High hopes for Saint McEvoy

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St Kilda ruckman Ben McEvoy is targeting a big finish to the season after being forced to watch on from the sidelines for a large part of 2012.

McEvoy made his comeback in Friday night's five-point loss to the Crows at AAMI Stadium, after missing the Saints' last six matches with a knee injury.

The 22-year-old admitted he had been frustrated watching his team-mates play without him, and is hopeful his return can help the Saints start producing some consistent winning form.

"I'm lucky," McEvoy said. "It was my first stint on the sidelines ever since I started playing footy but as the weeks went on, and obviously when we were losing, it's a bit harder. You want to get out there," McEvoy said.

"We've played a lot of good footy but it's been a bit win-loss and we haven't been able to string a couple together.

"But we'll go away and freshen up and really prepare ourselves for an assault in the second half of the season and try and find some consistency and hopefully that comes through in the results."

McEvoy's injury was magnified when his fellow ruckman Rhys Stanley went down with a hamstring injury in his side's Round 8 loss to West Coast at Patersons Stadium.

Although he said defender Jason Blake had acquitted himself well in his and Stanley's absence, McEvoy said the club would need to look at adding some more tall timber.

"I thought he (Blake) was absolutely superb. His ability to compete and then his follow up again was just exceptional," he said.

"I think the footy club's recognised that. We've known we're in that position where we're lacking ruck stocks.

"There's no denying that, so I'd say there needs to be another position for a ruckman."

McEvoy said he was unsure when Stanley would be ready to return, and he was also unaware of the outcome of club skipper Nick Riewoldt's scan on a calf injury he suffered during the Adelaide loss.

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