ST KILDA coach Alan Richardson hopes promoted recruit Koby Stevens can help solve some of the problems which have seen his team concede large numbers of goals in a hurry this season.

Stevens, a tough inside midfielder, joined the Saints from the Western Bulldogs in the off-season, and will play his first game for the club against Hawthorn in Launceston on Saturday.

St Kilda relinquished a three-quarter time lead for the second time this year on Sunday against Geelong, after doing the same against West Coast in round two.

Melbourne also piled on 10 straight goals at the Saints' expense in a five-goal victory in the opening round.

"The big thing for us is to complete our players – whether that's offence or defence," Richardson said.

"We haven't been great in contests (and) certainly the periods we've been beaten, we've been beaten at clearance and centre bounce.

"We think Koby Stevens will certainly be able to help us there. We're not going to have Dave (Armitage), who's a really aggressive player, for a little while there, but that's why we got Koby to the club.

"We think he can add a bit of depth and a bit of life. Jack Steven will be better for the run – that was his first game (back) last week and he was really promising in the first half of the game."

Richardson said the Hawks' strong response against West Coast last round, winning by 50 points after losing their first four games, did not surprise him.

"I think I was on record a couple of weeks ago saying we all expect Hawthorn to bounce back," he said.

"There's too much talent in the group (and) there's a lot of pride that's been built up over a long time, so I think the footy industry expected them to bounce back – it was no surprise.

"We know we're going up against a really fierce opponent that has a lot of belief in this venue, so we look forward to the challenge."

Hawthorn has won 19 straight games at Launceston's University of Tasmania Stadium, but had only three points to spare against Richardson's Saints at the venue last year.

The teams were locked at three-quarter time, but a 44-disposal effort from former Hawk Sam Mitchell willed his side across the line.

"We went really close last time (and) had some opportunities to win the game," Richardson said.

"We think our footy, for big parts of this year, has been reasonably positive … we've been disappointed with a couple of our finishes, particularly against Geelong and West Coast over there.

"But we think we're really close to playing our best footy."