ST KILDA young gun Mattaes Phillipou is expected to be fit to face the Western Bulldogs after the club's mid-season bye, despite being substituted out of Sunday's win over Melbourne in Alice Springs with a calf injury. 

The 20-year-old injured his calf at training earlier in the week, but travelled to the Northern Territory before reaggravating the issue in the opening minutes, with Jack Carroll replacing Phillipou early in the first quarter. 

Phillipou has experienced an interrupted start to 2025, missing the first four months of the year after sustaining a stress fracture in his femur just before Christmas. 

The South Australian returned against Carlton in round nine and produced his best performance of the year against Gold Coast last Sunday.

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Saints coach Ross Lyon was confident after the 28-point win – St Kilda's first win in the Northern Territory – that Phillipou will be available to play after the weekend off. 

"It's lower calf, on the minor end. We think he will play post-bye," Lyon told reporters after the 28-point win at TIO Traeger Park on Sunday. 

"He tweaked it a bit at training, pretty low end stuff; they ultra sounded it. 

"They felt they couldn't get him back on (today), but he should be fine (to face the Western Bulldogs)."

Marcus Windhager was one of the most influential players at TIO Traeger Park, restricting in-form Melbourne star Kysaiah Pickett to just 12 touches, scoreless and minimal influence, while finishing with 28 disposals and five clearances. 

"Marcus has wonderful focus and it went his way today. I thought he won a lot of ball as well. He had great concentration to keep him quiet. It shows it can be done," Lyon said.

"He is a strong player, Pickett; I saw him at the airport. I think he is close to Bradley Hill, Liam Henry. I've enjoyed meeting him, but he was the opposition today."

Lyon joked at the end of his press conference that he will head to Las Vegas during the bye, but the Saints now head to the bye with a pulse after ending a three-game losing streak and banking a fifth win of the year to stay within touching distance of the eight at round 12. 

The Saints were controlled with their ball movement, amassing 91 more disposals, 72 more uncontested possessions and 40 more marks in a disciplined performance that rewarded the planning. 

"We've been working really hard on our game," he said. "I spoke pre-game about the areas, which have been our ball use and not getting hemmed skinny. It's easy to talk about it, but we worked hard on it and I thought we executed it today; I thought we were a bit harder today in the centre square bounces where they are strong and we really stood up."

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin was left frustrated by the Demons' wastefulness in front of goal.

After kicking the first goal of the game, Melbourne finished with 7.21 and didn't kick a goal in the last quarter, finishing the game with nine consecutive behinds – 0.8 in the fourth quarter.

"It's frustrating. If you want to make a difference to how the game looks you need scoreboard impact," Goodwin said on Sunday night.

"There is no doubt it is contagious. We know that we have got to keep creating more opportunities and we've got to take them. It's contagious, it's frustrating, we understand that and it's something we've got to keep getting better at, keep working on. 

"It's what AFL footy demands that you take your opportunities, you're efficient and you maximise everything that you do well in the game. Today we weren’t able to do that."

Melbourne vice-captain Jack Viney is on track to return against Collingwood for the King's Birthday blockbuster Monday week.

The 31-year-old travelled to Alice Springs but missed a fourth straight game after initially being ruled out of round nine due to delayed concussion symptoms, which have since taken longer than expected to settle.

"We are hopeful. Obviously, there is that little bit of concern when concussion takes that little bit longer," Goodwin said.

"These are very individualised things. We work through these protocols. All his testing suggests he is heading in the right direction and really close to playing, but ultimately these athletes needs to feel 100 per cent. 

"We will continue to train Jack and make sure he gets the workload required. He did a match load today and feels really good. But we will see how feels during the week. We are confident he is pretty close."

Demons key forward Aidan Johnson will come under scrutiny by the Match Review Officer after a bump that forced Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera off the ground, before the St Kilda star passed a head injury assessment.