St Kilda's Mitch Owens is the fourth player hurt in an AFL pre-season game after an opponent was pushed at a marking contest.
Owens' shoulder injury added to a bad afternoon for the Saints, who were outplayed by Port Adelaide on Saturday in their pre-season game at Moorabbin.
Port kept the Saints goal-less in the first quarter and cruised to a 14.9 (93) to 7.7 (49) win.
While the Saints improved after halftime, they were outplayed and outworked early, giving coach Ross Lyon plenty to ponder ahead of their round-one game on March 16 against the Crows at Adelaide Oval.
Saints assistant coach Corey Enright said they were unsure how badly Owens was hurt.
"We know he's tough ... it must have been a significant clash for him to do whatever he's done," Enright said.
Power ruckman Jordon Sweet gave Owens a nudge and the Saints forward then collided with Miles Bergman, a couple of minutes before half-time.
Owens immediately went to the rooms, nursing his left arm.
His injury comes two days after Brisbane premiership defender Brandon Starcevich was concussed in their match against Adelaide, with Crows forward Dan Curtin pushing him into an opponent.
Also on Thursday, Hawthorn captain James Sicily pushed Western Bulldogs player Jordan Croft at a marking contest.
Croft then collided with teammate Laitham Vandermeer, who was subbed out of the game with concussion.
Likewise, No.1 draft pick Sam Lalor has a fractured jaw and concussion after the Richmond youngster was pushed by West Coast's Reuben Ginbey last month.
No match review action was taken against Curtin, Ginbey or Sicily.
"The AFL needs to stamp this out of the game," Fox Footy commentator David King said after Owens' injury.
Fellow Saints forward Cooper Sharman also went off in the third term with a hand injury.
Saints key forward Max King had knee surgery this week and is in doubt for the start of the season, as are Rowan Marshall and Jack Sinclair.
After kicking three goals in the first half, livewire Port forward Willie Rioli sat out the rest of the game with calf muscle awareness.
But Port assistant coach Chad Cornes said Rioli was managed.
Port star Zak Butters had knee surgery this week and is sidelined for at least six weeks.
Kicking with the breeze, Port kicked 6.3 to a behind in the first term and kept the Saints to one goal in the first half.
"Kenny (coach Ken Hinkley) made a point of treating this like our 'round zero', which I thought we did really well," Cornes said.
St Kilda's team on Saturday featured nine players with 25 games or less, including six yet to make their senior debuts, and the inexperience was obvious.
"They jumped out of the blocks, we were pretty slow to get our game going," Enright said.
"We'll probably review mainly the first 30-40 minutes."
Port's Jeremy Finlayson, playing in defence as a stop-gap while Esava Ratugolea and Brandon Zerk-Thatcher recover from injury, was outstanding on Saturday.
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera was a rare highlight for the Saints, while newcomer Hugh Boxshall, who is firming for a round-one debut, finally kicked the Saints' only first-half goal 10 minutes into the second term.
Port captain Connor Rozee amassed 39 possessions and fellow onballer Jason Horne-Francis (31) was also prolific.
Former Western Bulldogs onballer Jack Macrae had 32 possessions for the Saints.
Port start their season on March 15 against Collingwood at the MCG.
