NORTH Melbourne defender Michael Firrito has highlighted the importance of this Saturday night’s clash with St Kilda at Gold Coast Stadium, despite his coach warning against such a move.

Dean Laidley suggested on Wednesday that if his players' preparations were outweighed by thoughts of the potential outcome, they would get beaten.

The eighth-placed Kangaroos host the ninth-placed Saints in a match that could eventually decide which side makes the finals or, at least, enters the mid-season break in the top half of the competition.

"I guess if you sit back and have a look at it, it's going to have a pretty big impact on the way the final eight is shaped," Firrito said. "But we've just got to do [all] we can and make sure we go up there and really make it count for ourselves.

"If we stick to the things that we do, what we do when we play well, I think we'll win the game. Everything else looks after itself.

"The break's great if you win the week before, but if you lose it's a long time before you get to redeem yourself," he added. "It makes winning this weekend all the more important."

The sides come off contrasting victories, with North inflicting Hawthorn's second loss of the season and St Kilda grinding out a win over underachieving Fremantle.

Firrito revealed that his teammates were buoyed by their performance against the Hawks, but wouldn't be led to discount the Saints.

"Not at all," he said. "When they're up and firing they're a very good side. We can't take them lightly, that's for sure.

"There were a lot of backslappers around saying how well we did against Geelong (in round 11) and then a week later against Freo we were very disappointing. Then to come out and do what we did against Hawthorn, it was great to get us back on the right track."

However, the 24-year-old would not speculate on who may get the job on St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt, his side's best player last weekend.

"I've played on him a couple of times, although last week I played a bit higher [up the ground]," Firrito said.

"A few of us might get a go at him because he does have a huge tank so he normally blows us up."

And he took a similar approach to the return from injury of another key Saints forward, Justin Koschitzke.

"I'm not too sure what is happening with him," Firrito said. "If he gets through training or not ... I think there's a pretty good chance he'll play and that makes them a pretty tall forward line.

"They might try to stretch us a little bit but in saying that, it usually gets pretty dewy up on the Gold Coast so whether that's the best thing for them, having a tall forward line, I'm not too sure.