Regardless of what happens the night before, St Kilda coach Ross Lyon is demanding an all-out effort in this Saturday's AFL match against Richmond.

The Saints' narrow loss to West Coast and Adelaide's win over Brisbane last weekend meant the Crows took eighth spot from St Kilda.

Collingwood will host Adelaide this Friday night and the only way the Saints can make the finals is if the Crows lose and they beat Richmond.

Lyon said he had discussed the looming scenario with his players.

"The way we perform on Saturday against Richmond isn't predicated on whether we can make finals or not - it's about what we want to stand for as a team and where we're headed," he said.

"Whether we play finals or not, we're still building to be a better team next year, so every time we train and play, we want to work to becoming a benchmark team.

"We can't afford to waste a training session or a competitive hitout against another AFL club, that's going to be our focus.

"We are human though, we're aware of the possibilities, in the positive and negative.

"But we've got to be mentally strong and really focus on the job at hand."

The Tigers have won two of their last three games and will push the Saints, who have improved since the mid-season break.

Lyon said regardless of how the season ended, they would go onto next season "with confidence".

Lyon is "hopeful" that veteran Robert Harvey will return from a quad muscle injury, but key defender Max Hudghton is likely to miss again with the same problem.

Hudghton has suffered from a succession of soft-tissue injuries this season.

"It's been painful, hasn't it?," Lyon said of Hudghton's woes.

"It's pretty simple for Max ... it's a proven formula, if you don't get a foundation of pre-season and work into the body, you're really fleeting with disaster.

"We want to avoid that next year for any player on the list, to avoid soft-tissue (injury) in-season."

Lyon also admitted he had spoken to Harvey about his future as speculation continues about whether the two-time Brownlow Medallist will continue next season.

No decision is expected until the off-season on Harvey or full-forward Fraser Gehrig.

Lyon is not worried that Harvey might miss out on the sort of farewell that Essendon gave James Hird last Sunday at the MCG.

He said there were "avenues" for the club to suitably acknowledge one of their all-time great players if Harvey decides to retire.

"Rob's sick of send-offs and accolades and functions," Lyon said.

"We'll do it in private - at this stage, it's as good a chance that he plays on as he doesn't.

"We've had a couple of private discussions, but it's still not finalised.

"Robert has every right and the club has every right to take as long as they want."

© 2009 AAP
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