MICHAEL Voss was heated following yet another second-half capitulation from Carlton in which it gave up eight third-quarter goals to fall to St Kilda.

The under-seige coach conceded that crucial elements of his side's play was "not at the level that it needs to be" after Saturday night's match followed the fateful pattern of just about every other game it has played this season.

BLUES v SAINTS Full match coverage and stats

The Blues' willingness to work, defend the ground, and handle pressure was all questioned after a 12-point half-time lead turned into a 39-point loss.

"You just need to be able to dig in and run," Voss said post-match. 

"We just didn't do that at the level we needed to. So, the delay on the ball is the first thing, but then the second thing, to be able to turn and go and be able to outnumber that second contest was not at the level that it needs to be tonight.

"But whether it's that source or it's another, the reality is that defensively we haven't been strong enough this year. We're just getting scored against too much… there's some fundamentals that we clearly need to be able to clean up, but we've got to be far more defensively stronger than what we currently are against any side.

"So, when a side presses, stand up. Stand up. And we're currently not doing that."

Voss cited the opportunities the Blues created in the second half but didn’t take, which turned into scores for the Saints on the turnover.

"That's the transition part of the game that we've clearly, obviously got to get better at, and we've got to get a shift in that to be able to make us a better football team… A lot of it's got to do with intent and what we want to continue to prioritise as a football team. So clearly, right now, it's not high enough, so we've got to make it a priority," he said.

He conceded that the midfield was "beaten", but that it wasn't an issue isolated to the line. The club laid just six tackles in the third term, despite losing the disposal count 72-91.

The pain was compounded by back-to-back goals to Saint Liam Henry following an undisciplined push from first-year defender Harry Dean that is likely to draw the ire of the Match Review Officer.

"I can honestly say this hand on heart, I didn't actually see the exact incident because I had my head down looking at the vision and how we ended up in the goalsquare in the first place. So, I was looking away, but I will go back and have a look at that one," Voss said.

"One thing I will say is that, with 'Deany', he’s a fiery guy. I love how combative he is, how he goes about his football, and he’s an in-the-face (type of) defender… So, when you get competitors like that, it doesn't always go exactly to plan. They live on the edge that way, and I kind of like that. I mean, there's ways to do it, and I'll go back and have a look at the incident, but I don't mind that player that sits on the edge."

During the final quarter Dean came from the field with a groin concern that will require a scan during the week, and Lachie Cowan passed a SCAT test following a head knock.

Despite the strong win, the Saints had some injury concerns of their own throughout the day. 

Max King suffered a hamstring issue in the VFL match in the afternoon that "looks like something on the lower end" according to coach Ross Lyon, and Paddy Dow copped a head knock late in the piece.

Jack Macrae was pulled from the VFL game to come into the AFL side for Jack Higgins, who presented with delayed concussion symptoms, and Liam O’Connell earned his first call up of the year in place of an ill Darcy Wilson.

"I'll leave it to the doc," Lyon said of Higgins.

"He copped a little clip, he passed his SCAT, was fine yesterday, get a call today (from) Lenny (Hayes), he's out. I go 'No worries, who we bringing in?' That's how it works."

Small forward Dan Butler also failed to see out the game with a hamstring injury of his own, which the club expects will see him miss a chunk of footy.

Although they have been in the wars, the Saints have established a reliable scoring game in recent weeks, kicking a triple-digit score for the fourth time this year.

"We've known (about) our scoring capacity for a while. Collingwood, we had 63 entries, plus 21, and we learned a lot out of that game about our boys… but we feel like we’ve got a few different gears in our offence, which is what the good AFL teams do," Lyon said.

"We've still got a lot of work to do."