ST KILDA coach Alan Richardson has demanded an immediate response from his players in next week's clash against West Coast after being given a midfield lesson by Melbourne on Saturday night.

The Saints were beaten in all aspects of the midfield battle at Etihad Stadium, with Richardson labelling it as poor a performance as he had seen from his group.

They travel to face the Eagles in round two at Domain Stadium, where they have not won since 2011, and Richardson said his team needed to bounce back.  

Five talking points: St Kilda v Melbourne

"We got an absolute lesson today," the coach said.

"It's round one, but we need to have a bit of perspective on this. We're a bloody disappointed footy club and group and we need to bounce back.

"We lost tonight but we need to learn from that, have a really strong week on the track and bounce back if we really care and if we're made of the right stuff as a footy club and a playing group.

"That's the only response we’ll want from our group and demand from our group."

After racing to a 23-point lead at quarter time, the Saints were overwhelmed by a dominant Melbourne midfield, which feasted on the tap work of outstanding ruckman Max Gawn.

The Demons won the hit-outs 54-19 in a one-on-one battle between Gawn and Tom Hickey, allowing midfielders Clayton Oliver and Jack Viney to combine for 17 clearances.

In a one-sided third quarter, the Demons won all eight centre clearances and had a 20-5 advantage in inside 50s.

"Gawn smashed us … young Oliver, Viney, they were just too good for us," Richardson said.

"What happened, and this is what it looked like, we became really reactionary on the back of possibly what Gawn was doing.

"That certainly affected – unfortunately and disappointingly – the mindset and attitude of the players."

WATCH: Alan Richardson's full post-match media conference

Richardson also conceded the Saints had "some work to do" with their defenders after new key position pair Jake Carlisle and Nathan Brown lowered their colours.  

The coach said he had left veteran defender Sean Dempster out of the 22 because his form had not demanded selection and the match committee preferred to go in with the taller pair.

Key forward Paddy McCartin was also out as a late withdrawal, with Richardson declaring "hamstring awareness" meant the young Saint was not capable of fulfilling his role.

"He went into the Sydney game with similar symptoms and just didn't have the power to play the way we wanted Paddy to play," the coach said.

"I was keen for Paddy to play, Paddy was really keen to play … (but) I didn't want to go in with him not absolutely able to be at his best to play his role.

"There's fit to play and fit to perform and execute your role. His role is a fairly ballistic one."

McCartin will play in a VFL practice match on Sunday where his minutes will be managed.

Saturday's match started in bizarre fashion when the Saints ran on to the ground just 90 seconds before the first bounce, robbing them of any final on-ground warm-up.

"We probably didn't quite get it right," Richardson said.

"I didn't even realise until I sat down in the coaches box and the ball got bounced.

"I'm not sure what happened there, but it certainly wasn't deliberate."