ST KILDA coach Ross Lyon believes his players paid tribute to retiring club great Robert Harvey in the best fashion possible on Sunday, by getting their performance "right".

In the match labelled by the club as the Robert Harvey Tribute Game, Lyon believes his Saints honoured their veteran midfielder perfectly after overcoming a messy start against Adelaide to blast away to a 48-point win that confirmed their participation in the finals series.

"What we spoke about was, if we want to pay respect to Robert, it really is about getting our performance right," Lyon said after the Telstra Dome match.

"Clearly any emotion for Robert doesn't contribute to your ability to defend and attack and use the ball, so we split the two and we knew what today was about, but we left that to the individual.

"As a group, I didn't address it except to say we didn't want to play a fifth quarter in the warm up.

"We thought there might be a crowd and some cheering, but sitting back when the crowd was roaring for Robert, it was a really difficult day for the opposition I'd imagine.

"It was always going to be difficult for whoever we played today."

While Lyon was happy to accept the boisterous home crowd advantage he likened to an interstate venue, he said he personally didn't treat the 379-game champion any differently heading into the game.

However, he did concede it was hard to avoid the emotion caused when Harvey ran onto the ground with his three children through a guard of honour made up of his former teammates.

"He was no more important to me today than Robert Eddy," he said.

"I had a responsibility to coach the team and he got coached as hard and he got as directed as anybody.

"What I will remember was I felt the emotion when they roared when he ran out, and when I saw his kids.

"You feel good for Robert but it didn't change my focus. I didn't coach him, or speak to him any differently.

"For the St Kilda fans to come and pay homage to him was fantastic but, for me, the harsh reality of footy is you've got to focus on the job at hand."

He also said Harvey has remained adamant his retirement will not take the team's focus off their assault into September.

"Since the announcement, Robert has said that anything that affects the team, or affects any individual - whether it be media (or other factors)

"(Harvey's said); 'I don't want them talking about me, it's about the team', and we're really focused," Lyon said.

"Once he said that, it's easy to just let it roll and be normal."