St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says he is proud of the way his team is battling through challenges on and off the AFL field.

The Saints downed Adelaide 19.9 (123) to 12.4 (76) at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night to climb to a 7-3 record and into the top four.

It was the first time the club had topped 100 points in six rounds, an encouraging sign as they continue to adjust to life without injured skipper and star forward Nick Riewoldt.

The win followed a week in which the club's focus was divided by what Lyon called the "elephant in the room" - allegations regarding sexual liaisons between two Saints players and a schoolgirl.

The players were cleared by police and the AFL of any wrongdoing, but Lyon said the team showed character to avoid letting the scrutiny hurt their performance.

"Certainly it's been a significant challenge without the captain and we're a club under pressure, there's no doubt," Lyon said.

"Let's talk about the elephant in the room ... I thought the response, the character and the effort, would really please our members

"... We got our (character) tested and we delivered, which as a coach makes you proud of your playing group and hopefully makes your members really proud."

While the Saints kicked their biggest score since Riewoldt went down with a major hamstring injury in round three, they still lacked a convincing forward marking target, Justin Koschitzke well held by Ben Rutten.

Midfielder Leigh Montagna starred with five goals, while crumbers Stephen Milne and Adam Schneider kicked five between them and Nick Dal Santo and Andrew McQualter two each.

Lyon said while it would be nice to kick more goals from marks, it was good to generate so many from general play and they were taking some marks in attack.

"We all look for multiple options and goal kickers," he said.

"But I think when you're pressuring and you're competing really well, opportunities open up and the ball spills ... Nick's been a dominant player, but we're gradually finding our way without him."

The Crows were competitive until the last quarter, which St Kilda won 7.2 to 1.0 and Adelaide coach Neil Craig said the large number of injuries sustained this season meant his team lacked the number of well-conditioned players needed to run out games.

He said they faced a difficult balance of trying to get more conditioning work into players, while letting them physically recover between games.

"When we get in that scenario, it's important that guys continually push themselves in the last quarter, though, to try to get some conditioning out of the game as well," Craig said.

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