St Kilda coach Brett Ratten flagged sweeping changes after his side’s 111-point thrashing to the Western Bulldogs last week.
Sitting 14th with a percentage of 72.6, the Saints have been one of the disappointments of the season after making the finals in 2020.
“It's unacceptable and we've got to do something about it,” Ratten told reporters after last week’s loss.
“We can't just keep going with this and have a good quarter here or there. Players who aren't performing will have to go back to the twos.
“We've got some players in pretty good form in the reserves, and we'll have to make some changes because we can't have that.”
St Kilda responded to the three-figure hiding by dropping Jack Lonie and Jack Bytel for this week’s match against North Melbourne, while Hunter Clark, James Frawley and Shaun McKernan were ruled out through injury.
Earlier this week, Saints Chief Operating Officer Simon Lethlean praised Bytel's efforts over the past month.
“Jack Bytel and (Ryan) ‘Ronnie’ Byrnes, have been our best players the last few weeks, Byrnes was possibly our best on the weekend,” Lethlean said on Monday.
Kane Cornes expected a bigger selection statement from the Saints after last week’s “putrid performance”.
“What changes did they make when the teams were announced yesterday? The omissions: Lonie and Bytel. I’m not sure the tough talking was backed up with the actions at selection,” Cornes told SEN’s The Captain’s Run.
“Of course, they have a couple of injuries, but the two players that have paid the price are probably the most obvious ones that you would have thought.
“Not one significant name was left out from that putrid performance from St Kilda last Saturday night.”
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Former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas took to Twitter to whack his former club’s selection calls.
“That’s massive Saints!!! Hugely brave statement by Saints. They really must mean business dropping Lonie and ??? What’s his name?” Thomas wrote.
“Look out everyone Saints are ruling with an iron fist. Huge leadership statement. They said heads would roll and roll they did.”
St Kilda recalled Nick Coffield, Luke Dunstan and Mason Wood for Saturday’s match against the Kangaroos while Oscar Clavarino will make his debut.