THEY ARE yet to completely click, but the Saints' optimism about reaching the finals is based on what's to come and what they can control.

Ahead of Friday night's season-shaper against Carlton at the MCG, where the winner takes eighth spot and the loser stays a game behind in ninth, St Kilda vice-captain Lenny Hayes said the Saints drew encouragement knowing finals beckoned if they deserved it.

"Our destiny is in our own hands," he said.

"There's nothing worse than last year waiting on the Friday night, I think it was the game between Collingwood and Adelaide and our finals hopes rested on the result of that game.

"This year it's all up to us.

"If we can get our act together I see there's no reason why we can't get a berth in the finals and then hopefully do some damage."

St Kilda was in the eight and had the say on their fortunes with two rounds to play in 2007, but a loss to the Eagles in round 21 meant they needed Adelaide to lose in the final round to keep their season alive. Adelaide's win killed off the Saints' finals dreams.

Fourteen rounds into 2008 they again find it tight, but have an extra win and are four spots higher than they were this time last season.

Hayes, who will return from a hamstring injury, felt the Saints had improved in their past two games, which resulted in narrow wins over Fremantle and North Melbourne.

"We've gotten a lot better and are playing team footy," he said.

"The last three quarters against the Kangaroos was a really good effort, we played up-tempo footy and we took the opposition on and guys were growing in confidence.

"So I think there's definitely a lot of up side in the second half of the year.

"Just as long as we apply ourselves, I'm pretty sure we can get the right results."

Hayes saw little in St Kilda's recent domination of Carlton, as he said Carlton had improved significantly since round two, when the Saints' win gave them 10 successive victories over the Blues.

He also saw little in the lopsidedness of matches at the MCG, where the Blues have played eight times this season and the Saints were yet to visit.

"We really enjoy playing at the MCG and because we don't play there a lot, the guys are really excited about this game than any other team that might play a similar game at the MCG," he said.

"It's obviously a bigger ground and we could be playing in the wet, which is something you don't do at Telstra Dome.

"But ... I don't think there's any downside there.

"That's where finals footy is played, that's where the big crowds are and I think the players rise to those occasions."