Finnis fronted a press conference outside AFL House in Docklands to answer questions about their new defender, who was pictured in a video snorting a line of white powder.

The short clip was broadcast on Channel Nine's A Current Affair on Wednesday evening, just hours after Carlisle's move to the Saints was finalised.

In the shaky, low-lit clip, a man in a blue shirt appears to snort a line of white powder off a table and then hold his nose.

Finnis said Carlisle would remain at the Saints, but that the club would be speaking with his manager Anthony McConville about what he knew of the video before the trade deal was signed.

Senior coach Alan Richardson had spoken to Carlisle overnight and told him he had fallen well short of the standards St Kilda expected of their players.

"He's now got to demonstrate that he's capable of performing on and off the field and living a life within those values," Finnis said.

Finnis would not answer questions on whether St Kilda would have signed Carlisle if the club had known about the video.

"The reality is we did a trade, we've got a contract with Jake Carlisle, so that's what our focus is," he said.

Carlisle apparently filmed the clip himself and sent the video out via the social media application, Snapchat.

He made his way to St Kilda on Wednesday as part of a three-way trade with the Bombers and the Swans.

Finnis said he was confident Essendon did not know about the video before the trade was finalised.

Finnis said the other St Kilda players were very frustrated and unhappy about Carlisle's behaviour and he was nervous about confronting them.

But he did not say if the club would punish Carlisle in any formal manner.

"We can talk about punishment, but I don't know that they'd be anything more confronting facing Jake Carlisle right now than knowing he's got to front [St Kilda captain] Nick Riewoldt and our leadership group who have spoken about this and they're absolutely filthy," he said.