Geelong and Hawthorn were the beaten favourites to kickstart the 2010 finals series but at no stage on Saturday night at the MCG did Collingwood ever appear likely to be third.

The Magpies flexed their considerable muscle from about 10 minutes through the first quarter en route to a 62-point win. From a neutral perspective it wasn't much of a spectacle and Collingwood's 17 goals from 39 scoring shots meant that the Dogs were in with a rough chance for longer than they deserved to be, and had the Magpies had their kicking boots on, it may well have been over by quarter-time.

So what did we take out of it? How about Dane Swan? The shame for Swan is they don't hand out Brownlow votes during finals because with 39 touches, seven marks and three goals, he would have had the 'three votes' parcelled up for the night.

Ben Johnson, Scott Pendelbury, Luke Ball...the Magpies dominated the clearances all night, with only the brave Ryan Griffen offering much the other way for the Bulldogs. It was a good effort by Griffen, who was thought to be under an injury cloud for much of the week. He was put into cotton wool by the Dogs with a few minutes to go, so heaven help the Dogs if he struggles to come up for next week.

He'll be the first picked next week, but the player who would be causing the most concern for the Bulldogs is skipper Brad Johnson, who had 17 touches but moved at about 60 per cent capacity. He's plainly not fit and Rodney Eade may be forced to make the tough call this week.

Read the various Bulldog types on Twitter and they have plenty of others in the gun...Lindsay Gilbee, Shaun Higgins, Will Minson and Tom Williams among them. It is hard to believe the season could crash and burn towards the end for the Western Bulldogs in the manner it has and either Sydney or Carlton will come to the MCG next week with genuine belief that they can end the Bulldogs' season and win through to the preliminary final.

The Pies get the rest and a clash with either battle-weary Geelong or a young Fremantle in a fortnight. Things are falling very nicely into place for the Carringbush.