The deadly-accurate Saints won 17.4 (106) to Collingwood's 9.18 (72) in front of 76,707 spectators.
St Kilda's captain, Nick Riewoldt, was a commanding figure up forward with five goals, marking almost everything that came his way and kicking beautifully, with his notoriously fragile radar working perfectly.
Nick Dal Santo dominated around the ground with more than 30 possessions, while Raph Clarke was imperious across half-back, especially in the first half when the game was still a genuine contest.
The Saints also had good contributions from Justin Koschitzke – although he was reported and will have a nervous wait for the Match Review Committee's considerations – Jason Gram, Sam Fisher and Jason Blake in a complete team performance.
Good contributors for the Pies were hard to find, but Scott Pendlebury and late selection Rhyce Shaw tried hard all night, as did Dane Swan and Harry O'Brien.
Collingwood will be desperately disappointed with the efforts of Travis Cloke and Dale Thomas, who were both sadly out of touch.
Collingwood's John McCarthy scored the first goal of the final term, to give the Magpies' faithful a glimmer of hope, but that was snuffed out straight away when Koschitzke won a free kick from Shane Wakelin and kicked truly.
Riewoldt's fifth goal sealed the result, if any confirmation was needed, 10 minutes into the last quarter, and the remainder of the term counted for little, with the Saints simply hoping for no injuries with a preliminary final looming.
A six goals to one in the third quarter set up the win for the Saints.
Collingwood desperately needed the first goal of the second half after trailing by 14 points at half time, but instead it was Stephen Milne who opened the scoring.
Robert Harvey then created the umpteenth goal of his career, this one for Adam Schneider who extended the lead to four goals.
The game was slipping away from Collingwood until Travis Cloke – who might have been wearing an invisibility cloak, such was his lack of influence on the match – won a free kick and goaled.
When Jason Gram gave away a 50m penalty by delaying the return of the ball to Chris Bryan, the Pies appeared to have been gifted a second goal in a minute, but Bryan missed the gimme shot on goal, which seemed to sum up his team's fortunes.
Riewoldt's fourth restored the Saints' four-goal margin. That was stretched to 29 points when Andrew McQualter goaled from 25m out.
The Saints' skipper was at it again, passing to Dal Santo for another goal, and St Kilda looked home. Gram added icing to the cake with his second late in the third term
Four consecutive goals to the Saints from mid-way through the second term gave them a 14-point half-time lead after the teams traded goals for the first quarter and a half.
The Saints' James Gwilt finally broke the goal-for-goal pattern 16 minutes of the second quarter. Milne extended that a couple of minutes later after a defensive mistake by the Pies, and when the goal-sneak roved cleverly after Riewoldt failed in a spectacular marking attempt and snared another, St Kilda had a three-goal margin close to the main break.
Seven of St Kilda's eight goals to half time came from Collingwood errors.
Bad news for the Saints in the second term was the report of key forward Koschitzke after an incident with Shane Wakelin.
The first quarter was won narrowly by the Saints after the teams went goal for goal. Riewoldt, who was dominating young Pie Nathan Brown, kicked three of St Kilda's four majors, with Koschitzke snaring the other.
Collingwood's goals came John Anthony, Tarkyn Lockyer and Dane Swan, while key forward Cloke had been totally blanketed.
Luke Ball was a late withdrawal for the Saints, replaced by Jarryd Allen, who himself was out of the match with a hip injury by half time. Collingwood captain Scott Burns and key defender Simon Prestigiacomo were also out, with Rhyce Shaw and Wakelin coming in.
St Kilda 4.1 8.1 14.2 17.4 (106)
Collingwood 3.4 4.11 5.16 9.18 (72)
Goals:
St Kilda: Riewoldt 5, Milne 3, Koschitzke 3, Gram 2, Dal Santo, McQualter, Schneider, Gwilt
Collingwood: Clarke, Brown, Medhurst, McCarthy, Cloke, Goldsack, Anthony, Swan, Lockyer
Best:
St Kilda: Riewoldt, Dal Santo, Gram, R Clarke, Fisher, Blake, Koschitzke
Collingwood: Pendlebury, Swan, R Shaw, O'Brien, O'Bree
INJURIES
St Kilda: Ball (hamstring) replaced in selected side by Allen, Allen (hip).
Collingwood: Burns (calf) replaced in selected side by R Shaw, Prestigiacomo replaced in selected side by Wakelin.
Reports: St Kilda: Koschitzke reported for rough conduct on Wakelin by umpire Kennedy
Umpires: Kennedy, Rosebury, McLaren
Official crowd: 76,707 at MCG
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL
