WEST Coast youngster Scott Selwood says he will take confidence from his shutdown role on star Saint Leigh Montagna after overcoming a poor start to nullify the hard-running midfielder on Sunday.    

Selwood was comprehensively beaten early in West Coast's 35-point loss to St Kilda, with Montagna out-running his inexperienced opponent and amassing 11 first-quarter possessions.

However, the 20-year-old Eagle regrouped, and Montagna had just nine possessions to Selwood’s 10 over the remaining three quarters.

“He got a hold of me early on, so I needed to shut him down a bit better and play him a lot tighter than I did around stoppages,” Selwood said after the match. 

“He worked pretty hard, and I found him a very good player.

“It wasn’t always at top speed, but he never stopped running, and sometimes they’re the hardest players to play on when they’re just running the whole time.”

Selwood wasn’t alone in being set a challenge by coach John Worsfold, with Tom Swift (17 games), Brad Ebert (41) and Brad Sheppard (three) also spending time on key Saints Lenny Hayes, Nick Dal Santo and Brendon Goddard.   

Selwood, who was playing against St Kilda for just the second time, said the match-ups would accelerate the young Eagles’ development. 

“A lot of us young guys haven’t played the Saints too many times, so it’s a good learning curve whether it’s a win or a loss,” he said. 

“The boys will learn a lot from today, as did I, and we’ll use the things that they did to us today on other players. It’ll make us better players.

“You look at the blokes that played on them, and there’s about 300 games' difference. They were just a lot more experienced in the end, which probably won through for them.

“(But) I love that the coaches have the belief in us to keep sticking at our guns and trust that we’ll do the job.”

West Coast let a 17-point lead slip on Sunday, conceding nine of the game’s last 10 goals to end a two-week winning run.

A disappointed Selwood said missed opportunities cost West Coast, but the side could still take plenty out of the game.

“They’re a very good team and we can’t forget that,” he said. 

“They played in a grand final last year with that defensive pressure, so we can learn from that defensive pressure and take the next step forward."