St Kilda continued their dominance of Carlton with a nine-point win at Etihad Stadium on Friday night, which earned them a 12th straight win and a confirmed place in the AFL finals.

Saints captain Nick Riewoldt again tormented the Blues, with five goals and a hand in several others, and stamped his influence on the contest with three majors in the first quarter.

He and the Saints' usual suspects, midfielders Nick Dal Santo, Lenny Hayes, Leigh Montagna and Jason Gram, were instrumental in the 16.8 (104) to 14.11 (95) victory, St Kilda's 12th in succession over Carlton since 2001.

They didn't have everything their own way, as Carlton kept climbing off the canvas, but the Saints' latest victory means they are in the extraordinary position of entering the mid-season break with a finals berth stitched up.

The rest will be welcome though, as St Kilda did not secure the win until defender Zac Dawson marked alone in attack and threaded the sealer in the dying stages.

Until then, the Blues had threatened even with Chris Judd down on impact and luck, and Brendan Fevola kept to two goals.

Judd was quiet early but rose in the second half, but had his comeback impeded by continually having to leave the ground to have patch-up work done on a bloodied nose.

Fevola was goalless until late in the third quarter, but benefited from an interchange infringement against St Kilda's Luke Ball, which gifted the Blues spearhead possession, a 50-metre penalty and an easy goal.

That major left the Blues 13 points down at the final change, but Fevola brought the margin to within four points 20 minutes into the last quarter with his second major.

But Montagna booted a great goal on the run, before Dawson cancelled out a major from Carlton's Setanta O'hAilpin, which had again reduced the margin to under a goal.

Riewoldt's early presence helped St Kilda land the first five of the goals, which gave them a 32-point lead in the second quarter.

But Carlton, inspired by Kade Simpson, Nick Stevens, Andrew Carrazzo and Marc Murphy, whittled down the lead and got within three points by half-time.

The Saints again broke clear in the third quarter and shot to a 24-point lead with a series of long goals, two of them to Riewoldt from outside 50 metres.

Carlton kept coming and although gallant, will be looking over their shoulder for the rest of the split round 12, as they could lose their spot in the top four, as defeat left them with a 6-6 win-loss record.

The Blues missed defender Bret Thornton, as he would have been a logical opponent for Riewoldt, who polled Brownlow Medal votes in four of his past eight games against Carlton and probably extended that run.

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon was pleased his side found a way to win, and could now freshen up for the second half of the campaign.

"I think both clubs walk away content, we get the four points, we get 12 in a row - that's never been done in the history of the club - we get a 16-day break to mentally and physically replenish the stocks and set ourselves for the second half of the campaign," he said.

"What we do now is we think we've got to keep doing what we're doing and get enough wins to be top four and earn the double chance." Lyon said Ball's "ears were burning" at the three-quarter time huddle for a second interchange infringement this season, but he was far more pleased for Dawson, who began the season on the rookie list after he was recruited from Hawthorn.

"It's what fairytales are made of, isn't it?" he said.

"Kicking the winning goal after you've been de-listed and you come in, so he's done jobs at both ends now, so it's fantastic for Zac and great for the Saints."

Carlton coach Brett Ratten bemoaned his side's poor start, as St Kilda's clean break was one of the deciding factors.

"If you let the opposition go five (goals to) zip in 15 minutes or so, a headstart against a team that has conceded 58 points per game to the opposition ... we made it pretty tough," he said.

He also was left ruing the Blues' wasted chances in the final term, when they added 3.5 to St Kilda's 3.1.

Carlton confirmed Judd had broken his nose, and Ratten said he was frustrated he was unable to keep his premier midfielder on the ground for long periods in the last quarter, when the game was up for grabs.

"He's got a broken nose and it kept bleeding, so it took a bit to stop," he said.

"He kept coming off a fair bit, we just couldn't stop it.

"That's part of the game, they're the rules and it's for the safety of other players, so it's the right call, but I wish we could have stopped the bleeding."

Carlton rested Thornton because of a slight hamstring injury.

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