A MEEK last quarter from St Kilda's midfielders was the catalyst for St Kilda's 38-point loss to Geelong at Etihad Stadium on Sunday, coach Alan Richardson says.

The Saints led at the final break by five points but conceded eight goals from that point to be blown away.

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Geelong had almost twice as many disposals in the last term (140-71) as Cats stars Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield ran amok.

Jack Steven was excellent in his return from a punctured lung but Mark Blicavs kept him to four disposals in the last quarter, while Seb Ross (seven), Jack Newnes (five), Luke Dunstan (three) and Jack Steele (one) were swept aside by a rampant Geelong outfit.

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"We need to learn from what happened in the last quarter and be much stronger and become better through the middle of the ground," Richardson said. 

"Seb Ross has played a fair bit of footy now. (Luke) Dunstan, Jack Steele's new to our group, Newnesy's played a lot of footy, Rooey's (Nick Riewoldt) played a lot of footy on the wing and we just didn't quite rise in the last quarter. That's what we need to work on." 

The coach said his side was experienced enough to match it with the Cats, which moved to 5-0. 

"Even though the third quarter from the scoreboard perspective was OK, we started to lose a bit of momentum. Having said that, (there was) some pretty positive footy for big parts of the game," he said. 

"The last quarter was really disappointing. To get outworked, to be physically outplayed as significantly as we were through the midfield, was disappointing.

"From a games played perspective, we need to be getting to that stage where those guys that are in there stand up and have a bigger influence. We were up against some quality players but we’ve been against that sort of quality before, the last couple of times we’ve played them and been able to stand up for longer. 

"The first half was really positive. Plus 12 in contest. Lost the second half by 30-odd, and in the last quarter it was really significant, in terms of the loss." 

St Kilda lost contested possessions by 20 in the fourth term.

The Saints were content with Selwood's impact up to that point, considering the scoreline was tight.

WATCH: Alan Richardson's full post-match press conference

"There's a bit of head-to-head, and that was our plan. Then there's that five-to-seven minute period straight after three quarter-time when we changed what we were doing in there," Richardson said.

"When Dangerfield went forward … we then swung Sebby Ross over to Selwood. We weren't able to get it done but it was certainly strategically a bit of a shift.

"You can't tag everyone. We want to be really positive and play our way through there.

"(Selwood) still had probably high-20s up until three quarter-time and we were in front, so we were OK with where that sat. But certainly, he got hold of us in the last." 

Riewoldt came off in the last quarter with a right ankle injury but returned soon afterwards and will be fine. Billy Longer won't miss any footy despite being on the receiving end of a couple of nasty knocks to his hip and head.