Lance Franklin and Sydney’s emerging young guns have starred in the Swans’ three-point AFL pre-season win over a gritty St Kilda side in Albury on Sunday.

The Swans never trailed, but Saints pressured well throughout a fiercely contested game, which Sydney won 0.11.11 (77) to 0.10.14 (74) in front of just under 7,000 spectators.

Luke Dunstan had a chance to steal victory for the Saints near the end but kicked just a behind from a close range set shot.

While Franklin didn’t have his best goalkicking night, notching 2.4, his distribution by foot was excellent, as he had 22 disposals and seven marks in a impressive and busy performance.

Jake Lloyd, Dan Robinson and Zak Jones tallied 30, 28 and 26 touches respectively and gave Sydney plenty of drive, while established stars Luke Parker, Josh Kennedy and Dane Rampe also impressed and got plenty of ball.

For Saints, ruckman Tom Hickey excelled adding a team-high 29 disposals and a game-best 39 hitouts and Shane Savage was another strong performer.

At one stage early in the second half Sydney led by 26, but Saints kicked four straight goals to level the score.

Young ruckman-forward Darcy Cameron then banged over a 48 metre set shot to give Sydney a six-point buffer at the last change.

George Hewett and Franklin kicked the first two goals of the final quarter, but Nathan Wright and Tim Membrey replied in kind to keep Saints in touch until the end.

Sydney led by margins of eight, 14 and six at the three breaks.

After three quarters the Saints’ Maverick Weller was the only player to have kicked more than one goal, though he was withdrawn from the game with what appeared to be a groin injury.