While the lure of returning to finals action for the first time since 2011 is exciting, St Kilda can’t fall into the trap of looking too far ahead, says Saints leader Jarryn Geary.

The ultra-reliable small defender continued his strong season against Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Sunday, nullifying dangerous livewire forward Jeff Garlett, as well as impacting the scoreboard with two goals from half-back.

Geary, 27, believes St Kilda must focus on becoming a more consistent side in the last quarter of the season, rather than hypothesizing on the mathematics of playing in September.

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“When we’ve got ourselves in trouble we’ve probably thought too far ahead and probably thought about the results in games too often,” Geary told Melbourne radio station SEN on Monday morning.

“We’re focusing on the way we go about games now and how we can become more consistent. If results fall our way after that we’ll be really happy.

“We’ve just got to keep working on that because if we focus on results too much we fall in a hole.”

Geary lauded the emergence of spearhead Tim Membrey this season, after the key forward added another bag of four goals to his impressive year to date.

Since forcing his way back into Alan Richardson’s side in Round 6, the mobile key forward has booted 32.14 from 11 games, establishing himself as a key component in St Kilda’s forward setup.

“He started the year outside the team and he’s obviously worked his way into the team and you wouldn’t see him going out anytime soon, he’s been really important for us this year,” Geary said.

“Just the way he competes – he doesn’t lose many contests. Just kick it anywhere near him and he seems to mark it or bring it to ground. He’s not that big but he gets the job done. He’s a sharp shooter.”

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