St Kilda has produced its best footy of the season to defeat Brisbane by 32 points at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night and keep its unlikely finals hopes alive.

The Saints were magnificent from the opening bounce, hustling and bustling the Lions into errors, and executing an exciting run-and-gun gameplan to win 14.11 (95) to 8.15 (63).

It was a horror night for the relocated home team, losing not only the four premiership points in captain Dayne Zorko's 200th game, but rangy forward Eric Hipwood to a suspected ACL injury.

00:42

Hipwood goes down with bad knee injury

Eric Hipwood has been taken out of the game after he was carried off following this innocuous incident

The Saints strangled Brisbane with high-octane pressure and suffocating defence. They then beat them for run on the outside.

Jimmy Webster kept Charlie Cameron to just five disposals, Dougal Howard had the better of Joe Daniher and Tom Highmore continued his impressive season in a vice-like backline.

After a see-sawing third quarter that saw the lead change four times, St Kilda ran the Lions ragged, kicking six successive goals either side of the final change to seal the deal.

Once Hipwood left the field late in the opening quarter, Brisbane looked bereft of ideas going forward, continually bombing the ball long to outnumbered situations.

Zorko was all heart in his milestone game, keeping his team afloat with three first half goals, but it was to no avail.

00:25

Zorko gets us on the board in 200th

Lions' skipper Dayne Zorko has kicked his side's first goal of the match in his 200th game

Metricon Stadium claimed another Brisbane victim, with Eric Hipwood the second Lion to suffer an ACL injury at the ground in 2021. The 23-year-old follows in the footsteps of former No.1 draft pick Cam Rayner who suffered the same fate against Gold Coast during the pre-season.

If Brisbane's worst fears are confirmed early in the week, it puts a question mark over its premiership credentials, with 204cm Hipwood causing match-up difficulties for opponents alongside Joe Daniher and Dan McStay.

BRISBANE     1.5       4.8       7.8        8.15 (63)
ST KILDA       1.3       6.6       9.9       14.11 (95)

 
GOALS  
Brisbane: Zorko 3, Ah Chee, Bailey, Birchall, Daniher, McStay
St Kilda: King 3, Byrnes 2, Membrey 2, Steele 2, Billings, Connolly, Crouch, Long, McKenzie

 
BEST  
Brisbane: Zorko, Neale, Madden, Rich, McInerney, Adams
St Kilda: Jones, Dunstan, Steele, Webster, King, Membrey, Highmore

INJURIES  
Brisbane: Hipwood (knee), Starcevich (neck)
St Kilda: Mason Wood (hamstring) replaced in selected side by Dean Kent;

SUBSTITUTES  
Brisbane: Rhys Mathieson (replaced Hipwood)
St Kilda: Josh Battle (unused)

Crowd: 9075 at Metricon Stadium