Geelong captain Cameron Ling says Hawthorn star forward Lance Franklin might have cost himself a shot at a match-winning goal by staging for a free kick.

Franklin went to ground in a marking contest within scoring range in the dying seconds of the Cats' 13.10 (88) to 13.5 (83) win at the MCG on Saturday night.

Replays showed Geelong defender Tom Lonergan appeared to make light contact with his hands on Franklin's back, which technically should have meant a free kick for the forward.

It went unpaid, Geelong's Andrew Mackie marked, and the Cats held on to remain undefeated.

But Ling said if Franklin flew for a mark, rather than tumbled to the ground, things might have turned out differently.

"You can see the hands in the back there but Buddy doesn't help himself," Ling told the Seven Network's AFL Game Day.

"If he jumped at that and the umpire sees clear hands in the back carried Buddy forward, it's a free kick.

"I think because he's gone to ground, the umpire is thinking 'Is he staging or is it a free kick?'.

"If you're a good umpire, you know the difference.

"That was line-ball, that could have gone either way."

Ling said he had a good view of the contest and had been nervously waiting to see which way the decision went.

"When it was paid the mark to Andrew Mackie, I was very relieved," he said.

The Cats next take on St Kilda at the MCG on Saturday night.

Ling said the Saints, who managed only one win and a draw in the first seven rounds, were starting to again look like the grand finalists of the past two seasons, with three wins in their past four matches.

"Their tackle pressure is back to what it's been for the last couple of years," he said.

"They've got really good quality players, they're able to squeeze opposition, give them no room, no space at all.

"You wouldn't want to be playing them in finals, they can just shut a game down, make it very tight.

"It might end up 50 to 60 and they're in every single game of footy they play in, so they're a dangerous side still."

Ling said the Saints appeared to have recovered from the body blow of losing midfielder Lenny Hayes to a knee injury early in the year and were set to make a big run over the second half of the season.

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