LeCras injured as Eagles down Saints

West Coast have continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 25-point win over St Kilda at Patersons Stadium but it may have come at a cost, with forward Mark LeCras reinjuring his right arm.

LeCras was subbed off in the opening quarter of the 12.11 (83) to 8.10 (58) win clutching at the right forearm he broke against Fremantle in round one last season.

The 27-year-old is expected to have scans on the injury tomorrow.

"It could be the same issue he's had in the past. We don't know yet, but it doesn't look great," Eag;es coach Adam Simpson said.

"He'll miss weeks."

Scott Selwood (ankle) and Chris Masten (cork) also battled injury.

The Saints are also sweating on the fitness of defender Sam Gilbert, who was also subbed off in the first quarter with a foot injury.

Gilbert is also set for a stint on the sidelines.

"It is the foot that he's had surgery on," St Kilda coach Alan Richardson said.

"So it looks like he has done some sort of damage to that.

"We're obviously hoping that it's a really significant scar tissue injury, but that may not be the case.

"We'll get scans over the next couple of days and see how that responds."

The game was supposed to be a one-sided affair, but St Kilda surprised the Eagles early with a tough, contested performance in the midfield.

While they ended up on the wrong side of the result, it was a performance which showed the Saints won’t be the easybeats many were expecting this season.

St Kilda’s pressure in the opening stages of the match was impressive.

The young side hassled West Coast’s ball carriers, taking away their time and space and causing usually clean players to second-guess themselves.

The approach created a number of turnovers, but the Saints struggled to make the most of their opportunities going inside 50.

Gilbert was the first player to go down with injury, subbed off with a foot injury, but when LeCras joined him in a red vest minutes later it evened the ledger.

Two late goals to Josh Kennedy and Callum Sinclair saw the Eagles take a nine-point lead into the first break with the match very much in the balance.

Xavier Ellis extended the lead minutes into the second term.

Then came the Riewoldt show.

The St Kilda captain missed a crucial set-shot at the ten-minute mark, but corrected his mistake in the following minutes with two quick goals.

When Montagna goaled shortly after the Saints were in the lead, going into the long break eight points ahead.

The third quarter was a battle of wills and while the Saints were on top early, they were left to rue a couple of missed chances in front of goal.

West Coast fended off attack after attack from the visitors before finally catching a break through a goal to Matt Priddis.

Mitch Brown evened the scored with a goal minutes later and when Jamie Cripps converted a set shot in the dying stages of the quarter, the Eagles were in front by six points.

Ellis extended that lead with his second goal minutes into the final term, with Cripps and Kennedy also getting on board to push the margin out to 23 points.

After three quarters of courage, the young Saints simply ran out of gas.

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