North Melbourne's Kayne Turner prepared for the pressure from St Kilda

A five game run that has delivered four wins suddenly has the Roos within a game of the top eight after their impressive 44-point win over Collingwood with fellow 6-8 side St Kilda waiting at Blundstone Arena on Sunday, but the 23-year-old forward said he was well aware that the hard work will only get harder from here.

"You have to strive for better each week as there are no easy games in the AFL anymore, and if we rest on our laurels after that game we would be lucky to win another game for the year,'' he said.

"We have set that as the standard now and that has to be almost like a baseline for us now, and if we can bring that effort and intent that we had for the whole game against Collingwood then it will hold us in pretty good stead in most matches.

"There's probably six or seven teams who are probably thinking the same thing, and it is obviously the goal for every team to play finals, but the pack we are in at the moment it will be a hard slog considering our slow start to the season."

Turner said he didn't believe there had been a "major shift" in focus since Rhyce Shaw took over from Brad Scott as coach, but he was full of praise for the work of the latter in his new role.

"Ever since day one Rhyce has been very player-orientated and makes sure he puts the players first, that firstly we are okay since Brad has gone, and since then he has supported us all and backed us all in, so he has been really good for all of us,'' he said.

"We always knew once we got to playing our best footy we'd be able to push teams, and if not push them beat them like we saw last week, we always had that belief in the group, but we weren't executing very well early in the year and getting some games into our younger guys now has been beneficial for the whole team."

The Roos will come up against another side that has a strong pressure game in St Kilda, a team that threatened Richmond for three quarters last weekend using that methodology.

"They are a very good pressure side and we have done our due diligence on them,'' Turner said.

"I think they are very similar to Collingwood in the way they play, and their pressure has been fantastic this year, and when you bring guys like (Jake) Carlisle and (Dan) Hannebery back into the team that is only firm them up more.

"Obviously it is going to be another hard slog and we need to make sure we are ready or they will be relentless on us."

Turner said the Roos were also desperate to collect their first win at Blundstone Arena for 2019, having dropped encounters against Sydney and Greater Western Sydney.

As he put it, they have yet to play four full quarters in the city, something they will need to do against the Saints.

"We want to get back on the winner's list down there as we love playing down there, so it is pretty crucial for us again this week,'' he said.

"Obviously every game will be (crucial) from here, but winning down there and making it a really hard place for teams to travel to again will be important."

Sunday's game will start at 3.20pm.

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