St Kilda coach Alan Richardson hailed his players' maturity and warned rivals his side is "a danger to any team" after Saturday night's demolition of Richmond.

The Saints' blistering 14-goal-to-one opening half effectively killed the match as a contest on a night that meant plenty to both clubs.

Richardson's men are suddenly in fifth and on the cusp of the top four – despite clinging to a top-eight place before the game – and went close to dislodging the Tigers from it.

"I think we can be a danger to any team if we play that sort of footy," the coach told reporters.

"Our focus is to make sure we play good footy. We lost three in a row … our focus during that was to get our footy back (and) we've now won four in a row.

"The good thing is we're in a position now where if you continue to play good footy, then to some extent (a strong ladder position is) in your control.

"But we've got a really hard stretch home … we've just got to make sure we keep playing good footy and improving our game."

St Kilda's four-match winning streak started scratchily against North Melbourne and also includes victories over Gold Coast and Fremantle in Perth. 

The Dockers result ended a six-year barren run in the west and preceded a big week off the field, with Saturday night's game – dubbed Maddie's Match 2.0 – dedicated to Nick Riewoldt's late sister.

"It's been a good week for the playing group with respect to maturity," Richardson said.

"There was a bit of noise after the win over in Perth. We all know we haven't been great on the road, particularly in Perth, so there was some media around that.

"For all the right reasons, there was a lot of media at our club this week, being such a significant day for the Riewoldts and MRV (Maddie Riewoldt's Vision), in particular.

"So it's good the guys have been able to deal with that and focus and get their preparation right to make sure they come out and play in such an aggressive manner from the jump."

Richardson praised veterans Riewoldt (12 marks, three goals) and Leigh Montagna (31 disposals), acknowledging the latter's leadership in the Saints' developing backline.

The challenge for St Kilda is continuing to back up, starting with Essendon at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.

"The Bombers were really impressive today. I didn't see a lot of it, obviously, in preparing for our game, but from all reports they were really good," Richardson said.

"Their best footy has been outstanding this year. They've got a great balance of real grunt and class and we know they're going to be a really hard team to beat.

"But we think if we can play that sort of footy we played tonight, if we can repeat that – and that's our want – we're going to be competitive against any team."

The Saints' main worry was the second-quarter incident where forward Tim Membrey made high contact to Tiger Dylan Grimes in a marking contest.

"You always (are concerned) when there's a collision that ends up being a free kick," Richardson said.

"It looked like Tim, from my perspective, was going for a mark in mid-air then just braces, but, to be honest, I haven't watched it back, so I'll just have to see on that one."