St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has challenged his team to close the gap on the AFL's top four after achieving a "nice little milestone" in snaring a finals berth.
The Saints were widely tipped to struggle this year amidst an early-season injury crisis, but Lyon helped his team to buck the odds and lock in a top-eight spot.
St Kilda (52 points) head into the final round in sixth and will host an elimination final if they can keep seventh-placed Sydney (50 points) and eighth-placed GWS (48 points) below them.
The Saints take on Brisbane at the Gabba on Saturday, while Sydney host Melbourne at the SCG on Sunday and GWS are away to Carlton later that day.
St Kilda have failed to beat Collingwood, Port Adelaide, Brisbane or Melbourne this year - all sides that will finish in the top four.
But they can buck that trend against the Lions this weekend and Lyon wants to see his team take it up to the premiership fancies.
"That top four has put a gap on the rest of the competition, so we're trying to bridge the gap this week," Lyon told reporters on Thursday.
"(Brisbane) looked pretty impressive on Friday night against the Pies. They're potentially a great team, they've got a lot of talent.
"But my boys work really hard and we've got a really good system, so we'll see where it takes us."
The Saints last played finals in 2020. The previous time before that was 2011, when they were still being coached by Lyon in his first stint at the club.
Lyon is happy to be back in the finals but he knows the real action is yet to begin.
"It's a nice little milestone. It's an objective of all the clubs," Lyon said.
"It's not the highest bar, but it's a start.
"It's where everyone wants to be, but we've achieved nothing except get through qualifying."
Seb Ross will miss the clash with Brisbane due to a hamstring strain, but Lyon is optimistic the midfielder will be fit to return for the start of the finals.
Brisbane will secure second spot and a guaranteed two home finals if they can beat St Kilda.
