HUNTING AND GATHERING: St Kilda's Hunter Clark can win the ball on the inside and outside and is proving a reliable asset for new coach Brett Ratten as the Saints chase a finals berth in 2020. Picture: Getty Images

SOMETIMES all it takes is one passage of play to highlight why a player stands out from the pack.

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St Kilda's Hunter Clark easing himself through a contest and delivering a clever pass against Port Adelaide on Saturday night encapsulated why the Saints used a top-10 pick on him in 2017.

He showed grunt, poise and skill to turn a 50-50 ball into a St Kilda advantage in front of a hostile Power crowd at Adelaide Oval.

Some players can sum up a situation in a millisecond; they can make time slow down.

Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury is the current-day master of such football wizardry.

Clark has the same trait and it's one which will hold the half-back flanker in good stead and cause opponents to second-guess themselves when matched up on him.

It's also one reason St Kilda finds itself climbing up the ladder, on track for its first finals berth since 2011.

Much has been made of the Saints' off-season recruiting drive with Bradley Hill (St Kilda), Dan Butler (Richmond), Zak Jones (Sydney) and Paddy Ryder and Dougal Howard (Port Adelaide) arriving at Moorabbin.

They've all made an impact, in particular small forward Butler, but the growth from within has been just as vital under new coach Brett Ratten.

Hunter, who collected a season-high 24 disposals and five AFL Coaches Association votes against the Power, oozes class.

But he also doesn't shirk the contest and is just as comfortable winning the hard ball as he is creating play on the outside.

It's the ideal balance.

His partner-in-crime in defence, Nick Coffield, is also justifying the Saints' decision to pluck him with pick eight in 2017 - just one spot after Clark.

Having smart ball users out of defence is crucial in the modern-day game and St Kilda ensured it had that area covered for the next decade when it used back-to-back picks on Clark and Coffield.

Both also have the attributes to move into the midfield, if that's the direction Ratten wanted to take.

Clark (37 games) and Coffield (25) have taken time to find their feet at AFL level.

But now they're entrenched in the Saints' best 22 and will play crucial roles in their run towards a potential finals appearance.