St Kilda CEO Matt Finnis is certain Alan Richardson is the right man to lead the Saints back to the finals and towards an elusive second premiership.

Richardson is nearly at the end of his fourth season at the helm of St Kilda, where he has led the side from four wins in 2014 to six in 2015, 12 in 2016 and 10 with two games to play in 2017.

“I couldn’t be more certain that he’s the man to lead our footy program in the longer term,” Finnis told Melbourne radio station SEN.

“I’m absolutely certain that he’s the man to lead the Saints into the finals and well and truly towards our next premiership.”

The 52-year-old is out of contract at the end of 2018, but Finnis indicated that the club would seek to re-sign Richardson before the start of next season.

“We haven’t put a time frame on it, but 'Richo' is obviously contracted until the end of next year,” he said.

“My sense is we would probably look to get it done before then (the start of next season). But really it’s just a matter of working through that in the context of everything else that we’re reviewing at this time of year with our footy program.”

"But really it’s just a matter of working through that in the context of everything else that we’re reviewing at this time of year with our footy program.”

With the AFL set to announce the latest AFLW licenses in the coming weeks, Finnis believes St Kilda has a strong case for becoming one of the latest recipients.

“We think we’ve got a really compelling case and we look forward to an announcement in a couple of weeks’ time,” he said.

“The Bayside area has been a hotbed of talent for the growth of women’s footy.

“We shouldn’t ignore the fact that a lot of young women in Bayside are playing soccer so it’s really important that we have a team for them to play in and we continue to invest and grow the game down here.”