That Mark Harvey is an interesting character.

The coach of the Dockers never appears to be truly satisfied and he likes a whinge. Listen to Harvey and it was the weather and only the weather that denied his team a win over the Hawks. Never mind that the final margin was 51 points and that for the first half of the game, the visiting Hawks smashed the Dockers all over Patersons Stadium.

Having said that again, if Harvey chooses to bleat in the aftermath of Freo's 41-point loss to St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Friday night, he might warrant a touch of sympathy.

Traveling across the country on a six-day break after playing in such brutal conditions, made it a tough task for the Dockers. The Saints also traveled back from interstate, to be fair, but were back on their beloved home deck.

They were plucky too for the Saints and until halfway through the final term, were in this game up to their necks. But in the end they conceded six goals in the final term, without kicking any of their own, and they're now out of the eight and facing a hell of a battle to get back in.

The Swans are now ahead of them. Essendon will go ahead of them with a win over the Swans on Saturday night. And with Carlton and Collingwood still on the schedule, a long season, replete with injuries to key players and depth players, might prove too much. They'll be without Adam McPhee for the next couple of weeks as well, you would think. His raised elbow to Sam Gilbert is likely to see him outed for probably a couple of weeks.

As for the Saints, they march on again, pardon the pun. That's six wins on the trot and nine wins from their last 11 matches and the finals appear more certain by the week and next Friday night's clash with Collingwood, back at Etihad Stadium, should be a cracker.

The Saints are scoring more heavily than they have for a while and they've learned the art of the run and carry. Significantly and importantly, Justin Koschitzke has (finally) found a rich vein of form and Nick Riewoldt is just going along. Sometime soon, hopefully next week, he will find another gear and the Saints will look really dangerous.

That said, they still have to play three teams - Collingwood, Sydney and Carlton - who are above them on the ladder. The Saints have already been pencilled in as the finals floater that no team will want to play in September. How they fare against the aforementioned trio will determine whether that statement is accurate.

The Saints could go two ways from here. The superb effort to get back into the finals race could take its toll, which is what happened to Hawthorn last year. Or the momentum they gain eache week could propel them deep into the finals.

Sam Newman reckons they're good things for the penultimate weekend of the finals. Behind the buffoonery, Sam often knows what he's talking about.