A first-quarter blitz from St Kilda has set up a 1.12.12 (93) to 1.11.5 (80) win over the Adelaide Crows at AAMI Stadium on Sunday.

The Saints had to withstand a late rally from the Crows but held their nerve to knock the defending champions out of the Wizard Home Loans Cup.

St Kilda put on a polished display that will give Saints fans reason for optimism this year and star-in-the-making Luke Ball put in an eye-catching performance with his 27-disposal and one-goal effort earning him best-on-ground honours and prompting praise from coach, Grant Thomas.

"Luke’s a quality player and we all know he’s going to be a very good player for us. Whether he’s inside or out he does a job for you and he hasn’t missed a beat in pre-season, he’s been very, very good and I think that’s helped him enormously. He’s set himself up for a big year," said Thomas.

It may have been the first competitive hit-out for both sides, but the Saints started the match like it was mid-season.

There was a poise and fluency about their game that was sadly missing in Adelaide’s early play. Austinn Jones was the chief architect for St Kilda, setting up the play expertly from half-back and gathering nine first-quarter disposals.

New Saints captain Lenny Hayes put his side 22 points up with 12 minutes played but Stephen Powell went one better with a super goal soon after to push that lead out to 31.

The Crows trailed by 25 points as the second quarter got underway but soon edged closed after an Andrew McLeod chase-down of Hayes resulted in a Mark Ricciuto goal.

However, Saints’ young gun Nick Riewoldt stepped in with two goals for the term to help his side to a 26-point half-time lead.

Adelaide’s delivery into its forward-line had been erratic for most of the day and didn’t improve much as the third quarter progressed while a settled St Kilda side looked to press home the advantage.

Brent Reilly goaled soon after coming off the bench for the Crows but Riewoldt quickly answered to give the Saints a 32-point buffer at the last break.

The previously lacklustre Crows outfit sprang into life in the final term – piling on three majors and a super goal from Kris Massie to narrow the gap to just five points with 11 minutes played.

Adelaide nearly took the lead for the first time in the match soon after when Gallagher set sail from nine-point territory but his shot went just the wrong side of the post for the Crows.

The contest remained in the balance until the dying stages of the match when Milne slotted his second to seal the result for the Saints.

“We were very, very keen to win, we knew it would be a hard and tough game," said coach Thomas.

"We don’t underestimate Adelaide and we’re very pleased to come away with a win. It gives us a greater degree of confidence to go into next week (against Richmond).”

Thomas said that he was comfortable with the heightened expectations surrounding the club in 2004.

“We can’t actually control that. We can only control what we want to do ourselves. We’re another year closer to the levels of experience and the bodies that we need to be very competitive in this current AFL," he said.

"We just want to continue to improve. We are very clear where we’re at and we’re even more clear on where we’re heading to.”

A disappointed Adelaide coach Gary Ayres conceded that his team didn't deserve to win on the strength of one good quarter.

“It wasn’t until the last quarter when we had some purpose and some sort of fluency in the way we played. I just thought they put us, certainly, on a backward step right from the very start," said Ayres.

"We got smashed around the midfield clearances in that we got our hands on the ball but we fumbled it and this is obviously a lesson for the guys who were in there.

"I didn’t think at any stage did we even threaten to win the game until that last quarter so that’s the disappointing thing for me.”

ADELAIDE: 0.2.1, 0.5.2, 0.7.3, 1.11.5 (80)
ST KILDA: 1.4.5, 1.7.7, 1.10.8, 1.12.12 (93)

NINE POINT GOALS: Adelaide: Massie.
St Kilda: Powell.
SIX POINT GOALS: Adelaide: Reilly 2, Skipworth 2, Welsh 2, Rutten, Johncock, Stenglein, Ricciuto, Burton.
St Kilda: Riewoldt 3, Milne 2, Gehrig 2, Harvey, Clarke, Thompson, Hayes, Ball.
BEST: Adelaide: Goodwin, Gallagher, Ricciuto, Edwards, Stenglein, Hentschel.
St Kilda: Ball, Harvey, Jones, Powell, Riewoldt, Hayes.
INJURIES: Adelaide: Carey (corked thigh).
St Kilda: Hudghton (shoulder)
REPORTS: Nil.
UMPIRES: Rowston, Worthington, Dey.
CROWD: 13,905 at AAMI Stadium.