St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says his team's aim in the final eight rounds of the season is not on making the finals but rather continuing its recent improvement.

Two games out of the eight in 12th position with six wins, the Saints are likely to need to win at least six of their final eight games of the season to make the finals for a fourth consecutive season.

Lyon, in his first year at the helm with St Kilda, said his long-term aim was to produce a side that could become a "serious contender to winning a premiership... whether it be the next eight weeks, the next season or the year after.".

However, Lyon, while acknowledging his team was still a mathematical chance of making the finals this year, said his side could ill-afford to be results driven at the neglect of staying 'in the present'.

That was the pledge the club made prior to its win over reigning premier West Coast, which snapped a four-game losing streak, the coach revealed.

"And if you take your eye off what you've got to do and stay in the present and the process of winning the ball and making the tackle and those sorts of things you can fall away pretty quickly," Lyon said.

"Because if we do that in the context of the whole season if we think, 'oh, we can't make the finals', well what does that do to your mindset and the way you go about your footy?"

Lyon, who admitted his side had moved the ball wide during its losing streak, hinted the key to the Saints' recent improvement in form was not so much the return of key personnel but rather their ball movement.

"Our goal average has gone from 11 to 15 (in the past three weeks)," Lyon said.

"I think we're sixth on inside 50s, our clearances over the last month were in the highest percentage in the league so there's been a real turnaround in the ball use."

"So there's been some positives. Obviously that month where we didn't win a game has put our season under massive pressure."