St Kilda refused to yield to squandered chances on Sunday night, cruising to a 28-point win over the disappointing Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium.

The Saints dominated general play and were by far the more effective team in applying pressure and effective possession, yet found themselves at the mercy of their own bad kicking early on.

Wastefulness left them with a score of 3.11 at one point, with Nick Riewoldt languishing on four behinds and two other shots that failed to score.

But, in a sign that pleased coach Ross Lyon, the Saints continued working hard and finally clicked with their finishing, as Riewoldt dobbed a banana kick after the half-time siren, which gave his side a huge surge.

They rode that to a 14.20 (104) to 11.10 (76) victory, before a crowd of 36,302.

Lyon was pleased they did not suffer the fate of many teams which blow early chances, particularly against the Bulldogs, who can pile on goals quickly.

"Our effort wasn't dictated by the scoreboard and that's what we're about and that's what we aim for," Lyon said.

Riewoldt overcame his early yips to finish with 4.5, Brendon Goddard's pinpoint kicking amid 33 disposals was a highlight and midfielder Farren Ray starred against his old side.

The missed chances aside, St Kilda continued their excellent start with a now-familiar ferocious attack on the ball, and effective rebound through Goddard, Jason Gram and Nick Dal Santo.

"We came here with a confidence to deliver what we could and see where that took us," Lyon said.

"We delivered on those things with our contests and our pressure and our use, and we got some really good results."

The Saints' defensive improvement also went a long way towards keeping the Bulldogs to their lowest score at the roofed stadium since late 2007.

In further bad signs, their kicking was again sloppy and the likes of Brad Johnson, Robert Murphy, Lindsay Gilbee and Adam Cooney failed to have the impact the Bulldogs would have liked.

But coach Rodney Eade was confident his players had the will to snap a run of three consecutive losses, with a tricky trip to Adelaide coming on Sunday.

Eade said he could not fault his players' endeavour and took consolation from his side out-scoring the Saints four goals to two in the final quarter, as it showed the Bulldogs had "hung in there pretty well".

"If you bring the endeavour and effort each week, even if you're down on form, the form will turn around," he said.

"But if you don't bring that to the table it's really risky, it's a toss of the coin as to whether it does or not.

"In the old cricket term you're trying to hit a six all the time - at the moment we're grafting ones.

"If we keep doing that and hang in there it will turn around."

The Bulldogs are likely to be without defender Tom Williams for the clash against the Crows, after he missed this game with a foot injury.

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