Well, which of the other seven finalists will want to play them now?

The gnarly, curmudgeonly, killjoy Saints are back and - the form of captain Nick Riewoldt aside - are playing the sort of footy that saw them feature in the last three grand finals.

After a season in which they looked dead and buried, winning one-and-a-half of their first seven games, St Kilda completed their home-and-away revival by beating Carlton on Saturday night and, in leapfrogging Sydney into sixth place on the ladder, secured a home elimination final at Etihad Stadium. They've now won eight of their past 10 matches.

It was a huge result for Ross Lyon's men who, if they'd lost, would have been consigned the match at the SCG. Now the scales have demonstrably tilted in their favour.

They looked in strife early as fifth-placed Carlton belied the 'dead-rubber' nature of the game and played as though it did mean something to them. The Blues led by 18 points mid-way through the third quarter in a dour, defensive slog where goals were hard to come by and Carlton controlled the tempo of the game.

Milne's exuberant celebrations sparked his teammates into life.

That was the cue for the Saints to lift their intensity. They flooded back in numbers, brought the ball forward in surges and then found some fluency in attack. In the end, they kicked eight of the last 10 goals of the match.

By the time the result was a foregone conclusion, Carlton coach Brett Ratten had rested Chris Judd and Marc Murphy on the bench. There were bigger battles to be won over the coming weeks, starting with Essendon on Sunday in the other elimination final.

But there were many issues to emerge from the match, and they could have implications for the finals.

For Carlton, Matthew Kreuzer limped from the field in the first half with a foot injury and took no further part in the game. Given that Michael Jamison did not take his place in the side, and Jarrad Waite has shown no signs of returning to football, the Blues suddenly look very light on for big men.

Those problems were compounded by the fact that smaller forwards Jeff Garlett, Eddie Betts and Andrew Walker contrubuted the grand total of zero goals between them.

St Kilda exploited that lack of height during tonight's game when Zac Dawson was sent forward and took a couple of nice marks. Essendon's coaches would have been very interested observers up in the MCG stands tonight as the Blues' challenge petered out to nothing.

The good news for the Blues was the form of Setanta O'hAilpin up forward. The Irishman provided a strong marking target and kicked four goals. The other notable performances belonged to midfielder Kade Simpson, who was everywhere, and Lachie Henderson at centre half-back where he totally eclipsed Nick Riewoldt, outmarking him several times in one-on-one contests.

The Saints skipper had his first kick early in the third quarter as all the good form he showed the previous week against North Melbourne seemed to have completely disappeared.

For all the joy about the Saints' win, the club will be under no illusions about its prospects over the next month if Riewoldt cannot play a meaningful role. He simply has to find some confidence if St Kilda is to pull off the heist of the century.

They could well find themselves in strife at the tribunal this week, too. Milne was shown giving his opponent Aaron Joseph, with whom he had a running battle, a sly punch in the stomach at one stage. Dean Polo did a similarly dumb thing and could also attract the attention of the Match Review Panel.

Still, mere trifles tonight and problems to be addressed on another day. The Saints are back - and who would really want to come up against them in the next four weeks?