So 10 weeks into the 2011 AFL season, there is a sleeper in the ranks and it wears red, white and black.

Hawthorn started 1-6 and worked its way into the finals after a horrid start, and surely St Kilda will now look to follow suit.

The Saints are now 3-5-1, half a game better than the Hawks were last year when they started to mount their charge. In Hawthorn's case it was after hammering Carlton on a Sunday afternoon at Etihad. In St Kilda's case, it was a 46-point hammering of Fremantle at Patersons Stadium that might kick start an unlikely run to the finals.

And the Saints overcame a significant early hurdle, a neck injury to star midfielder Brendon Goddard, who was spent to hospital after a clash with teammate Zac Dawson in a marking contest early in the first quarter.

We use the term 'star' with Goddard because we think he might be getting back to the brilliant level at which he played the second half of last season, a level that had some regarding him as the best player in the competition.

After a poor start to the season, Goddard found a bit in the 20-point win over Melbourne last week. And he was flying against the Dockers, with 10 touches in the first term before the clash with Dawson - one of two 'friendly fire' incidents that clouded an otherwise fine afternoon for the club. Sean Dempster was knocked out in the final few minutes after running into teammate Jason Blake.

Nick Dal Santo was the best for the Saints, but the real positive was the 26-possession effort from youngster Jack Steven. Coach Ross Lyon has been pilloried for not giving the kids a go but on this afternoon, one of them delivered in spades. Another bonus for the saints was a big win on the road with only as middling (13-touch) effort from skipper Nick Riewoldt.

They kicked four goals in each quarter and applied plenty of patented 'Saints footy' when things were hot early on, making it really hard for the Dockers to score. And now they have a bit of form under their belt to take into the Grand Final rematch against Collingwood next Saturday night at the MCG.

For Freo, the loss was more than not having Aaron Sandilands in the side. He's out for another few weeks, but the failing here was their unwillingness to get their hands dirty early. This played right into St Kilda's hands and the game was as good as done by quarter time.

The Dockers are highly-likely to be out of the eight by the end of the weekend and their search to return to the winner's list takes them to the MCG - where they're riding a losing streak of eight matches going back for four years - when they meet the rampant Hawks next Sunday.

Meanwhile at Etihad, the Swans also borrowed from their old recipe book to beat North Melbourne. The last three minutes were played almost entirely inside North's 50-metre zone, but the Swans won all the contested footy - their trademark in the Paul Roos era - to hang on to win by a point. Admittedly, a couple of lucky deflections and some favourable umpiring also played its part.

With just two wins to their name, the Kangaroos are probably cooked for 2011. The Swans are right in the miss for a place in the lower half of the eight as are, as we have noted, the Saints.