Despite losing another tight encounter against one of the best sides in the competition, St Kilda leader Maverick Weller believes the Saints are learning from the disappointment, instilled with confidence they can match it with the best.

St Kilda fell agonisingly short of terminating North Melbourne’s undefeated start to 2016 at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

After being 26-points behind ten minutes into the final quarter, Alan Richardson’s side clawed back the margin to draw level in the dying seconds, before the Kangaroos stole back the lead to extend their streak to seven wins on the trot.

“We’re really building the belief in the group that we can perform with the best teams,” Weller told reporters at a press conference on Monday afternoon.

“It is frustrating, but at the same time it’s really pleasing. We’re definitely on the right track.

“Some of the performances from our young kids was really good and has been strong all year. So from that point of view it is frustrating we go the loss, but on a whole, as a journey, we’re on the right track.

“We’re really pleased with the effort. We probably left our run a bit too late, they are a really strong side, but that’s footy.”

For the second time in the space of four weeks, St Kilda fell just short of upsetting a premiership fancy, after the Saints lost to Hawthorn by three-points in Round 4 in Tasmania.

But despite another opportunity to bank four premiership points slipping from St Kilda’s grasp, Weller says the nail-biting affairs are providing key educational opportunities for the Saints’ young players.

“Probably the last couple of games that we’ve played that have been close, we sort of left our run later. That’s an experience thing, but we’re definitely drawing from these experiences,” Weller said.

“These close games, it’s definitely not throw it out the door sort of stuff, we’re learning a lot from it. It’s going hold us in great stead in the future.”

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