Ross Lyon dreams of having Liam Ryan and Max King as a lethal double act in St Kilda's forward line.

He conceded after Sunday's pulsating eight-point AFL win over GWS that it might have to wait until next season, or late this season at best.

A week after he kicked a career-best five goals, Ryan went one better to spearhead the Saints' best win of the season, in one of the games of the year.

The margin was never more than 17 points in the 14.12 (96) to 13.10 (88) nail-biter, and after the last-minute loss to Sydney the previous week, Sunday's win at Marvel Stadium was huge.

Cooper Sharman also starred with four goals, but King is the key. He has not played since 2024 because of injury and is now recovering from a hamstring problem.

"We know he's a really capable player. He's worked hard to get his body right, we can't fault him on and off the field," Lyon said of Ryan.

"He's made our environment a richer environment.

"Ultimately we'd like to see Max King alongside him at some point - and (Mitch) Owens and (Cooper) Sharman.

"That vision will take a while to come to hand ... maybe this year. I don't know."

Saints star Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera was limping post-match with an ice pack on his right shin after another starring performance.

Shifted to half-back early, Wanganeen-Milera reunited with Jack Sinclair in what Lyon called a "Batman and Robin" combination. Working alongside Brad Hill, the trio made their ball use out of defence much cleaner.

Lyon added that Wanganeen-Milera wants to be known as a "moments" player and he certainly had them on Sunday.

After a crunching Marcus Windhager tackle - one of his 10 for the game - Wanganeen-Milera pounced in the third quarter and kicked a booming goal from outside 50m.

In the frenetic final term, Wanganeen-Milera beat two GWS defenders deep in a pocket to set up one goal, then his spearing pass found Ryan for his sixth.

Lyon said that after the Sydney loss, the coaches let the players review the end of that game. It clearly paid dividends.

GWS coach Adam Kingsley felt efficiency at either end of the ground was the difference, noting Ryan and Sharman kicked 10 goals between them.

Aaron Cadman kicked four goals and Jake Stringer added three, but fellow forward Jesse Hogan only kicked one in his first AFL game for more than a month.

Kingsley said they might have erred by not bringing Hogan back through the VFL.

Clayton Oliver and Brent Daniels were outstanding for GWS in the midfield.

While the Saints improved to 6-8 for the season, the Giants are 6-7.

"It paints an accurate picture of our season so far. We're a better team than that, but talk's cheap, isn't it," Kingsley said.

The game attracted a small crowd of 17,748, amid talk about the clash with the Socceroos' World Cup opener, and Lyon said it was up to the Saints to keep winning and drawing more fans.