St Kilda coach Alan Richardson says he wants to see Nathan Freeman involved in some explosive play before he hands him a long-awaited AFL debut.
Freeman, who has been plagued by soft tissue injuries since being drafted by Collingwood with pick No.10 in the 2013 draft, has strung together six-straight games in St Kilda's VFL affiliate side Sandringham.
The 23-year-old tallied 29 disposals and a goal in the VFL last Sunday, but it wasn't enough to earn him a dream AFL call-up for this week.
"He's got a little bit more to go," Richardson said ahead of his team's clash with GWS at Spotless Stadium on Saturday.
"He's heading the right way. He's physically right to go now.
"We think his footy's heading the right way, in terms of playing the right way.
"But just really physically exploding and using his attributes, that's the next box he needs to tick, and we're pretty confident he'll get there in the next few weeks."
Jimmy Webster (groin) will miss another week, while there's still no timeline on Paddy McCartin's return from a foot issue.
"He's doing really light work," Richardson said of McCartin.
"He needs to up the load. We haven't put a timeframe on that. We'll just see how he goes as the training ramps up."
The Saints put the AFL's proposed rule changes to the test at training on Thursday.
Richardson doesn't think the session had put a dent in his team's preparations for the match against GWS.
"No, it actually ended up pretty good," Richardson said.
"We're coming up against a good stoppage team in GWS that have been smashing teams in and around the ball, and there ended up being a lot of stoppages (during the rules trial).
"So whilst it probably wasn't what (the AFL) were after, we didn't mind it."
The Giants have won six of their past seven matches, and need to beat St Kilda to keep pace with the top four.
The two teams drew when they met in round five, but the Giants will start as hot favourites on their home turf.
