RETIRING St Kilda veteran Robert Harvey has admitted he was blown away by the number of his former teammates who formed a guard of honour at Telstra Dome on Sunday in a tribute to his amazing career.

Harvey, 37, entered the arena between many of the 210 teammates he has had over his remarkable 21 years as an elite footballer, flanked by his three children Connor, Alyssa and Remy.

"Over 21 years you've played with a lot of blokes and I didn't know how many they'd be able to get here," he said after the 48-point win over Adelaide.

"We didn't have anyone in the rooms before the game just to keep it pretty normal, but when I went out, it really smacked me in the face to see all those guys.

"I didn't expect to get so many here because they must be spread far and wide by now, but I saw so many old faces and it made me feel really good they came out and came here today.

"It meant a lot to me."

Harvey admitted he felt a shiver down his spine when the boisterous crowd of 33,811 went berserk after he kicked the goal that put the Saints in front mid-way through the second quarter. 

"I don't kick a lot of goals so it was good to get one in a game like today," he said.

"It was at that stage where we were battling a bit, and I was disappointed when I snapped another one and it got called back.

"It was a definite throw, but I thought I'd get away with it."

The dual Brownlow medallist, who has remained adamant his impending retirement must not distract the team from finishing the season in form, admitted it was more than pleasing to be looking at his eighth finals series.

"It means a lot. I'd like to go out playing as many games as I can, and I still feel like we can do something," he said.

"Last week was a big game for us with the way we fought back, and it was good to reinforce that today.

"We've shown some resilience over the years and we've had our detractors, but we're starting to play some reasonable footy but we have a bit more improvement still to come."

"Still being in the hunt, and being focused so hard on the way we're playing and the style we're playing, we didn't want any distractions from that.

"We wanted to keep everyone focused and today, Ross [Lyon] really worked that well. It was good to clear it out and get [the tribute] done, and we can focus on what we've got to do."