DESPITE St Kilda stealing a two-game lead over the best of the rest this season, Brisbane Lions coach Michael Voss still rates Geelong as the equal of the ladder-leading Saints.

Still unbeaten this season, St Kilda is on a 16-game winning streak, while the Cats returned to winning form on Saturday against Melbourne after back-to-back losses to the Saints and the Lions, the latter coming at the Gabba in round 15. Despite those two defeats, Voss believes the pair is still equal in standing.

“I couldn’t split them, could not split them,” Voss said.

“I think they’re both fantastic teams at the moment and they’ve proven that they’re benchmark teams of the competition.”

The former triple premiership skipper says the Saints have the attributes to keep their winning run going through to the finals.

“They appear to have all the habits,” Voss said.

“It’s very hard to be able to get that winning culture, and when you’ve got it, you want to sustain it for as long as you possibly can.”

Voss believes the major obstacle facing the Saints is how they handle the pressure of finals football and in particular, the pressure of playing in a Grand Final should they make it.

“The one thing I’ve learnt in my experience of being able to play finals football is you don’t have to be the best team of the year, you just have to be the best team on that day," Voss said.

The Lions have beaten Hawthorn and Geelong, last year’s grand finalists, this season, and are sitting fifth on the ladder, just a game behind the Bulldogs in third spot.

Voss says while his side hasn’t achieved anything yet, they’ve put themselves in a good position for the last six weeks of the season.

“For us, it’s just making sure that we come in with the best form we possibly can should we get the opportunity to be able to play those teams and be willing to step up,” Voss said.

The Lions have a tough month ahead including games against North Melbourne, Collingwood, Essendon and the Bulldogs. If they get through that with at least two wins, they’ll likely cement themselves in the final eight at the end of the season for the first time since their Grand Final defeat in 2004.

Voss admitted there is a degree of anxiety among the players who’ve never experienced finals football before.

“I hope that they feel that,” Voss said.

“We’ve had to win brilliant (and) we’ve had to win tough, and I think that’s been a genuine progression of this group. They know they can match it with some very good sides.”