It was good to see the Western Bulldogs take home the silverware against the Saints at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.

There's just that little bit more to like the Western Bulldogs, from the ever-smiling Brad Johnson to the wise-cracking Rodney Eade. Even Barry Hall looks a touch more warm and fuzzy in a Bulldogs jumper.

With hard-running and precision use of the footy, the Bulldogs were able to pick their way through the complicated St Kilda zone. The Dogs use the footy sublimely and as we have written before, they to seem to have all the elements in place - skill, pace, hardness, experience - and as the Channel Ten boys pointed out during the telecast, the belief might be there as well.

Better yet for the Dogs is that increasingly, the NAB Cup winners tend to be thereabouts at the pointy end of the season. The Cats and the Magpies played off for the pre-season trophy last year, while St Kilda won it the year before en route to a top-four finish.

The days of Carlton saluting in March before flaming out in the home and away season would appear to be a thing of the past.

St Kilda has some work to do. Only teams with exception run and carry such as the Bulldogs are going to be able to break down the Saints, which rules out just about every team save for Geelong and perhaps Adelaide, Collingwood and Hawthorn if they're up and about.

But what the Saints need is a consistent foil for Nick Riewoldt. You had to feel for the Saints champ on Saturday, Justin Koschitzke was having a 'mare of a night so it was up to Riewoldt to drag his team back into the match and for a while there he did.

But there wasn't much spark around him and at the other end, there was no answer to the rampant Hall, who finished with seven goals. And he enjoyd everyone of them, too. The Saints missed their defensive general Sam Fisher and neither Zac Dawson and James Gwilt were the answer. Dawson, sadly, looked every bit as lost as he did the day Anthony Rocca took him to the cleaners when he was a Hawk.

But with the final siren in the NAB Cup, there is a sense of excitement and anticipation. The real stuff is about to begin.

The Bulldogs should and will enjoy the night - it has been a 40-year wait, after all - but in the morning, all teams start equal again. It won't be long before we'll be hard-pressed to remember actually which team was the champion of March.