Far from taking solace at playing off for a spot in the AFL grand final, St Kilda acknowledge the gap between them and the best will take some bridging in 2009.

The Saints were exposed as lacking the organisation and toughness that regularly wins finals twice in the last three weeks, first by Geelong in the qualifying final and on Saturday night by Hawthorn, when the preliminary final was over at half-time.

If Saturday night's 18.10 (118) to 9.10 (64) defeat was not painful enough, the hurt hit home in the rooms, when Robert Harvey's emotional farewell address left several teammates in tears.

Captain Nick Riewoldt and his deputy Lenny Hayes said it had been a good effort finishing fourth with eight wins from their 10 games before the finals, after a mediocre first half of the season.

But both agreed the Saints could not match it with the pacesetters when it mattered, having also been eliminated on the penultimate weekend in 2004 and 2005.

"We've got to continue to build and improve our list, and (there are) obviously a lot of areas that we need to improve in so we can stand up in preliminary finals," Riewoldt said.

"We're in the business of winning premierships, not coming fourth.

"It's been a good effort in a lot of respects to turn our season around the way we have, but clearly we've still got a long way to go to bridge the gap between the top two teams."

St Kilda's win over Collingwood in the semi-final showed their capabilities, but coach Ross Lyon vowed the club would not be treating the defeat as an aberration.

"It won't be swept under the carpet," he said.

"We've got to add talent, we've got to add persistence, we've got to add work ethic. We're in the business of getting better and we've got to bridge the gap.

"Clearly all year there's been a gap between the top three (including the Western Bulldogs) and we thought we'd bridged it closer than what we did (last) night.

"We'll keep working and anyone who doesn't work or isn't mentally strong we'll weed out, and we'll improve everything at the club until we get what we want."

One area of concern was the way St Kilda's midfielders were brushed aside by their Cat and Hawk opponents, and the fact that at 37, Harvey was still a key player in the side.

Riewoldt challenged Nick Dal Santo and Leigh Montagna - both good midfielders when St Kilda are playing well, but both beaten decisively - to become more influential players.

"In terms of the ability to work and to run, they've got to stand up and fill the void left by Harves in that area," he said.

With Harvey retired, attention will now turn to encouraging fullback Max Hudghton, 32, to play one more season and shore up the side's defence.

Hudghton was one of the best players in keeping Hawk Lance Franklin to one goal, and Lyon said there was a strong indication the veteran would play on.

Harvey was the ideal person to state age should not be a barrier.

"He's 32, he should sign a three-year deal," he joked.

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