St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said his team would have no hope of beating Hawthorn in Saturday night's AFL preliminary final if they focused too heavily on their opponents at the expense of their own game.

Picking apart the Hawks' much vaunted rolling zone, quelling the influence of playmaker Luke Hodge and stopping centurion goal-kicker Lance Franklin are seen to be keys to St Kilda's chances of toppling the Hawks at the MCG.

But Lyon said his priority was ensuring his players focused on their match plan.

While he was resigned to the fact Franklin would kick goals, he said winning the midfield battle was paramount.

"I tell you what I have learnt, you can pick the opposition to pieces but if you don't get your own game style right and get your own systems right, you're going nowhere," he said.

"We'll put a healthy amount into Hawthorn and a healthy amount into us, but what I do know is it's won or lost in the midfield and that's where most of my energies are going."

While the Saints head into the clash as underdogs against the Hawks, in their favour will be the team's amount of finals experience.

Ruckman Steven King played in Geelong's premiership last year and goal-sneak Adam Schneider was part of Sydney's 2005 AFL flag.

Max Hudghton and Robert Harvey are the last two survivors of the Saints' last grand final appearance in 1997 and 11 other players played in the club's last preliminary final in 2005.

Hawthorn has just two survivors from their last preliminary final appearance in 2001 - Shane Crawford and Trent Croad.

Brent Guerra has played in preliminary finals for both Port Adelaide and St Kilda while another former Port player in Stuart Dew is their only premiership winner.

King, 29, said playing in the high-pressure of finals football had taught him to do the "basics" well and to just play your role.

But he thought his team's extra finals experience would give them a distinct advantage over the Hawks.

"It's pretty calming knowing we've got a fair few players that have played a lot of finals footy under immense pressure," he said.

"Sometimes the simpler you can keep things in the big game, the better you are.

"We have got a lot of experience amongst the boys that have played a lot of finals footy, under that extreme heat, know just how to guide other players about playing their role for the team and for each other."

Schneider, who crossed from to Swans to the Saints, revealed his teammates had sought him and King out at the start of the year in an attempt to extract an edge come finals time.

"It's amazing, we had blokes like Nick Riewoldt and Lenny Hayes coming to you and asking you questions about what it was like (playing in a premiership)," he said.

"I think that was pretty interesting and something that caught me by the eye and to realise how hungry the guys are for team success really stood out for me."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP