Clark to miss first month of AFL season

St Kilda will continue to back Hunter Clark's fearless attack on the ball, despite his start to the AFL season being delayed by another injury.

Clark might need surgery and will be out for about six weeks after he and Essendon midfielder Darcy Parish collided in the last quarter of Saturday night's 11-point pre-season win.

Coach Brett Ratten said Clark had hurt the A/c joint in his right shoulder and could need surgery.

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Last year, Clark suffered a broken jaw against Adelaide and was also sidelined for several weeks.

"We don't want to take that (Clark's fearless play) away from him and that's the stuff we've pushed him to keep doing, as a player," Ratten said.

"It's a bit of signature for him to do that, but it shows great courage to do what he did, especially after that broken jaw.

"He's maybe a little bit too brave at times, but he was a little bit unlucky - it was just the right angle and he had his arm stretched out."

The Saints also could be without fellow onballer Jack Billings for the round-one game against Collingwood after he suffered a hamstring injury against the Bombers.

Ratten said Billings would have scans.

But Ratten is confident that Trent McKenzie (ankle) will be ready for the Collingwood game.

The Bombers came out of the game unscathed and are set to regain star forward Jake Stringer for their round-one clash with Geelong.

His return will be timely, given the young Essendon attack was the glaring problem out of Saturday night's loss.

Essendon had four more scoring shots and 10 more inside 50s in the loss.

"We have a young forward line and as the game played out, we had a lot of chances to score," said assistant coach Blake Caracella.

"Unfortunately we