After the dust had settled and smoke cleared, the biggest winners to emerge from week one of the finals were St Kilda and Sydney - the Saints because they defeated Geelong to give themselves a week's rest and end up on the weaker side of the draw; the Swans because they knocked off Carlton in a nailbiter yesterday to win the right to play an undermanned and low-on-confidence Western Bulldogs.

And if the bloodstained angels can consign the Dogs to a straight-sets exit from the finals - they'll meet at the MCG on Saturday night - then one of Sydney or St Kilda will contest the grand final. It's as simple as that.

Things are not quite so clear on the other side of the draw where Geelong, looking downcast and forlorn after its controversial loss to the Saints on Friday night, will now have an extra spring in its step after watching Fremantle beat the dangerous but erratic Hawthorn in Perth on Saturday. So instead of coming up against a team that always causes it trouble, Geelong will now face off against Freo at the MCG on Friday night. And given the Dockers' flaky form away from home, the Cats will very much fancy their chances in that semi-final.

Collingwood, as expected, saw off the Dogs with a minimum of fuss on Saturday night to reach the preliminary final. And they will play the winner of that Geelong-Freo match-up in the preliminary - and be praying very hard the Dockers can somehow get over the top of the reigning premier.

For the Cats - stung into action by coach Mark Thompson both at half-time and after the game - are unlikely to be quite as lethargic again in this campaign. Certainly, Joel Selwood, Steve Johnson, Josh Hunt, David Wojcinski and Matthew Scarlett probably won't ever be as quiet, collectively, again. Nor Gary Ablett and Joel Corey as ineffective. 

The bookies now have the 2010 premiership race as a contest in three - Collingwood a $2.50 favourite, followed by St Kilda at $3.00 and Geelong $4.00. Sydney is on the next line of betting at a distant $13.00.

The Swans' win over Carlton at AAMI Stadium was the weekend's second clinker of a final, and had the 42,000-strong crowd - which had turned up knowing that they might have been witnessing Paul Roos' and Brett Kirk's last match with the Bloods - rocking in the Homebush stands. (That's Roos and Kirk, pictured above, in loving post-match embrace.)

After periods where they dominated the first half, and led by four goals at half-time, the Swans stopped to a walk in the third quarter and looked down and out in the last. Chris Judd had got the Blues back into the game with one of the best individual quarters of finals football seen in recent times, continually bursting away from stoppages with the ball and kicking long into the forward 50.

But Jarrad Waite (twice), Jeff Garlett and Judd himself - twice - missed eminently gettable shots from inside 30 metres to stall the Blues' momentum. They could have been three or four goals up with the amount of play they had - and kicking five straight goals while keeping Sydney goalless for 41 minutes - but only managed to open up a seven-point lead midway through the last term.

That was when Trent Dennis-Lane goalled to signal the start of Sydney's fightback. And the lightly built Western Australian forward was an unlikely final-quarter hero, booting two goals which, along with Ryan O'Keefe's snap, helped the Swans to a stirring win.

At stake in the match was the tempting prospect of taking on the Bulldogs who looked on Saturday night a shadow of the team that, from rounds 15 to 18, flogged Carlton, Port Adelaide, Fremantle and North Melbourne.

Missing Dale Morris, Adam Cooney and with Shaun Higgins, Brad Johnson and Will Minson looking underdone, the Bulldogs had 17 fewer shots than the Pies and only their opponents' trademark terrible conversion rate prevented a serious blowout.

There is also a chance that Barry Hall will be cited for the straight left he delivered to the throat of Harry O'Brien during the match. Not that O'Brien didn't deserve the whack after baiting Hall repeatedly, but unfortunately the match review panel tends to take a dim view of such behaviour and it will be interesting to see whether how that plays out over the next 24 hours.

It was only two weeks ago, in round 21, that Sydney beat the Bulldogs by 44 points at the SCG. The next match will be in Melbourne but that won't fuss the Swans too much for they have all the momentum - their opponents virtually none.