The club, however, opted to take a conservative approach with the veteran, who was on the comeback trail from a calf strain, and not risk him in the colder night match conditions at Melville Oval.

But Goodall will return against Warrnambool at Victoria Park on Saturday, having not taken the field since sustaining his injury in the first minute of play on April 22.

Jarrod Korewha, who has a light quad strain, is the Saints’ only out for the clash against their greatest rival of the past decade in the Blues.

McLaren said while the Reid Oval club may not be travelling as well as they would like at the moment, he expected nothing less than a gruelling battle.

“There’s a lot of respect in there as well,” he said of the rivalry. “It’s been a great rivalry over the last 10 years or more.

“The ledger is probably pretty similar. We certainly won’t be expecting an easy game.”