Coach Alan Richardson takes responsibility for St Kilda’s poor loss to Brisbane Lions

St Kilda coach Alan Richardson has taken full responsibility for his side’s poor loss to Brisbane, declaring the team was “embarrassed” by the Lions and at the end of the day, the buck stops with him.

Alan Richardson says his team was “embarrassed” by the Lions in the third quarter.

The heat has intensified on besieged St Kilda coach Alan Richardson in the wake of another mauling, this time at home to Brisbane Lions.

Billed as a high stakes game in the race for a finals spot, the Saints capitulated from the second quarter as the Lions kicked 13 of the last 17 goals to win by 56 points — Brisbane’s biggest win in Melbourne in five years.

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Richardson conceded they were “embarrassed” in the third quarter, which the Lions won by 50 points, their most dominant term since 2008.

Essendon great Matthew Lloyd cast doubt as to whether Richardson would see out 2019, with the Saints threatening to lose touch with the top eight.

A fast start to the season has been overshadowed with the Saints losing six of their last eight games, with the Marvel Stadium horror show their fourth 40-point-plus loss in that period.

Alan Richardson says his team was “embarrassed” by the Lions in the third quarter.

“The team performance absolutely affects me, I’m responsible for the team performance. That’s my job,’’ Richardson said.

“I don’t get affected at all by the other stuff. People have jobs to do.

“My responsibility is to make sure we bounce back and address the issues of the performance today. That’s all I worry about.

“We just focus on what we can control, can’t control what people say. We know it was a poor performance.

“It’ll be a review that will challenge a lot of blokes in terms of the way that we got beaten. Then we’ll get to work.

“We had a lot of passengers today through that dominant period that they had.”

Lloyd predicted that the Saints will have a new coach in 2020.

“I don't think he'll be the coach of St Kilda next year," Lloyd said on 3AW.

“When it happens — will he see out the year? That's the question.”

The Saints were smashed by the Lions.

Richardson said they couldn’t keep up with the Lions after the main break.

“We were smashed in the contest in the third quarter, whether it be in the air, on the deck, clearance in front of the ball, behind the ball,’’ he said.

“They were outstanding, their leaders really stepped up. We were embarrassed really in terms of our physicality in that (third) quarter in particular.

“They outworked us, they were cleaner and tougher. They went to another level and we didn’t go with them, we became reactive.

“It started with our inability to go to the next level physically.”

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan declared Charles Cameron one of the best small forwards in the competition after his “electrifying” five-goal haul, which lifted the Lions to sixth on the ladder.

“He’s got to be close, he’d definitely be in the best four or five. He was electrifying, he’s the package,’’ Fagan said.