A morale-boosting win over North Melbourne and the impending return of several key players from injury have made St Kilda more upbeat about making the AFL finals.

The Saints are enjoying the split-round break after replacing North in the top eight and are regrouping before they attack the remaining eight matches of the season.

Midfielder Leigh Montagna said the players were acutely aware of the importance of last Saturday night's game and acknowledged their final-quarter heroics had breathed new life into the team's quest to participate in September action following an indifferent start to the season.

The Saints kicked six goals to one in the final term to overrun the Roos by 15 points.

"It was an `eight-point' game - the boys knew our season was on the line," Montagna said.

"We were disappointed with how we came out of the blocks but we really knuckled down, dug in and scrapped away (for) a good win.

"If we had lost that game we would have kicked ourselves and would have made it really tough to make the finals.

"No doubt now we can be a lot more positive. The guys are going into the break with more of a positive mindset.

"Our destiny is in our own hands and we can control whether we play finals or not, if we can continue to play good football and win some games we should put ourselves in a position to play finals."

While St Kilda faces another high-stakes clash with ninth-placed Carlton in a fortnight, the team will be strengthened by the return several players from injury.

Onballer Lenny Hayes, forward Adam Schneider, ruckman Michael Gardiner and utility Xavier Clarke could all return from hamstring injuries, while stopper Steven Baker could also return from a knee complaint.

Montagna was heartened with the prospect of regaining up to five team-mates for the Blues clash and said the Saints were yet to produce their best football.

"I think the good thing is that we've still got our best football to come," Montagna said.

"If we can have all our players playing well towards the end of the year and everything's clicking then hopefully we can string some games together.

"As they say - you need to be playing your best football towards the end of the year and hopefully we can do that and get our key players back and really set our season up."

Montagna said the team had received a boost from the way Nick Dal Santo and Stephen Milne had responded to their demotion to the VFL the week before but admitted the rest of the side was on notice to perform.

Dal Santo (eight possessions) and Milne (two goals) were key contributors for the Saints in the final term.

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