ST KILDA'S JLT Community Series victory over North Melbourne on Saturday was so important coach Alan Richardson asked chief executive Matt Finnis to give a rare address to his players after the game.

The Saints led for most of the game at Avalon Airport Oval and recorded an impressive 25-point win.

The victory came after a horror week for the club in which star midfielder Jack Steven took indefinite leave to deal with mental health issues and news emerged key defender Jake Carlisle could face season-ending back surgery.

Often coaches place little stock in pre-season games, but Richardson told reporters after Saturday's match there had been plenty at stake for the Saints.

SAINTS SHINE Full match coverage and stats

"It's important. In fact, I can't remember the last time Matty Finnis spoke to the group and I thought it was important and asked Matty from a club's perspective what [the win] would mean for our fans," Richardson said.

"We had a disappointing year last year. While our membership is strong, our group needed to have a strong performance, irrespective of whether we win or lose, our attitude needed to be strong.

"And that was Matty's message: well done, boys, you've done a pretty good job in terms of making the whole business work and that fans can see that [you're] going to turn up.

"These are the [CEO's] words, not mine – we're going to be competitive and we're going to be aggressive week in, week out."

'IT WAS A CHALLENGING WEEK' Watch Alan Richardson's media conference

Richardson admitted the week's events had challenged the club, but said Steven was "doing well; he needs a bit of time to himself".

The coach confirmed Carlisle would visit a back specialist on Tuesday, when he would learn whether the back issues that had sidelined him since Christmas required surgery.

The Saints were without ruckman Lewis Pierce for the final three quarters on Saturday after a head knock left him concussed.

"He was fine after the game, but we'll just have to wait and see how he pulls up," Richardson said.

Meanwhile North coach Brad Scott said prized recruit Aaron Hall had escaped serious injury after Pierce fell across his left knee 10 minutes into Saturday's game.

Hall returned with his knee strapped and played the second quarter but did not return after half-time.

"He went out and played and he said, 'Look, it's just a bit sore,'" Scott said.

"My attitude was why risk him? He's escaped without any structural damage, let's just make sure he's right for next week."

'WHY RISK HIM?' Watch Brad Scott's media conference

However, the Roos coach said his team's forward line mix remained up in the air with just one pre-season game remaining before its round-one clash against Fremantle.

With Ben Brown held to just one mark and one goal by Saints veteran Nathan Brown, Mason Wood and Nick Larkey, who was required in defence at times, struggled to provide the Roos with strong aerial targets.

"That was a poor part of the game for us today. We had 58 entries and scored poorly from them," Scott said

"Browny's got his sort of pre-season mode almost down pat, no one gets himself to the line better than Browny.

"He's working with a different crew down there as well. We've got seven new players who don't understand our system perfectly yet, so we're going to have to do a lot of work over the next three weeks on how we deliver the ball inside our forward 50.

"And the mix as well is important because we're not sure what that looks like yet."

However, Scott was more confident his backline would be ready for round one even if vice-captain Robbie Tarrant is ruled out with an AC joint injury.

Scott said he had been happy with young defender Ben McKay's performance against the Saints, and with Larkey's efforts in his time inside the Roos' defensive 50m arc.