St Kilda won its fourth match on the trot, but coach Ross Lyon knows there is a lot of hard work ahead if his side is to finish in the top eight this season.

The Saints came from 28 points down at half-time to defeat Hawthorn by five goals at Telstra Dome on Saturday night and will head into the final six rounds of the season inside the eight and only half a win behind fourth-placed Sydney.

With games against lowly-placed West Coast, an out of form Port Adelaide and Fremantle in Perth among their next four assignments, St Kilda could easily finish the season in the top four and with a double chance in the finals.

But Lyon said a top-four finish was not yet on his radar and his team needed to keep on winning and hopefully earn a spot in the final eight.

"It was a critical result ... all it means is we stay in the hunt to force our way into the eight if we keep winning, but it was a pleasing effort from the group against quality opposition," he said.

"But there is no respite. We are pleased with the win, but we are not getting too carried away. They are all pretty important … we are in the hunt, but if you stop winning you are in trouble."

"It's a clear objective that we need to keep winning, but in the form we are in we are building confidence and we feel like we are getting the basics right more often."

The form of Nick Riewoldt over the past month has been a major reason behind St Kilda's recent revival. He turned in another dominant performance against the Hawks.

Riewoldt booted six goals and pulled down 10 marks, a performance which drew special praise from Lyon.

"His work rate enables him to always contribute to the team," he said.

"Sometimes that work rate will allow him to kick six and sometimes it will be three but you know it's always going to be there."

"He's a significant leader of this team, as is Lenny Hayes, and from there everybody jumps in behind them."

"Leadership is everyone's responsibility, but really, you appoint a captain for a reason and you appoint a vice-captain for a reason because when you're under pressure like we were in the first half you want them to stand up and lead the way and I thought they did that."