St Kilda coach Brett Ratten concedes the Saints are looking for young forward Max King too much and need to find other options inside-50.

The Saints’ AFL finals aspirations go on the line on Sunday when they face a struggling Hawthorn at Metricon Stadium.

But they will have to do it without vital goal-kicker Tim Membrey, who had surgery on a fractured finger on Tuesday.

The obvious conclusion for a missing Membrey would be for the Rising Star contender King to take on more responsibility, but Ratten doesn’t see it that way.

Seventh-placed St Kilda won the inside-50 count 46-30 in last week’s crucial match against Melbourne last week, but still lost their fourth game of the season by less than six points.

“(King) knows he just plays a part in the forward line,” Ratten told reporters on Saturday.

“Probably our ability to maybe not kick to him as much because I think sometimes there’s other players on, and we’re probably going to him a bit too much as well.”

Despite a second straight close defeat, Ratten remains pleased with most areas of St Kilda’s game.

“When you just look at the scoreboard, you can say you lose confidence, but we just need to clean a few parts of our game up,” he said.

“Probably that inside-50 kick. We had opportunities when we had spare players and didn’t find them.”

Key defender Jake Carlisle was a shock axing against the Demons, and he is no guarantee to face the Hawks, either.

Forgotten backman Dylan Roberton is line to play his first game since March when he returned in round one following a long stint on the sidelines because of a heart-related issue.

Meanwhile, Ratten confirmed Dan Hannebery wouldn’t play until at least the finals despite the midfielder entering quarantine in Queensland this week.