The Saints slammed through the first eight goals of the match before going in for the kill late to register a 23.5 (143) to 6.3 (39) win in front of 32,006 fans.
What made the opening-term onslaught even more impressive was the absence of Nick Riewoldt from the score sheet. The skipper soon warmed to the task, however, to finish the match as the leading goal kicker on the ground with seven goals to go with his 23 possessions and 15 marks.
His opposite number in Brent Harvey was rendered almost completely ineffective by Clinton Jones, who followed him all night and restricted the usually-prolific ball winner to just five touches.
To make matters worse Harvey went into the umpire's book after a clash with David Armitage in the last quarter.
For North, Brady Rawlings and Liam Anthony battled valiantly around the stoppages, Hamish McIntosh was the leading ruckman on the ground with 31 hitouts and David Hale managed three goals in attack, but the Roos fell away badly after that.
The massive final margin looked unlikely when the Kangaroos dug deep to hold their own in the second term as Corey Jones and Daniel Wells hit the scoreboard to end the goal drought.
But the Saints ended the match as they started it with seven goals to one putting an exclamation point behind a dominant display.
North Melbourne coach Brad Scott was in no mood to put a positive spin on his side's performance in his second game in charge.
"Obviously we're devastated with that," Scott said.
"That was unacceptable and just a really poor performance on all fronts. We were comprehensively outplayed by a team that's in a position we want to be in.
"It's unacceptable, everyone at the club knows that and we won't stand for that, so I'll be very interested to see how we respond next week."
St Kilda 8.1 11.3 16.4 23.5 (143)
North Melbourne 0.0 2.3 5.3 6.3 (39)
GOALS
St Kilda: Riewoldt 7, Goddard 4, Milne 3, Peake 3, Schneider 2, Armitage, Dal Santo, Geary, Montagna
North Melbourne: Hale 3, Jones, Thomas, Wells
BEST
St Kilda: Goddard, Riewoldt, Dal Santo, Montagna, Gilbert, Gwilt, Jones
North Melbourne: McIntosh, Rawlings, Anthony
Injuries: Nil
Reports: Harvey (North Melbourne) for tripping Armitage by umpire Kennedy
Umpires: Kennedy, Nicholls, Keating
Official crowd: 32,006 at Etihad Stadium
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL
