INJURED St Kilda midfielder Luke Ball is unlikely to return to the Saints’ line-up for this week’s clash against Essendon.

Coach Ross Lyon said he was in the mix for selection, but the club was likely to take a conservative approach.

“He’ll go through the process but he’s more unlikely than likely at this stage. He’s running pretty strongly but I’ll wait until the end of the week (to decide),” Lyon said.

Ball has not played since injuring his hamstring against Port Adelaide in round 18 and Lyon would not speculate if he would be fit for the first week of the finals.

“(He’ll play) when he’s fit and available - we think he’s going to be very close this week. He’s more unlikely than likely but there is still a chance he’ll play. We’ll go through the week and when we sit down next week we’ll talk about next week,” he said.

The Saints coach was hesitant to look too far ahead, pointing out that their opponents would be keen to give a big send-off for Adam Ramanauskas, Jason Johnson, Damien Peverill and Mal Michael.

“We’re firmly focussed on round 22 and the Essendon Football Club. It’s their tribute to a couple of favourite sons – premiership players that have been magnificent contributors in an incredible team from ’99 to ’01.”

The boot is on the other foot for the Saints, who last week rode the emotion of the Robert Harvey testimonial match to demolish Adelaide. Lyon said while the Bombers would be motivated to win for their departing stars, emotion counts for little in the professional world of AFL.

“In our first 30 minutes (last week) the emotion of Robert Harvey didn’t mean much. We were behind by 24 points at one stage and it highlights that you’ve got to focus on the basics. You have to control what you can control,” Lyon said.

“We’re playing an opponent that dug themselves out of a big hole early in the year. They’ve been playing some exciting football and we know they’re more than capable of kicking over 100 points.

“They’ve been winning the contested ball, tackling their opposition. We know they’re playing with plenty of spirit. There’s a strong view that (Dustin) Fletcher will get up and (Matthew) Lloyd is doing what (Nick) Riewoldt’s doing in leading from the front and dragging the young players up.”

Lyon said that while the Bombers were beset by injury, they were not to be taken lightly.

“Out of the team we played earlier in the year there is going to be 14 or 15 players. The numbers on the injury front are large but a lot of them are their youth and out of their first selection there’s maybe only four or five. We’re under no illusions there’s a stack of talent in their team.”