St Kilda are preparing to face an Essendon line-up hungry for success when they meet in their NAB Challenge clash in Morwell on Saturday.

Due to the ongoing AFL anti-doping tribunal, the Saints will take on a makeshift Bombers outfit mostly made up of VFL players as well as nine former AFL players looking for a second chance, including former St Kilda tagger Clint Jones, midfielder James Magner (Melbourne) and key-position player Mitch Brown (Geelong).

“They’ve still got some really good players playing for them,” said St Kilda defender Jarryn Geary on Thursday.

“No doubt they will be hungry and come out with a bit of fire in their belly because they will want to prove a few people wrong and probably showcase the fact that they still think they’ve got some time left in the game.

“We’ll be bracing ourselves for a very competitive hit-out.”

Geary said that most AFL teams didn’t play their top line-up in the pre-season so it wouldn’t really be that different against Essendon.

In their first NAB Challenge match the young Saints showed some promising form in a three-point loss to Brisbane.

“We probably weren’t happy with the first half, we were a little bit slow out of the blocks and didn’t really play the way we wanted to play,” Geary said.

“In the second half we came out and it was more positive so going forward we will aim to be a bit more consistent.”

St Kilda lost veteran Farren Ray during the Lions match, with his hamstring injury requiring surgery that will sideline him for two months.

Jack Billings and Shane Savage have also suffered a hamstring injuries but the Saints had some good news with Dylan Roberton cleared of the same injury, with only muscle soreness diagnosed.

St Kilda skipper Nick Riewoldt is still away from the club on compassionate leave following the death of his younger sister Madeleine after a long illness.

“Nick is still with his family in Tasmania,” said Saints assistant coach Danny Sexton.

“He’ll decide when the right time is for him to return to footy.”