When Tim Lane proclaimed five weeks ago that Geelong's days of domination were over - early in a round-20 match they ended up winning by 101 points - he was ridiculed and lambasted the footy world over.

Tonight, though, the veteran broadcaster would be wearing a small but satisfied smile because his prognostication was spot-on: Geelong's days of domination are over. At least for this year.

The most powerful team of the past four seasons - which racked up a winning percentage like very few sides before it in the history of the game - was comprehensively and thoroughly outplayed by Collingwood in the first preliminary final, the Pies strolling away to a 41-point victory.

And in the course of that two hours of football, we might have witnessed a symbolic handing over of the mantle of competition Goliath, because now a dynasty beckons for the Pies.

Rarely has Geelong looked so slow, so inept, so clumsy and so second-rate. They were jumped at the start, trailed by six goals at quarter time and 10 goals at half-time and never ever looked like mounting a serious challenge. Only a late flurry in the final term - when Collingwood were in self-preservation mode - made their score look even remotely respectable.

Were it not for a truly magnificent game from Gary Ablett - probably in his last appearance in the blue-and-white hoops - then the Cats' humiliation would have been more acute.

If, as expected, Ablett announces this week he is heading to the Gold Coast, then he will have given hordes of grateful Cats' fans a game to remember him by. Not to mention, of course, a career at Kardinia Park that ranks with just about any that have preceded it.

What astonished about the contest (such as it was) was just how mortal Geelong looked, and how six or eight of its good-ordinary players over their golden run since 2007 tonight looked just ordinary.

(Although the Cats might have guessed it was not going to be their night when, seven minutes into the game, a hurried Leigh Brown kick from inside the centre-square tumbled towards the left point post, bounced at right angles past Tom Lonergan and dribbled through for a goal. How North Melbourne supporters across the country would have laughed at the irony of that.)

Captain Cameron Ling again looked slow as treacle and his days are numbered; ditto Darren Milburn who must now be a good chance to call it a day; Matthew Scarlett has lost his aura; and Josh Hunt completed a miserable finals series. Even Corey Enright was surprisingly hesitant and dopey, conceding a 50-metre goal at one stage when he ran back on to the ground outside the marked interchange area.

Of the others who didn't fire a shot, Tom Hawkins demonstrated beyond all doubt that he is not a ruckman, probably never will be, and his selection in that position was a mistake.

Steve Johnson again did nothing to disprove a growing theory that he's a flat-track bully who struggles against the best. Cameron Mooney was well beaten and Joel Corey has suffered badly from having missed so much of the season to injury. James Podsiadly was unsighted for three quarters and his form fell away badly at the tail-end of the season.

Again, the Cats simply couldn't buy a mark in the forward 50 - in the first three quarters anyway - and this is an area that the club will surely look to address at trade week and draft time.

As the carnage unfolded in the first half, up in the Channel 7 commentary box, Leigh Matthews reminisced about his all-conquering Brisbane side of earlier this decade which won three straight flags from 2001. ‘We were very good at the end of 2004 but by the end of 2005 we were very bad; it can change very quickly,'' he said.

And that might well be the epitaph for Geelong after tonight's disaster. Brilliant and breathtaking for virtually all of 2007, 2008 and 2009 but now - especially if Ablett leaves - seemingly set for that twilight zone known in football as a ''rebuilding period''.

They're too good to disappear off the map like Brisbane did, but by the same token they are unlikely to come close to emulating their recent run of success either. Still, it has been great while it lasted - and there are many neutral supporters would say ''hear, hear'' to that.

For the winners, Dane Swan and Scott Pendlebury were great in the midfield, Harry O'Brien barely gave Steve Johnson a sniff and the back six generally, led by Nick Maxwell, were impenetrable - at least in the part of the match that really mattered.

Anyway, they were good pretty much to a man and St Kilda coach Ross Lyon up in the stands (assuming, of course, it is the Saints which win passage through to the Big One) would have watched Collingwood's dash, speed and derring-do with some discomfort. The only concerns at Pieland will be over Luke Ball's apparent hamstring injury and whether the Match Review Panel take any action over Tyson Goldsack's late hit on Mathew Stokes.

But sorry, it's late and that's all we've got time for tonight. Signing off now and booking those tickets before the travel agency closes for Surfers Paradise, or anywhere really, departing Friday.