With the Saints rewarded with an extra week to prepare following their Qualifying Final victory against Geelong on Friday night, Senior Coach Ross Lyon has now turned his focus to ensuring his players are fully primed for a big Preliminary Final next Saturday at the MCG.

Although the advantages of having a week away from the rigours of an AFL game are obvious, Lyon and his fitness staff face the task of ensuring his players are fired up and ready to go against their opposition next weekend, set to be either the Western Bulldogs or Sydney Swans.

“Training is really important, along with management of the players and trying to improve our football.” Lyons said.

“History tells you (the break) can work for you, or against you. So it is about getting the management and training loads right and ensuring that mentally our players are staying tuned in.”

“It is a long and hard year, so the opportunity to freshen up a bit, if you handle it in the right manner, should be an advantage. But history tells you it doesn’t always work that way.”

Although Steven Baker and Jarryn Geary were late withdrawals in the side who defeated Geelong, they are only a couple of players who will be working hard on the track over the next few days as they vie for selection next week.

“(Baker) has just got to keep making every post a winner really. He’ll need to keep pushing along and training really hard, which he has. But there are a few (in the same position); Geary was really unlucky not to play and Armitage went out of the team, as well as Luke Miles.”

“We have a few (players) trying to get an opportunity, not just Baker. So we will pick a team once we know our opposition and conditions to give us the best chance.”

Having an almost full list of healthy players is not a luxury that the St Kilda Senior Coach has faced often during the 2010 season.

“There was no significant injuries to come out of (the game) so we’re pretty healthy and available and looking forward to today’s training session” Ross said.

With Saturday night’s Semi Final match set to decide the fixture for St Kilda’s Preliminary Final, Lyon has been preparing his side to face another huge challenge, no matter which team they will come up against the following week.

“We have the opportunity to watch Sydney and the Bulldogs play each other (this weekend), and as the result goes either way we can tune in a bit more to plan for the next game.”

“There are no easy games of AFL Football. They will both be worthy and tough opponents with as equal opportunity as us to advance to a Grand Final. Preliminary Finals are incredibly hard to win” Lyon said.