St Kilda midfielder Luke Dunstan revealed the Saints’ engine room focused closely on winning the battle around the stoppages against Essendon, after last rounds unsatisfactory effort in Western Australia.

Seven days after being shown up by West Coast on Domain Stadium, St Kilda emphatically responded at Etihad Stadium on Sunday night, dominating the midfield duel to setup the Saints’ eight-goal win over the Bombers.

Dunstan, 21, was one of Alan Richardson’s prime movers in the middle of the ground, with his 26 disposals and seven clearances helping lead the Saints to a comprehensive win in both clearances (+23) and contested ball (+15), as well as in entries (+27).

“We had a big focus on clearance and contest. (We were) obviously disappointing last week against West Coast we let ourselves down, so it was really good to fight back today,” Dunstan told saints.com.au after the Saints third win for 2016.

“I think we were +23 in clearances and +15 in contest so we bounced back in a good fashion.”

Despite dominating the majority of the opening half, St Kilda couldn’t transform that control into a buffer on the scoreboard. But after the main interval, the Saints capitalised on their dominance around the ball, kicking seven goals in the third quarter to open up the game.

“It was just positive that we went on with the first-half. I think we were on top in the first-half in all the main KPI’s that we set; it was just getting the scoreboard going our way. We just had to stick at it and eventually we cracked them, so it was good,” Dunstan said.

Dunstan lauded fellow midfielder Seb Ross’ performance, days after the 23-year-old committed to the club for a further couple of seasons.

“He’s on cloud nine at the moment ‘Sebby’, I think we better bring him back down to earth in the next week or two I think,” Dunstan said with a wry grin.

“No, he’s been really good. Obviously his ability to win the ball on the inside and then spread on the outside has been really good for us. He’s a vital part of our midfield now.”