for us.

"We need to keep improving his game and building his game so potentially he can play more in the midfield."

Gresham showed why he's closing in on joining Jack Sinclair in the "elite" bracket of players, regarded as the only Saint in that category in pre-season by Champion Data.

Sinclair amassed a career-high 30 disposals and was involved in nine scoring passages, St Kilda's pace leaving Melbourne flat-footed.

Fellow outside runner Jack Billings collected 24 disposals and a career-high eight inside 50s in his second match back from his round 12 omission.

"The guys have got a lot of faith in their run," Richardson said.

"They've done a lot of work, it's a pretty young group now through the midfield. Fundamentally, they're backing their legs in."

Richardson was also full of praise for the physical efforts of young key forwards Paddy McCartin and Josh Battle, with the Saints managing 29 scoring shots from 50 forward entries.

"Because we've been relatively ineffective in front of the ball this year, we've generally had to win the inside-50 count by almost 15 to win the game," Richardson said after losing the count by 12.

"Paddy's made of the right stuff.

"We know that up until now he's had some challenges, he's had a few knocks in the head and he's had to battle a little bit with his diabetes but he's getting through that now.

"He's had some continuity of games, we just need our big forwards to give us really good contest.

"We're really pleased with the way Paddy's going, (but) you've got to keep going because there's blokes like (Josh) Bruce who are knocking the door down (in the VFL)."

Richardson highlighted the impact of Jack Viney's final term to wrestle Melbourne back into the match after Jack Steven put the Saints 20 points clear with less than three minutes on the clock.

But it was a young St Kilda on-ball brigade that matched it with the No.1 contested ball winning team in the competition, led by Jack Steele blanketing Clayton Oliver's influence.

Nathan Brown's hamstring injury early in the third quarter left debutant Darragh Joyce isolated against Jesse Hogan, with Richardson confident they would be able to cover the key defender's absence in coming weeks.

"Gilbo (Sam Gilbert) was positive yesterday for Sandringham, Hughy Goddard played his best game for a while. That's healthy that we might have a few options."

Defender Jimmy Webster is a chance to return for the trip to face Port Adelaide off a six-day break after injuring his groin in round 13.