Saints eye AFL finals ‘shake-up’ as Lions test looms

St Kilda have laid out next month as a mini pre-season as they seek to “shake up” the AFL finals mix in a tough run home, starting with the rampant Brisbane Lions.

Out of top-eight contention, the Saints have struggled this year to recapture the sort of form and consistency shown in Ross Lyon’s first season back at the helm.

But experienced defender Callum Wilkie insists there is plenty to gain over the last four weeks of the 2024 campaign as St Kilda turn one eye towards next year.

They host Brisbane at Marvel Stadium on Sunday before clashes with lowly Richmond and finals-bound Carlton and Geelong to round out the campaign.

“We don’t want to just throw the towel in,” Wilkie told AAP.

“We’re playing three top-eight sides and you can really shake it up and throw some stress into their final campaigns in the run home.

“We just want to instill good habits and get back to playing ‘Saints footy’ really.

“We’ve really emphasized it can be a building block into next year because you can go one of two ways.

“You can get five or six weeks to go and just let the standards slip and not get much out of it and wait for next year, or you can really look to improve and still get better.

“It’s like pre-season starts now. It’s about getting better and instilling good habits.”

After their finals appearance last year, St Kilda went 3-8 through the first half of 2024 as their top-eight hopes quickly vanished.

But they “drew a line in the sand” ahead of a road trip to face West Coast in Perth in round 13, and have since won five of eight matches.

The improved form included wins over ladder leaders Sydney, West Coast and final hopefuls Essendon over the past month.

“It was just about giving extraordinary effort like we saw last year,” Wilkie said.

“We weren’t the prettiest team last year but we gave effort and contest and run.

“We probably lost that in the first half of this season, so it was just about getting back to that and really driving that hard.

“That’s how we measure ourselves.”

St Kilda coughed up their highest opposition score of the season (126 points) in a 20-point loss to Brisbane in round 15, but have restricted opponents to six and eight goals over the past fortnight.

The Lions are the competition’s hottest team, emerging into the top four and premiership contention on the back of eight consecutive wins.

“It’s tough because when they’re on a roll they can score at will,” Wilkie said.

“You’ve got to stick to your defensive system and don’t let it slip because they will find the chinks in the armor.

“They lost the grand final by a kick last year… they’re very powerful and they’re a bloody good team for a reason.”

St Kilda recalled Mattaes Phillipou and Paddy Dow to face the Lions, who have reinstated captain Harris from a week out through concussion protocols.

Brisbane defender Ryan Lester will celebrate reaching the 200-game milestone against the Saints.