St Kilda has suffered a crushing blow with confirmation that captain Nick Riewoldt has a serious hamstring injury.

Scans today revealed a high grade muscle tendon injury to the key forward's right hamstring.

Riewoldt is almost certain to miss up to two months, perhaps more, and his absence will be a blow to the club's finals ambitions.

St Kilda said in a statement on Saturday afternoon that the tendon had not come off the bone, however it was a "significant hamstring injury."

Riewoldt will now be examined by specialist surgeons as the club examines options.

He hurt himself leaping for a mark just before half time in Friday night's 10.9 (69) to 4.17 (41) win over Collingwood.

Lyon pointed to the win as evidence the Saints could cope without their star forward, who was last year's All-Australian captain.

Despite Riewoldt missing the second half and Justin Koschitzke not playing because of suspension, the Saints kicked six goals and kept the Magpies goalless.

"It's going to be a challenge, no doubt about it," Lyon said of the task of replacing Riewoldt.

"Let's look at the facts, he's a key forward, he's pretty special.

"It's going to be a challenge but we proved we can cope. We had 19 shots, kicked 4.3 in the last (quarter) when the game was up for grabs.

"Koschitzke will be back soon and we've got (Rhys) Stanley and (Michael) Gardiner's a pretty good forward.

"We've got to improvise, but everyone else has challenges. Obviously it's a significant one, but we're looking forward to coping with it."

Koschitzke is suspended for one more game meaning St Kilda will be without their two leading scorers of 2009 - Riewoldt booted 78 goals and Koschitzke 48 - for the round four clash against Fremantle on Sunday week.

Lyon hailed Friday night's win a "magnificent effort", as defender Sam Fisher also went off the ground for a decent stretch after he was concussed in a collision with Magpie Leon Davis.

"All we've really done is bank four points but the merit of the four under extreme adversity - we had a few with corks after big hits and hammies - it was really valuable for the belief," he said.

"Friday night's a big stage and you want to stand up, don't you?

"Two top-four teams (from last year), it just continues on our belief and builds the trust in each other through our actions.

"At this point, we haven't crumbled for a while under extreme pressure, but the challenge will be next week and the week after and the week after."

Lyon was also keen to find out whether Collingwood counterpart Mick Malthouse was a central figure in sparking a scuffle at quarter-time through some words to players.

But Malthouse said he was telling his players not to get involved in any scuffle.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP