It was touted as an eight-point game but all St Kilda won on Friday night was the right to control its own destiny, coach Ross Lyon said after the Saints' 32-point win over Carlton.

The win put a valuable four-point buffer between it and the Blues, and ensured the Saints would finish Round 15 ensconced in the eight.

"Did I get eight points? I'd like to wake up tomorrow and see eight points, that'd be fantastic," Lyon joked.

"You put a four-point gap between them but it's fleeting really, isn't it?"

The Saints had a 7-8 win-loss record at the corresponding stage of the 2007 season and ultimately finished ninth - half a game behind the eighth-placed Adelaide.

"There's seven games to go. All it means is we won and we get an opportunity with seven games to go to control our own destiny," Lyon said. "That's really all it means."

"We've got a lot of hard work in front of us. No one's getting ahead of themselves here."

The Saints face the highly-rated Hawthorn next Saturday night at Telstra Dome in a game which Lyon said would provide the litmus test for how much his side had improved.

Lyon said the win against the Blues was the product of a 'team effort'.

He praised the side for its 'four-quarter tackling effort' but conceded the Saints were fortunate not to be behind by further than four points at the first change after the Blues kicked a wasteful 2.8.

"We were a little bit lucky early I suppose but in the end it goes for four quarters and we got reward for effort which is really important," he said.

"You don't always get reward for effort."

Lyon said Jason Gram broke even in his duel with Carlton superstar Chris Judd, and praised former Swan Sean Dempster for his negating role on Nick Stevens.

"I've said since he's been here he'll be a 100-game player for St Kilda," Lyon said.

"And I thought his footy, his best is in front of him. And tonight I thought he worked hard."