The Saints have the Hawks' first-round selection in this year's national draft, having swapped selections during last year's trade period when the Hawks were pursuing Jaeger O'Meara from the Gold Coast Suns.

As it stands, that would be the No.1 pick as the winless Hawks languish at the foot of the ladder ahead of Sunday's clash against the West Coast Eagles.

That the Saints have an additional first-round selection to their own gives them the opportunity of either plucking a quality youngster in the draft - even if the Hawks do rise - or using that selection to secure a blue-chip player in the trade period.

The Hawks could yet bottom out this year but Richardson said on Friday he expected to Hawks to lift from where they sit.

"It's completely out of our control. We just worry about what we can do, really. Deals are deals, they (Hawks) certainly got the players they were after, we were able to get the selection we were after but, the reality is, we can just focus on us," he said.

"We would expect such a proud footy club (Hawthorn) to bounce back and be stronger. We will just worry about us."

The Saints shrewdly approached the Hawks about the swap of picks, which eventually led to them ceding picks No.10 and 68 in last year's draft for picks 23, 36 and the Hawks' first pick in this year's draft.

The Saints took the speedy Ben Long, a relative of Essendon great Michael Long, with their first overall selection last year.

The deal gave the Saints at least 848 points under the draft's points value index, prompting rival clubs to question whether it should have been ticked off by the AFL.

Exciting Eastern Ranges forward-onballer Jaidyn Stephenson and teammate Joel Garner, the latter the first indigenous prefect in the 166-year history of Scotch College, GWS academy member and key-position utility Jarrod Brander, Bendigo midfielder Lochie O'Brien and Western Jets bull Cameron Rayner are among the highly-rated youngsters expected to be top picks in this year's draft.

The Hawks also used their second-round pick in this year's draft on O'Meara, meaning - as it stands - their first pick in the draft will be via a second-round selection they received from Greater Western Sydney, which the Giants had secured from Carlton.

O'Meara did not play senior football for two seasons with the Suns because of knee problems but began the new campaign well for the Hawks, with 23 touches against Essendon and 36 against Adelaide. However, he had knee soreness against the Suns, finishing with 14 disposals. He missed last week's clash against Geelong and has been ruled out of Sunday's match against the Eagles at the MCG.