ST KILDA emphatically tossed its hat into the ring of AFL finals aspirants with its most significant win of the season, a surprise 24-point victory against Carlton at the Docklands last night.

The four points were enough to elevate it into the eight, at Hawthorn's expense.

St Kilda looked more comfortable with Scott Watters' new method than they have all season, with small forwards Stephen Milne (four goals), Ahmed Saad (two) and Terry Milera (three) pivotal to the new look.

Watters said that despite the attractive way St Kilda played, it was old-fashioned aggression that won the game. "First and foremost it's about the contest," he said. "I thought our guys were terrific in that regard. Unless we took care of business there, it wouldn't have mattered what forward structure we had in front. Having said that, we're starting to see some progression in some different types of forward set-ups. We need that."