While the Saints slumped to 1-4 on Thursday night after a 16-point loss to the Sydney Swans in Wellington, they were buoyed by encouraging performances from debutants Josh Saunders and Brodie Murdoch.
The two first gamers joined Tom Lee and Nathan Wright as players to make their AFL debuts this year – something Dal Santo said just had to happen as the Saints moved into a new era.
While he said the word "rebuild" was "dangerous", he agreed injecting new talent into the Saints' line up had to keep happening.
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"Whether it's called rebuild or whether it's called fresh blood, it's needed, there's no doubt about that," Dal Santo said at a football clinic held at Wellington's Basin Reserve ahead of an afternoon flight back to Melbourne.
"In the past we've had a pretty solid, set team for quite a while, and things have changed a little bit.
"That's just the way footy goes, at some stage you do need new guys to come through and take some responsibility, and that's happening a little bit.
"I think it's necessary to have young guys coming through. It's obviously a balancing act between some experience, some older heads and getting some new guys through the club."
Dal Santo said he would continue to strive for the premiership they got so close to in 2009 and 2010, even though playing the youth was paramount.
With the Saints facing Collingwood, Carlton and Adelaide in the next three weeks, he said the goal was simple: keep improving.
"We always strive for a premiership, so it doesn't really change my day to day actions or my thoughts on where we're at," he said.
"On our day we're capable, and I think even last night even though we didn't get the win we were a lot better, it's just a matter of doing that week-in, week-out, which we haven't done for the first five games this season.
"We've just got to get better. Even years ago when things were going pretty well, we never looked outside what we could do that next day. Whether we keep losing or win a few along the way, it's just about getting better."
Nick Riewoldt played a commanding game on Thursday night, racking up 27 disposals, 13 marks, three inside 50s and five rebounds at the other end to go with his two goals.
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At times, his enormous work rate saw him push up into deep defence, which appeared to tire him on the rebound.
Dal Santo said there was no stopping the skipper from trying to do it all.
"He plays under fatigue and he plays with guys hanging off him every week, he's up against two blokes, and he just does his job. I thought he was really solid again last night," he said.
"That's just how he plays footy, he does what he thinks he needs to do at a particular time, he's been doing it for 12 or 13 years and does a really good job at it.
"He has that right and understands the game well enough to play it on his own merits, and if that's what he thinks needs to be done we'll back him in to do it, and I don't think we had any choice, he was going to do it anyway."
Dal Santo confirmed he had a trigger clause in his contract that would see him play on in 2014 subject to a medical.
"All I know is I've got a contract next year if I'm able to keep walking. I'm feeling ok. I do have a contract if I'm still here."
Jennifer Phelan is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenPhelan.
