BEAUTY, they say, is in the eye of the beholder. Football beauty, to the St Kilda fan, might be Nick Riewoldt leaping, lunging, marking, goaling. Or Nick Dal Santo, baulking, shimmying, sidestepping and deftly passing. But there is nothing more beautiful in football than a win. Correction — than a desperately needed win.

And victory was precisely what St Kilda got last night after a fortnight in which the team's structure, personnel and general attitude had received the blowtorch treatment.

It was not a classically beautiful triumph and that was probably no coincidence.

When the Saints met the Western Bulldogs in round three, they were undefeated and 37 points up at the first break after the kind of opening-term performance that made you think they would win the premiership. For that half-hour, St Kilda was at its glamorous best. Justin Koschitzke was in rare form and Fraser Gehrig and Nick Riewoldt looked like intimidating, unstoppable towers of strength beside him. St Kilda ended up losing that night by 38 points.

Yesterday, Michael Voss penned some stinging words in his exclusive column in The Age. "Too many St Kilda players want to be a star," was the money line in the triple premiership captain's weekly column. Voss said, in essence, that the Saints had the right stock but rather than forming a united, committed team, they were — to round four at least — nothing more than a talented bunch of individuals who might be left wondering how it all went wrong if they didn't snap out of it pronto. Voss did not name names, but argued that egos needed to be cast aside and roles accepted for the good of the team.

After an unspectacular opening term last night, St Kilda was 15 points up on a flat-looking Essendon at quarter-time. The advantage was extended to 44 points at half-time, not because of flashy acts, but gritty ones. Handballs were shovelled rather than precisely executed, Robert Harvey and Lenny Hayes were hacking kicks forward. But so long as the ball ended up in the arms of someone within goalkicking distance, it didn't matter.

Hayes said after the match that Voss' comments had been discussed before the game.

"A couple of guys mentioned it before the game and we've had some pretty big discussions this week and I think Vossy's got some merit in what he said.

"I think at times, yeah, we can play a little bit … like individuals and try and take it upon yourself to go out and win the game off your own boot. But when we play our best footy, like tonight, everyone chips in and that's what we want. We don't need anyone to go out and kick 10 each week or get 30 possessions every week, it's just a matter of everyone doing their bit and playing as a team.

"I think we did that tonight for the majority of the game. It wasn't a classic win, but we did what was required and that's what we want."

Only once in the opening half did Koschitzke and Riewoldt kick a major, which was surprising given the margin. But St Kilda had 10 individual goalkickers and that was more important. Among them were Sean Dempster, David Armitage and Charlie Gardiner, hardly the most glamorous names in footy.

Two minutes into the third term, Koschitzke goaled for a second time and the Saints were 51 points up. This was looking more like it. But then Essendon, suddenly exerting fierce defensive pressure, having seemingly channelled the Bulldogs side that had staged such a grand comeback a couple of weeks earlier, kicked six straight goals and reduced the margin to 16 points.

Riewoldt then starred in the way that Voss would have wholeheartedly approved of. From a position he hadn't looked happy in all night — lining up for goal about 40 metres out — and with more seeming to ride on this kick than had ridden on any other all night, the Saints skipper threaded the needle.

Before the final term was 10 minutes old, Stephen Milne, who had had a decent amount of the ball but not a goal to show for it, suddenly had booted two. It was sugar for his toil, and while the celebrating of his returns was not up to Milne's typically elaborate standard, the low, firm fist shake probably said more.

St Kilda's 36-point win was not beautifully done. But for those partial to the red, white and black, it was a beautiful result.