St Kilda are confident they can beat reigning AFL premier Geelong on Saturday in a sign the rivalry between the clubs borne four years ago is alive and kicking.

The Saints and Cats famously traded barbs either side of the 2004 pre-season grand final about which was the best side.

St Kilda won that battle by winning the silverware.

But Geelong's all-conquering 2007, which included a 10-goal thrashing of St Kilda, and standing as the benchmark side early in 2008 has given them sufficient bragging rights entering the round four game at Telstra Dome.

Midfielder Leigh Montagna denied the Saints were envious of Geelong's success given both clubs emerged as powers at the same time, but was confident St Kilda could inflict the Cats' first defeat of the season.

"All credit to Geelong they really transformed last season into one of the great seasons from a club," Montagna said on Thursday.

"We're not jealous or envious of that at all, all credit to them, we're just worrying about what we can do.

"We can't focus on rivalries with other clubs, we can only worry about what we need to do as a team.

"We think they're beatable and we're going to go in confident.

"If the midfield start getting their hands on the footy first and give good supply to our key forwards and our defenders hold up, there's no reason why we can't beat Geelong."

Fellow onballer Luke Ball said both sides enjoyed playing against each other, but conceded for all their attributes, the Saints' best had not come anywhere near their rivals.

"The facts tell us in the year or so it hasn't been, it hasn't been as good as theirs," he said.

"They're the benchmark team and there's 15 clubs trying to reel them in at the moment and we're just one of them."

St Kilda have put a big emphasis this week on winning contested possessions in the middle of the ground, having been blown away by the Western Bulldogs after quarter-time last week.

"That was an area where we got smashed in the last three quarters, so that's something you can practise during the week and hopefully we'll have a better showing on Saturday," Ball said.

St Kilda, meanwhile, on Thursday launched a community program where players will visit schools, children in hospital and refuges for homeless people to strengthen their links with the community.

The Saints In The Community Program has St Kilda working with the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, Make-A-Wish Australia, Sacred Heart Mission and Starlight Children's Foundation.

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