St Kilda have named an extended squad for Friday's NAB Cup clashes with Geelong and Sydney and new coach Scott Watters plans to expose as many of the players chosen as possible.
Like the Swans, the Saints have named a 34-man squad for their two games, and the only regular senior players missing from it are Nick Dal Santo (broken hand), Raph Clarke (calf) and James Gwilt (knee).
But while the likes of Nick Riewoldt, Brendon Goddard, Sam Fisher and Leigh Montagna were all picked, along with returning veteran Lenny Hayes, Watters said the club's NAB Cup campaign will be largely about putting into practice the game plan he introduced over summer.
"There are other players that we're really interested in seeing how they go when we're stepping up a level of intensity," Watters said on Wednesday.
"From a coaching perspective you want to see some of the things that you've been working on in training start to filter through, you want to see how the players react and how changes to a game plan potentially hold up under heightened pressure."
"At the same time we know that we'll come out of this game with numerous areas where we still want to improve and get better."
"So are we looking for a perfect performance or expecting a perfect performance? Probably not, but over a three or four-week period we certainly want to refine what we've been working on now over the last three or four months."
"It's a good opportunity, some extra pressure to see how we stand up individually and as a team."
According to Watters, some of his veterans may play little more than a half as he looks to give more game time to the 14 players in the squad who have played 10 or fewer games so far in their AFL careers.
"While some of them are being exposed to a higher level so we just get to see how they operate, the majority of them, pleasingly, are really challenging for Round 1," Watters said before naming the likes of Seb Ross, Tom Ledger, Jack Newnes and Terry Milera as players who haven't had much exposure.
"It says that we've got a really healthy 30-35 which is what we're really looking at, that are going to make things really challenging come selection in Round 1."
As for Hayes, Watters was bullish about the 32-year-old's prospects for 2012 after his 2011 season was cut short in just Round 2 by a serious knee injury.
"Yeah I think we've been pretty transparent from even prior to Christmas really as far as how well Lenny's been going," Watters said.
"I've just viewed it as a normal pre-season, it's been really solid, really consistent (and) he hasn't missed a beat."
"He's played in our intra-club games and he'll, as you'd expect from an experienced player, play the appropriate amount of minutes come Friday night and over the four games leading into Round 1."