SHUTTING down St Kilda superstar Nick Riewoldt will be a job for more than one Hawthorn defender on Saturday, according to Ben Stratton.
Riewoldt has been in vintage form in the opening six rounds, booting 18 goals and almost single-handedly willing the Saints to victories over Melbourne, GWS and Essendon.
With Hawks defender Josh Gibson set to avoid a week on the sidelines - if he accepts a reprimand for striking Richmond's Reece Conca - Stratton might not be given first crack at Riewoldt.
But the mid-sized 189cm defender expects he'll face the challenge at some point during the round seven clash at the MCG.
Stratton admits it's a unique job trying to tie down 'Roo' and he'll have to call on all of his aerial nous and aerobic capacity against the Saints' champion.
"He probably gets up the ground more than most tall forwards," Stratton told AFL.com.au.
"He gets a lot of touches outside of 50m and then rips back like a small forward, so he's got the tall marking power and the small running ability.
"So I suppose you've got to have both strengths to your game to keep up with him.
"I think we'll end up chopping and changing (on him) a little bit, as we do normally, because we've got guys who can play tall and small."
The Hawks' defence welcomed back Brian Lake against Richmond and was at its miserly best, keeping the Tigers to just seven goals in a 66-point romp.
Norm Smith medallist Lake and Gibson held Richmond forwards Jack Riewoldt and Ben Griffiths to just two majors between them and the Hawks' defence could be further bolstered by the return of Ryan Schoenmakers against the Saints.
The 195cm big man has played four games in the VFL since coming back from a knee reconstruction and was an emergency against the Tigers.
"It's good having Brian back and we've got a fair bit of depth there in the backline as well with the bigs with 'Schoey' coming back," Stratton said.
The 25-year-old West Australian was quick to dispel any fears he was in doubt for Saturday's clash after his substitution at three-quarter time against Richmond.
Stratton was only playing his second AFL game for the season since overcoming hamstring and calf issues.
"It was just management, it was pretty fortunate that we were up by a fair bit at three-quarter time," he said.
"It was good, I could just play three quarters, get through pretty well and sit on the pine for the last quarter and watch the boys go about their business."
