St Kilda's 2003 season went onto life support on Friday night as the Saints were routinely annihilated by 68-points by Essendon in their AFL round 14 clash at Telstra Dome.

The Saints have failed to get going after the mid season break with two dreadful performances condemning them to a 6-8 record.

And their percentage took another belting in the 17.17 (119) to 7.9 (51) loss, making their task of qualifying for the final eight nigh on impossible.

Essendon had won the previous three clashes against the Saints by an average of 76 points and never had to move into top gear as captain James Hird and full-forward Matthew Lloyd powered it to an easy win.

The Dons move to 7-7 with rare consecutive wins but their acid test will come in the next fortnight with Adelaide away and Brisbane at home.

Essendon lost midfield general Joe Misiti to a foot injury in the first term that prevented him from taking any further part in the game while St Kilda's headache was the report of tagger Steven Baker for kicking Steve Alessio.

In his second match back from a leg injury, Hird was the decisive player on the ground as the Saints struggled to find an adequate match-up, while Lloyd made light of doubts over a head injury suffered last week by slotting eight goals.

Essendon began all over the top of St Kilda, rattling in five scoring shots inside five minutes, as the Saints struggled to find the right match-ups, let alone the ball.

However, only one of those five scoring shots was a goal, leaving the Saints unjustly in the contest.

Captain Aaron Hamill was influential in getting the Saints back within 10 points at the first change.

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