St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says his struggling AFL side must win back respect - and quickly - before they even contemplate playing in the finals.

The Saints were condemned to a third straight defeat by a rampant Geelong at Telstra Dome on Sunday, and Lyon admitted the 10-goal hammering showed the Saints were well off the pace.

After entering the season as good things to reach a fourth straight finals series, St Kilda languish in 13th place nearing the halfway point, two wins outside the eight, with several key players still injured and a tough game against the Kangaroos to come.

The Saints crept to within six points of Geelong late in the second quarter, yet ended up on the wrong side of a 19.11 (125) to 9.11 (65) drubbing.

Lyon said the second-half performance showed St Kilda's first ambition had to be regaining respect before they could even consider playing more finals in 2007.

"It was 17 points (at half-time) and it's ended up 60 points, which is not what we're about, not what I want to stand for, not what the club wants to stand for and not what the players want to stand for," he said.

"We need to turn it around and we need to turn it around quick.

"We're 4-6 (wins-losses), so it's not about finals at the moment, it's about finding respect."

St Kilda have endured a wretched run with injury this season, and Robert Harvey, Matt Maguire, Aaron Hamill, Brendon Goddard and Xavier Clarke all missed Sunday's game because of injuries.

Tall defender Leigh Fisher joined that list in the first quarter, when he injured a hamstring and could not take any further part in the game.

But Lyon said he would not make any excuses for his side's second-half performance and continual search for consistent results.

"You can't make excuses for the second half, it's not what we stand for, it's not what the club stands for," he said.

"I'm accountable and the players are accountable.

"Tonight tells us we're a long way off the pace, but I wouldn't have said that at half-time.

"Our consistency has been a problem all year.

"Is that us, is that the opposition? I think it's a bit of both. We had an open, heart-to-heart at the end of the game and put a lot of things on the table. We're not going to give up."

St Kilda have had trouble stringing decent performances together since the 2005 preliminary final, when the Saints were beaten by eventual premiers Sydney.

In that time they won five games straight late in the 2006 season, but could not string together three wins again. Their current steak of three losses is the worst run in that time.

© 2009 AAP
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