ST KILDA cannot expect that everything will simply fall into place in 2016, according to Alan Richardson.

While improvement will remain the primary focus, Richardson used his speech at Monday night’s best and fairest put finals football firmly on the agenda for the first time in his reign as Saints senior coach.

“In 2016, we need to raise the expectations we have of ourselves,” Richardson said.

“We cannot simply be content with getting better.  We cannot think it is okay to miss finals.  We need to rise up the ladder and we need to be genuinely hungry for finals.”

This year St Kilda finished 14th on the ladder with six wins and one draw. In Richardson’s first season, the club finished 18th with just four victories.

Players like Josh Bruce, David Armitage and Dylan Roberton took their games to another level – each finishing in career best positions on the Trevor Barker award leaderboard.

Richardson implored his players to follow the lead of Roberton, Armitage and Bruce over the summer so that the club can make a play for September action for the first time since 2011.

“We need to see players move from being fringe players to regular best 22,” he said.

“We need to see players move from being good to being great. We need more players to have a bigger impact on games and we need to compete stronger for longer against the best.

“These are my expectations.”