Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson sneered St Kilda counterpart Brett Ratten after Sundays match between the two, with the Hawks coach questioning the Saints' possession strategy.

The four-time premiership coach questioned the Saints' tactics of playing a high possession game, leading to their 14-point win over the Hawks.

Port Adelaide champion Kane Cornes said that Clarkson is coming across as a "whiner" and "almost out of control" as it is not the first time we've seen him in the headlines this year.

“Speaking of being gracious and humble, I didn’t see any of that,” Cornes said on SEN’s Whateley.

“St Kilda had 25 scoring shots on the day in a season where games are shortened.

“Every week we seem to be speaking about it from staging, being critical of opposition players, to the AFL with the holding the ball (interpretation).

“I just think, and you speak to people that know Alastair Clarkson like Luke Hodge, they would say it’s a complete deflection from the struggles of his own team and his own players.

“People are onto it - I just think it’s a terrible look for Clarko who is just coming across as a whinger.”

St. Kilda are now on the finals train after their win against the Hawks, likely being able to secure a spot for the first time since 2011 if they score a win in the next two rounds.

Gerard Whateley also agreed Clarkson's jibe at Ratten was not needed seeing that the Saints are one of the highest scoring teams in the competition.

“He is coming across as a bad loser in the fifth quarter,” Whateley said.

“He doesn’t like losing and instead of acknowledging that it was a tight game … he was probably Brett Ratten’s biggest booster to get the St Kilda job.

“That was the curiosity, it was probably a moment to acknowledge Ratten and that they’d won their ninth (game) … and St Kilda have played one of the most attractive brands of footy holistically for the season.

“They had to win yesterday (Sunday), they did what they needed to, but they didn’t put up a miserable score, they scored 80 points.”