St Kilda may have fallen just short of upsetting ladder leaders North Melbourne on Sunday, only weeks after narrowly losing to reigning premiers Hawthorn, but established star Leigh Montagna says the Saints have been armoured with confidence, knowing their best can match it with the best.

Sunday’s hard-fought seven-point loss to the Kangaroos on the weekend was preceded by a three-point loss to Hawthorn in Tasmania in Round 4, confining Alan Richardson’s side to 2-5; a record that could have looked vastly different if those two results panned out differently.

Montagna, 32, believes the knowledge St Kilda can compete with high-quality opposition has provided the Saints with the assurance their brand of football stands up against the best teams in the game. Now, it is about consistency of effort.

“I think the confidence says that if we play our best football and we play the way we can and how we know we want to that we can compete with the best teams,” Montagna told saints.com.au on Tuesday afternoon.

“We’re certainly pleased with the effort and to come so close, but we’ve got higher expectations now. The Kangaroos are undefeated and we know how good the Hawks are, so our best football is good enough to compete.

“It’s just being able to bring that consistently and bring it over four quarters and bring it over the season. We’ve reinforced the positives we’re doing well and continue to look at the areas we need to work on.

 “We’ve reviewed the game, looked at that and hopefully next time we’re in a similar position we can come away with a win.”

Across the opening seven rounds of 2016, St Kilda has reduced its reliance on senior players playing well to influence results, with a host of third to fifth-year players elevating their games in the opening quarter of the season.

Given the age profile of the Saints’ list, Montagna says it’s important for an even balance of contribution on a consistent basis, regardless of how much experience one has.

“Certainly in our situation, whether it’s week-by-week or looking forward, we need an even contribution from everyone,” Montagna said.

“It doesn’t matter if you’ve played a couple of games like Jade Gresham or 300 like ‘Rooey’, everyone’s got to play their role and pull their weight.

“We’ve been getting that in periods, but there’s certainly some room for other guys to step up more consistently.

“That’s the challenge for this group, but the sooner we can do that the better we’ll be as a team.”