St Kilda coach Alan Richardson is “optimistic” on Jake Carlisle’s chances of playing on Friday night against North.

Carlisle copped a knock against Adelaide last week, but the Saints’ coach thinks he'll be right to go. 

"Jake's had a week where he's had to get himself right," Richardson said on Thursday.

"But we're pretty optimistic, still, that he'll come up."

St Kilda has already ruled out Paddy McCartin for the Etihad Stadium clash due a knee injury, while Nathan Wright will miss with a shoulder injury.

Jack Steele has been dropped from the Saints’ lineup for the must-win clash.

Luke Dunstan is set to be recalled, while Nick Riewoldt will return from two games out with a knee injury.

Richardson said St Kilda would look to regain a hard edge against North.

“When we’re at our best, we’re really aggressive and we’re really proactive in terms of the way we support each other, whether that’s defenders supporting each other, whether that’s the mids, the forwards,” he said. 

“That’s the big difference for us. Really what the message is to the players is that we are really aggressive and bold in the way we play, the way we defend and the way that we attack.”

The Saints' coach giving plenty of credit to Brad Scott and his team.

“They (the Kangaroos) are in really good shape in many ways. Their pressure, some of their clearance work – I know ‘Scotty’ [Brad Scott] was pretty disappointed with some of their clearance work last time – but their ability to score from centre bounce and clearance is pretty positive," Richardson added. 

“When they get their handball and their quick flow from the back they are very hard to stop and we know they’ve got some real firepower in front of the ball.

“They could be much higher on the ladder in terms of win-loss, we know that they are going to be coming out strong.”