Monday night's AFL game was one of those rare events when, before your eyes, you could see the tectonic plates start to shift. An orthodoxy, the success of which had appeared set in concrete, was failing. A team which had lost only four of its previous 31 games, by a cumulative margin of 29 points, was being monstered. A way was being freely navigated through St Kilda's hitherto impenetrable defence. A radical method that had apparently immunised the team against free scoring and heavy defeats was being cut to ribbons. It was all laid bare.

Speed and controlled attack now appear to be the kryptonite to neutralise what Ross Lyon and his team call "Saints footy". Essendon applied the same formula in a game late last season and snapped St Kilda's long winning-streak. A two-point loss after 19 consecutive wins could hardly be said to have revealed an Achilles heel, but it may have been a precursor. That Essendon is St Kilda's next opponent is a delicious coincidence of this season's schedule. The kryptonite applied by Carlton, and in Round 20 of last year, will again be thrown the Saints' way.

"Saints footy" faces its acid test, and it's a test not just of the method or of the team's ability to better employ it. Ross Lyon and his players now find their whole "Saints footy" ideal under challenge. That the coach and his players have given their method a name is indicative of the totality of their commitment to it. In the week after Nick Riewoldt sustained his serious hamstring injury, the St Kilda champion said that "with the way we play, and ‘Saints footy', really, the personnel's irrelevant."

The game in which Riewoldt sustained his injury offered evidence that this unlikely proposition mightn't be far from the truth. St Kilda had been forced to defend for their lives against Collingwood and, when the skipper was hurt, appeared vulnerable. Yet the longer the game went the stronger the Saints became. Collingwood didn't kick a goal after half-time. It was a triumph for "Saints footy".

But would it hold up for almost a whole season as the captain waged a race against time to return for the finals? It did against Collingwood, it held up again the next week against Fremantle, and again a fortnight later against the Western Bulldogs. The most recent of those successes revealed the psychological ascendancy the Saints had achieved over time, as the Bulldogs refused to take offensive risks.

On either side of that freakish win, though, the Saints have suffered two defeats. Crucially, without Riewoldt their scoring has dried up. They've kicked just 22 goals in their last 12 quarters. That's not Saints footy, it's losing footy. Then all the suspect parts in the machine were exposed by the Blues.

"Saints footy", as it's been applied on the ground, is an outstanding coaching achievement. Its emphasis on defensive collectivism has yielded a team considerably greater than the sum of its parts. The Saints have been extraordinarily difficult to beat. In last year's grand final they stretched a champion opponent almost to breaking point. As with all strategies, though, there will eventually emerge an effective counter and that may now be happening.

Yes, the earth moved at Etihad Stadium on Monday night; certainly for Carlton fans, and perhaps for coaches of teams looking for the formula to counter the Saints. The ultimate test of "Saints footy" will come if the faith of those who swear by it has been shaken.