THE SAINTS might have won just two games but they still believe they can be a factor when things get serious in the second half of the season, says defender Jarryn Geary.

Their wins have come over Greater Western Sydney and Carlton, and three of their losses – to Gold Coast, Richmond and the Sydney Swans – have been by less than three goals.

Geary, 24, said the players knew they could be competitive enough to beat good sides; it was just a matter of doing it on a consistent four-quarter basis.

He also said there was still belief that there was enough time and enough ability in the side to make a case for September.  

"We're 2-6 and there's a lot of teams that are even on the ledger," Geary told AFL.com.au.

"It's only going to take a few bad weeks for a few teams and if they're the right teams that start slipping away and we start playing good footy, there's no reason why we can't start to even up the ledger.

"It's round nine so we've got a long way to go and if we can start to become more consistent for the rest of the season, you never know what could happen.

"Things might start to balance out towards the end and we might be able to shape the finals and maybe slip in there."

Fellow defender James Gwilt agreed the players felt like they were a better side than was reflected by a 2-6 win-loss ratio.

"I feel we are but we've just been a bit inconsistent in quarters," Gwilt said on the eve of his 100th game.

"On the weekend (against Adelaide), the second half let us down so we've got to try and put in a four quarter effort this week.

"We try and give our best effort and concentrate on the contest; the contested ball and tackling so that's what we try and judge ourselves on."

Geary has been playing more of a midfield role in recent weeks, being tasked with run-with jobs against the likes of Steele Sidebottom, Marc Murphy and Scott Thompson.

While he's enjoying the challenge of playing on some of the competition's elite ball-winners, he says another positive of his new role is the fact he gets to be a part of an up-and-coming midfield.

"On the weekend, Jack Newnes had a really good game – probably the best he's played for us," he said.

"Seb Ross and the likes of Jimmy Webster, Brodie Murdoch and Josh Saunders… it's really exciting for the club when they come in and they're really starting to take the game on and have an influence.

"They more games they get, the more exciting they're going to be.

"We've had a few younger guys come in over the last few years but we haven't really had a lot of midfielders - we've had a few small forwards like Terry [Milera] and 'Saady' [Ahmed Saad] who came in and were really exciting.

"It's adding another dimension to our group, which is really good."

However, Geary, who is enjoying his first year in the leadership group, is realistic enough to know the challenge for the Saints in their transition period will be maintaining intensity.

"It's a difficult one. I think our biggest challenge is going to be our consistency," Geary said.

"We'll go on our way for three weeks and then on the weekend we sort of took a step back.

"That's disappointing when that happens. We just want to keep rising, especially with such a young group of players who are going to come through together.

"We really want to keep going up rather than hitting little speed humps along the way.

"Consistency is really what we've got to demand and I think the quicker we can become more consistent, the better we're going to be in the long run."

Jennifer Phelan is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenPhelan.