IS THIS the year it all falls apart for St Kilda and Alan Richardson?

If recent weeks are any indication, another rough AFL season awaits at Moorabbin.

What had started as a back niggle for star defender Jake Carlisle has escalated into a full-blown injury that may require season-ending surgery.

FULL INJURY LIST Who's racing the clock for round one?

Four-time club best and fairest winner Jack Steven's immediate future is clouded after taking indefinite leave to deal with mental health issues.

And big-name recruit Dan Hannebery's dodgy hamstrings have denied him the solid pre-season he needs to improve on an underwhelming finish to his time at Sydney.

At the very least, all three are long odds to line up for St Kilda's round-one clash with Gold Coast on March 24 - a match that suddenly looms as a virtual must-win for the Saints to restore the faith of their long-suffering members.

As it stands, sixth-year coach Richardson is well and truly in the hot seat after a miserable season in which the Saints managed just four wins.

While adamant he won't be bowed by external noise, an admirably forthright Richardson concedes he was part of the problem last season.

"Throughout the year, we probably overreacted at times - I'm talking about me personally," Richardson said.

"I tended to focus a little bit much on what was not working, which needs to happen, but you just need to get a bit of balance on stuff that was working.

"There's certainly been some external noise questioning 'do we have the personnel?'. But we don't hide from the fact that last year was disappointing.

"We were heading the right way. We should have been in a position to really launch a challenge and we didn't do that."

The optimistic view is that last year was a blip and the 2016-17 seasons - where the Saints won more games than they lost and twice barely missed making the finals - are a better indication of their potential.

The retirement of club greats Nick Riewoldt and Leigh Montagna also had a big impact on the club's on-field leadership, although third-year captain Jarryn Geary is highly rated internally.

"To a group that was already a pretty young group, there was a bit of a vacuum there," Richardson says.

"It did provide really good opportunities for those blokes to grow and we think Geary will be a better captain, we think Seb Ross will be a better leader, we think Dylan Roberton back into the team will be a better leader and a strong addition."

Richardson can justifiably see green shoots in a young core featuring the likes of Ross, Jade Gresham, Jack Billings and Jack Steele.

And the blooding of talent is set to continue with mature-aged draftees Matthew Parker, Robert Young and Nick Hind all in the mix for round-one debuts.

As for the undeniable focus on his job security, Richardson reckons not much has changed from the unflappable attitude he had as a half-back at Collingwood.

"When you reflect back on your career - I never worried about umpires, I never really worried about noise that was coming over the fence," Richardson says.

"As a coach, I've been the same. I reckon I've probably rung the umpiring department three or four times.

"I was lucky enough to have Leigh Matthews as my coach for nine years and something that was often said by Leigh was 'never worry about anything you can't control'.

"It's never been on my wall, but it is something that I've really quickly gone to."