Saints' fans were in raptures during an extraordinary opening term as they watched their side slam through the first eight goals of the match before going in for the kill late to register a 23.5 (143) to 6.3 (39) win in front of 32,006 fans.
What made the opening-term onslaught even more impressive was the absence of Nick Riewoldt from the score sheet. The inspirational skipper soon warmed to the task, however, to finish the match as the leading goal kicker on the ground with seven goals to go with his 23 possessions and 15 marks.
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon was delighted with the way his side was able to set the tone right from the first bounce.
"The Kangaroos have jumped us the last few times we’ve played them so we were conscious of trying to grab hold of the game early and clearly we did that," Lyon said.
"I thought our appetite for the contest was really strong and we didn’t relent until the final siren. When you're giving that sort of effort for a long period you know you're mentally tuned in because it's easy, once the scoreboard ticks away, to sort of drop in some areas.
"They are a very focused playing group and they have set, along with the coaches, some strong focuses within games … it’s easy to point them out but it is not easy to deliver on them.
"[But] we knew we had done the work and things went our way tonight."
Riewoldt's opposite number in Brent Harvey was rendered almost completely ineffective by Clinton Jones, who followed him all night and restricted the usually-prolific ball winner to just five touches - the lowest of any North player.
To make matters worse Harvey went into the umpire's book after a clash with David Armitage in the last quarter.
St Kilda's ability to link up through the middle and launch the ball inside forward 50 time and again was matched by their ferocious pressure on the opposition ball carrier which caused a turnover more often than not.
Leigh Montagna led the way with 35 possessions, but Nick Dal Santo (33 disposals), Brendon Goddard (29) and Jason Gram (27) were all effective links in the chain.
Brady Rawlings and Liam Anthony battled valiantly around the stoppages, Hamish McIntosh was the leading ruckman on the ground with 31 hit-outs and David Hale managed three goals in attack, but the Roos fell away badly after that.
The massive final margin looked unlikely when the Kangaroos dug deep to hold their own in the second term as Corey Jones and Daniel Wells hit the scoreboard to end the goal drought.
But the Saints ended the match as they started it with seven goals to one putting an exclamation point behind a dominant display.
St Kilda 8.1 11.3 16.4 23.5 (143)
North Melbourne 0.0 2.3 5.3 6.3 (39)
GOALS
St Kilda: Riewoldt 7, Goddard 4, Milne 3, Peake 3, Schneider 2, Armitage, Dal Santo, Geary, Montagna
North Melbourne: Hale 3, Jones, Thomas, Wells
BEST
St Kilda: Goddard, Riewoldt, Dal Santo, Montagna, Gilbert, Gwilt, Jones
North Melbourne: McIntosh, Rawlings, Anthony
Injuries: Nil
Reports: Harvey (North Melbourne) for tripping Armitage by umpire Kennedy
Umpires: Kennedy, Nicholls, Keating
Official crowd: 32,006 at Etihad Stadium
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL
