ST KILDA has bolstered its forward/ruck stocks with the acquisition of former Bomber Shaun McKernan. 

An unrestricted free agent, McKernan was able to join the Saints for free after he was delisted by the Bombers.

At 196cm, McKernan will provide depth up forward and can also pinch-hit in the ruck if required. 

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Melbourne also had some interest in McKernan, but the Saints lodged paperwork for the 30-year-old on Friday morning.

He will now be at his third club, having played 34 games for Adelaide from 2009-2014 and 53 games for Essendon since 2016.

"(McKernan) is one of a few guys," St Kilda list manager James Gallagher told Trade Radio last Monday.

"He's obviously finished up at Essendon. There are a few marking forward types that are either out of contract or finishing up at their current clubs and we've made a number of phone calls to their managers over the past few weeks.

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"I reckon we are a little bit exposed if we get the wrong injury in the wrong spot. That's not necessarily just with Max King.

 "I think our team worked pretty well this year with the two tall forwards, with Tim Membrey playing as the other marking forward. We just don't want to be compromised with our structure if we get the wrong injury in the wrong position.

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"It's not an area of the ground that we're going to throw a lot of assets and money at. That's not to be disrespectful to anyone that we may bring in, we just think we've got our No.1 forward, Max King, for a number of years." 

The Saints have been very canny with their trading in recent years, signing Dan Butler, Paddy Ryder, Dougal Howard, Zak Jones and Bradley Hill in 2019, and Brad Crouch joining as a restricted free agent this week.