Lenny Hayes says St Kilda’s AFL form is irrelevant to a decision on whether he plays on for another year.

The Saints have bottomed out in recent weeks, with Sunday’s 96-point loss to Geelong taking them to the foot of the ladder.

But rather than persuade Hayes to move on, he says he looks at the team’s list and sees a reason to stick around.

“I still see my role being pretty important and vital to the team… in terms of leadership on-field,” he said.

“I think we had ten guys who played under 20 games on the weekend.

“There needs to be a little bit of stability and experience out there with them and that’s where I see my role.”

Hayes said a decision on signing on for a 17th season would come in “the next three or four weeks”.

“You have a few discussions with the people that are important to you… the football club are a big part of that as well,” he said.

“It’s always a decision that you make… with where the club’s at, where’s the teams at, also where my body’s at.”

If Hayes chooses to play on, he will join the AFL’s much vaunted 300-game club.

Just four St Kilda players have done so; Robert Harvey, Nathan Burke, Stewart Loewe – three of Harvey’s former team-mates – and Barry Breen.

The 34-year-old said while the past few weeks had been “really tough”, he looked at other struggling clubs – Melbourne, GWS and Western Bulldogs – all record wins and believe the Saints could turn it around.

“You do endure tough periods like this but in some ways it can be the making of players and the team,” he said.