ST KILDA coach Ross Lyon should feel well satisfied to chalk up a major victory against last year's grand finalist — as well as his old boss at the Sydney Swans.

In just his seventh match in charge of the Saints, Lyon executed a game plan that first frustrated and then starved the Swans, along the way notching up his fourth win and reasserting his club's finals aspirations.

It was an impressive 26-point victory, forged without several key defenders, a gun midfielder and more than a few doubts hanging over the team's ability to match it with the competition's top teams.

The Saints had more of the footy and used it more quickly in a tight encounter, but the Swans are no strangers to dealing with pressure and hung on in the first half before lifting their intensity in the third term.

After pulling out to a two-goal lead midway through the third term the Saints looked in control but Sydney, through goals by Nick Davis and Ryan O'Keefe, bounced back, before eventually being overrun by a more committed, ferocious team.

Barry Hall kicked an early goal but found the going more difficult as the match wore on, regularly finding two and three Saints alongside him whenever he went near the ball.

Dual Brownlow medallist Adam Goodes' unspectacular start to the season continued, but he kicked the second goal of the game to give his team a 12-point lead inside the opening five minutes.

Fraser Gehrig booted the first of his four goals a minute later and Xavier Clarke showed an early glimpse of the determination his team brought to the contest, desperately chasing down Nick Malceski.

Goodes, like Hall, found more of the ball as the game unfolded, but their combined impact was far from enough to counter St Kilda's team work across the ground.

Whenever the ball rebounded out of the Saints' attacking zone in the first quarter every one of their players quickly pushed back, flooding into the Swans forward line and slowing the play.

Before he was forced from the ground with a season-ending knee injury, Brendon Goddard missed an easy shot at goal from close range and former Saint Peter Everitt made his old team pay, immediately goaling at the other end.

Gehrig's strength was too much for Leo Barry, the burly Saint working Barry out of a marking contest before putting his side in front for the first time late in the opening quarter.

In his 20th season of football, Robert Harvey has already shown he's lost none of his brilliance, but in the early stages last night his impact was limited by Luke Ablett.

Harvey finished the night with 17 touches and his influence grew as the Saints took control.

St Kilda co-captain Nick Riewoldt was quiet early but broke free of Craig Bolton to mark strongly and cut the lead to two points with his only goal for the match.

However, goals alone were not the measure of Riewoldt's impact last night, his dominance lifting the output of those around him and pushing them to record their most important win of the season so far.

Riewoldt had 21 possessions, including 14 marks, and was the key forward on the ground.

Gehrig was frustrated by umpiring decisions and let it show, but he also won the ball when it counted, dragging in the Sherrin with his fingertips late in the second quarter and stretching the lead to 13 points with an emphatic 50-metre goal.

Eight minutes into the second term and with every player except Harvey pushed back inside St Kilda's defensive 50-metre arc, the Swans were forced to chip the ball sideways until they decided enough was enough and went over the top.

To the surprise of almost everyone at the ground, the ball somehow found a way through the sea of players crammed inside the paintwork and the margin was cut back to two points.

When the Swans moved the ball quickly, Hall was better placed to use his burst of speed and sheer size against his direct opponent, James Gwilt, but those opportunities were few and far between. Opposing co-captains Luke Ball and Brett Kirk had one of the more enthralling match-ups of the evening, with Kirk winning on the night but his team falling short.

When Saints livewire Stephen Milne and Clarke combined for the opening goal of the third term the signs were ominous for the Swans, but it was not until Shane Birss, back for his second match of the year, booted a goal in the dying stages of the quarter that the home crowd correctly sniffed victory.

ST KILDA 4.4 7.4 12.6 15.7 (97)
SYDNEY 4.1 6.4 8.5 11.5 (71)
GOALS: St Kilda: Gehrig 4, X Clarke 2, Milne 2, Riewoldt, Dal Santo,
Fiora, Koschitzke, Birss, Montagna, Voss. Sydney: Hall 3, O’Keefe 2,
Davis 2, C Bolton, Everitt, Goodes, Schneider. BEST: St Kilda: Riewoldt, Gehrig, Harvey, Montagna, Gwilt, S Fisher, Koschitzke, Ball.
Sydney: O’Keefe, Kirk, Davis, Malceski, Hall.
INJURIES: St Kilda: Goddard (knee), Jones (collarbone).
Sydney: Barry (shoulder).
UMPIRES: James, Ryan, Avon.
CROWD: 37, 816 at Telstra Dome.