St Kilda entered Saturday’s clash having won two of their past three games and many predicted under the roof at Marvel Stadium they’d go close to adding another win.

The Saints were in the match for around and a quarter and a half before the Brisbane Lions began to assert their dominance.

In the second half the wheels truly fell off for the Saints as they were comprehensively embarrassed in a 56-point shellacking.

The loss pushes them to 6-7 on the season and into 11th spot on the ladder, but the team holds one of the worst percentages in the league.

Coach Allan Richardson has been on the hot seat all season long and it’s the latest performance that has many questioning if he’ll last until the final round of the year.

Prior to the horror display on Saturday, Saints General Manager of Football Simon Lethlean publicly backed in Richardson as the coach and that they need to beat the teams above them on the ladder.

Those comments caught the eye of AFL reporter Damian Barrett along with former Saints champion Nick Riewoldt.

“It’s his right to do it, don’t get me wrong,” Barrett said on Footy Classified.

“But it’s an unusual situation, and what it is, is a conditioning of the public to the decision they’re about to make.”

The shows host Craig Hutchison agreed with Barrett’s comments and thinks the time is running out for Richardson.

“It’s a shame, because we all like him and he has done, for the most part, a really good job this year,” Hutchison said.

“But you can’t make a case for him being the coach of St Kilda next year.”

Riewoldt couldn’t help but see the ironic side of Lethlean’s comments and the result out of the weekend.

“(Lethlean) outlined there that they need to beat teams above them. The irony out of the weekend was, it was a horrible performance. It really was. Really, really disappointing,” Riewoldt said SEN Breakfast.

“Up until the Port Adelaide game they’d been really strong and competitive in all games they’d been in.

“Port Adelaide I was willing to put a line through because of the injuries and the illness over there in China and the travel and all of those circumstances combined.

“Then they had a week off and then they went up to the Gold Coast and it was just a performance. They adjusted after half time which was encouraging to see.

“This was the biggest game of the year for them. They’re six (wins) and six (losses), have an opportunity to go seven and six.

“At seven and six with the way the draw had opened up for them, their season was alive.

“So to surrender so meekly on the weekend was really, really damning on the group and it was based on the effort.

“That’s what I’ve been so proud of this year is how strong the effort has been and it just wasn’t there on the weekend.”

Essendon great and former AFL sharpshooter Matthew Lloyd was quick to slam the Saints’ effort, labelling it not of AFL standard.

“It’s those types of losses where you walk away and you think, ‘that was ugly, that was messy’,” Lloyd said.

“If they lose like that again, that’s when it’s going to be the end. Another one of those losses like the weekend won’t be tolerated. They were so far off AFL standard on the weekend it wasn’t funny.”

As the pressure continues to mount on the under-fire coach, Riewoldt believes there is a certain bar he must reach to even have a “fighting chance” of surviving.

“I reckon he needs to get to 10 wins. I think it gives him a fighting chance,” Riewoldt said.

“I think his growth as a coach has been pretty evident this year.

“I think they’ve overachieved. Go back a month ago. I think to that point of the year they’d overachieved.

“I find this year so hard to get a read on. I want to see the body of work.

“I think it’s plain to see. The club needs to start beating teams above them on the ladder and they cannot put in performances where the effort is as bad as it was on the weekend.”

Richardson however isn’t alone in copping intense criticism over his tenure as coach, with Lloyd also putting the heat on Essendon coach John Worsfold.

“How can you have faith in a team that fails like this all the time?” Lloyd said on Footy Classified.

“If they don’t play finals, yes, I would make the change … if they lose on Thursday night, it’s season over.

“I would be looking at other options, and if there’s a better man out there, they should make that change, yes.”

His comments were backed up by another former great of the Bombers with Tim Watson also laying it on heavy for Worsfold.

“I think they’ve underachieved this year,” Watson said on SEN Breakfast.

“(Worsfold) is (under pressure) because there was an expectation at that football club at the beginning of this year, they were the most hyped team, now that didn’t come from internally, although they didn’t dismiss it either, it came externally with their recruitment over the last couple of years.

“There’s enormous pressure on him and the team now to achieve this year and to make the finals this year.

“Their injury run hasn’t helped. They’ve lost Joe Daniher, they’ve lost Devon Smith, Jake Stringer’s missed a couple, Orazio Fantasia has been in and out.

“Compared to other teams with injury issues that have still produced consistent performances, they haven’t measured up.

All year, Watson has maintained that the Bombers aren’t a top four side, but still had them in his top eight.

“(Expectation) was unreasonably high (pre-season) I felt. I didn’t think they were a top four side.”