ALASTAIR Clarkson was quick to praise run-away ladder leaders St Kilda following his side’s 25-point loss at Aurora Stadium in Launceston on Saturday afternoon.

Despite missing a number of key players, the Saints were able to hold Hawthorn at arm’s length all afternoon and put the finals aspirations of the reigning premiers in serious doubt.

"Obviously they’ve got some quality guys out, but it’s the system they play with that is the key to St Kilda’s success this year and that’s why they’ll travel pretty deep into September and probably win it," he said.

"Irrespective of the personnel they’re very hard to break down and they’re an outstanding footy side."

The Hawks trailed all afternoon and despite getting close on a couple of occasions were overwhelmed by a St Kilda side looking every bit the premiership favourite following their 19th consecutive win in season 2009.

St Kilda laid a staggering 114 tackles to Hawthorn’s 67 for the match, but Clarkson said his side’s skill errors at crucial moments were as much to blame for the loss.

"We just didn’t take our chances," he said. "Seven out of their 10 goals came from turnovers in the middle of the ground.

"We need to improve in that area of the game and unless we do we’re going to be a middle of the road side like we’ve shown throughout the course of this year.

"Some of it will be the systems with which we play and need to get better at and some of it will be personnel."
 
Clarkson said overuse of the ball by hand (214 handballs and 169 kicks) had made it hard for Hawthorn’s key forwards to time leads and make a significant impact on the match.

And despite falling short of ruling his side out of a premiership defence in September, Clarkson admitted the Hawks' hierarchy were already looking at improving for 2010.

"We’re not really concerned about finals as much as we are about getting our method of play right. Irrespective of what happens we’re probably not going to feature deep into September and we’ve probably known that for some time.

"It’s all about getting our systems of play and we’re not playing anywhere near to the level we’d like to at the present time and that’s all we’ll concentrate on during the last three weeks of the season."