EMBATTLED St Kilda coach Alan Richardson maintains speculation about his coaching future won't distract him as he attempts to turn the Saints' dire season around.

St Kilda, widely tipped to play finals this year, is languishing in 16th place with one win and a draw after it crashed to its 10th loss of the season on Saturday night.

Richardson's 100-game tenure at the club was put back under the spotlight when Sydney led by 48 points at quarter-time before coasting to a 71-point win at Etihad Stadium.

A make-or-break encounter with struggling Gold Coast looms, but Richardson denies he is coaching for his job next week and for the rest of the season.

"I don't spend one minute thinking about (my future) ... the only time I spend thinking about it is when I have to respond to questions about it," Richardson told Fox Footy on Monday night.

"The previous two weeks against Richmond and West Coast there were some really positive signs.

"I know the character of the group ... we let ourselves down and I'll demand, and will get, a response.

"There will be absolutely no talk, from my perspective, or worry about me ... my focus is about the footy team.

"My focus is about making sure that we can do something about what happened and turn our footy around ... that's all I worry about."

The Suns are one spot above the Saints with three wins, but are on a six-game losing streak and were just belted by 108 points by GWS.

A loss at Metricon Stadium has a doomsday feel about it as far as Richardson's tenure is concerned.

"That would be to suggest that there wasn't urgency on the weekend ... our focus is to be as aggressive and bold and as desperate every week," the coach replied when asked if there is more than just four premiership points riding on the Suns clash.

"This is no different.

"They would have expectations after a disappointing game to respond and so do we."