St Kilda look to be in "no man's land" this year as they occupy a spot in the bottom third of the ladder despite fielding one of the more experienced lists over the weekend.

St Kilda had eight players who will be 30 or older in 2025, with all of Jimmy Webster, Brad Hill, Mason Wood, Jack Macrae, Jack Sinclair, Zak Jones, Rowan Marshall and Jack Steele playing in the 72-point defeat to the Bulldogs last Thursday.

Ross Lyon's squad had an average age of 26.3, almost an age older than the Western Bulldogs' 25.6 average.

The Saints only had three of the 16 youngest players in their squad, with Tobie Travaglia, Isaac Keeler and Anthony Caminiti their youngest trio.

The Bulldogs had seven of their 16 youngest, with the Saints' three tying with Geelong over the weekend and being one less than another top premiership contender in Collingwood, who had four in their most recent match.

As for clubs in a similar position to the Saints, all of Port Adelaide, Essendon, Carlton, Melbourne and North Melbourne had more players in their 16 youngest squad members feature over the weekend.

"They're right in that no man's land," analyst Aidan Celllini said on this week's episode of  The Hitout. "That finals appearance a few years ago gave hope they're on the up.

"But when North Melbourne sold off their older guys almost a decade ago, they stayed just outside the eight, and since then, they've bottomed out.

"I think St Kilda look at that and think 'Nah, we want to keep that blend' of experience (and youth). You can't just sell the house, get rid of them all and play all those young guys.

"You've either got to commit and do what Richmond did in selling the house, or you go all in, which is seemingly what they're doing with links with (Tom) De Koning, (Miles) Bergman and Leek Aleer.

"But if they don't get them, then it makes them look like North Melbourne again, who couldn't get (Josh) Kelly and (Dustin) Martin.

You can listen to this week's episode of The Hitout via the podcast player below, or head to Zero Hanger's YouTube channel to watch the episode.