WE HAVE left it to those on the ground at Optus Stadium to capture the excitement and the emotion of Melbourne booking its first finals appearance since 2006 with a magnificent win over West Coast that many believed was beyond the club, at least this year.

The finals are always better for the appearance of a side that hasn't tasted September action for some time. Remember the excitement around Richmond in 2013?

The MCG will be humming if it works out that its No.1 tenant club gets to play there in the finals. As it is, all four primary MCG tenants – the Demons, Tigers, Pies and Hawks – have all made the finals in the same year for the first time since Collingwood and Hawthorn officially joined Melbourne and Richmond by adopting it as their home ground in 2000.

It is hard to remember a more important win by Melbourne in recent memory. The two that come to mind are the final round of 1987, when the Demons stormed home to win at the Whitten Oval at the same time as Geelong stumbled against Hawthorn at Kardinia Park, to make the finals for the first time in 23 years.

THE RUN HOME Who will make top four?

The other win remembered by Demons fans on Sunday night, but which might no longer be on such high rotation on their DVD players (if they still have them) was the 2000 qualifying final, in which the Demons turned the finals series on its head and charted a course to make the Grand Final with a nine-point win over Carlton, which had finished the season two games and 16 per cent clear of Melbourne.

It is now time for these Demons to chart their own finals course. The slow and steady rebuild that started five years ago under Paul Roos is progressing nicely and is on track. It takes a quality team missing three of its most important players – Jack Viney, Jesse Hogan and Jake Lever – to beat West Coast away from home in 25-degree weather.

It makes them welcome and deserved finalists and we wait with anticipation to see what sort of damage the Demons can wreak from here now that the proverbial monkey is off their back.

It has been a hell of a wait, but worth it for Melbourne.

West Coast with some work to do

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan said recently that his team was better than its four wins for the season demonstrated. The Lions have now won five, courtesy of a niggly defeat of Gold Coast on Saturday.

But what better way to demonstrate that belief than to play the finals spoiler and derail West Coast's bid for a top-two finish and two home finals?

The Eagles have yet to make their longest road trip of the season, but their top-two plans are now looking shaky. Lose to the Lions, and either Collingwood or Hawthorn could displace West Coast and themselves earn two home finals.

West Coast has won 12 of 20 visits to the Gabba, including its past four, and the absence of Alex Witherden and Darcy Gardiner leaves the Lions a bit thin, but if the hosts bring the same approach they did to their games against Hawthorn this season, they're every chance to spring the upset. It is the sort of game that can build huge momentum going into the off-season, so the Lions should treat it as some sort of final.

It will be an anxious week for the Eagles. 

To the fittest go the spoils

We wrote last week about how 2018 was shaping up as the season in which the healthiest lists might overcome those with more talent.

And the events of the weekend only reinforce this further.

Greater Western Sydney has probably reached tipping point now, with Ryan Griffen (hamstring) and Phil Davis (hip) both hobbled against the Swans on Saturday. Davis had to move off Lance Franklin, who ran riot in the second half as the Swans stormed away with the game and displaced the Giants in the top four.

INJURY WRAP Hawks sweat on 'Chip', more GWS woes

All year, injuries have conspired against the Giants and while they are undeniably a tougher unit than the 'Ferrari' of the previous few years, they no longer appear to have the weapons to win four knockout finals, which now appears their likely path to the premiership.

Franklin was supreme but left the ground grimacing just a few minutes before the final siren on Saturday evening. He barely trains these days, but carries his team on his back nonetheless. If you believe John Longmire, his status for the top-four qualifier against Hawthorn at the SCG on Saturday night is uncertain.

The Swans coach is kidding himself. As if Franklin is going to miss such a season-defining clash, more so when it is against his former club. The main reason the Swans have got themselves back on track is because of Franklin. Maybe the Swans get past Melbourne in round 21 without him, but certainly not Collingwood the week before that when he kicked 6.5 or the Giants (5.4) last weekend without him. What a star.

And the Hawks have their own concerns. Not so much their own form, because they were probably due an off week after a big month, and they barely eked out the win against St Kilda on Saturday night. But key defender James Frawley sat out the second half with a back injury and he will also be a watching brief for most of this week.

The Hawks need him because he has the speed and the guile to at least ask some questions of Franklin, which in his current form, is probably about as much as an opposition club can hope for.

Superstar Buddy Franklin is the main reason the Swans are back in contention. Picture: AFL Photos

AFL gets it right

The AFL has been rightly criticised for elements of its fixture for 2018.

But credit where it is due because the League has pretty much got it right with its schedule for round 23, with live, finals-shaping games across all three days.

Friday night is a bit of a stretch in that Port Adelaide would have to beat Essendon and then hope, by some miracle, that Gold Coast upsets Geelong on the road the following day. This would be a highly, highly unlikely occurrence.

Saturday twilight gives us a game of huge importance with Collingwood visiting Fremantle, knowing a win shores up the double chance and perhaps even second place.

The big one is Saturday night and that will deliver the ratings bonanza the AFL and the broadcasters will be seeking, with the Swans hosting the Hawks and the double chance on the line, perhaps even second place for the Hawks.

The Swans and Hawks drew more than 42,000 fans to the SCG two years ago. What chance that gets broken on Saturday night?

Sunday gives us Brisbane-West Coast for starters, with the Eagles likely needing to win to claim top two. Then the make-up of the elimination finals – and perhaps more – will be finalised after the Melbourne-GWS clash.

Don't make plans this weekend.

Essendon: pass or fail?

It might be the most polarising question in football and the red and black nation seem to be equally divided as to how to rank Essendon's season.

If you look at 2018 through the prism of results and the ladder the reality is stark. The Bombers made the finals last year, but come next month, they'll be drinking mojitos by the pool somewhere and booking tee times. An already good team was bolstered further by the recruitment of Devon Smith, Jake Stringer and Adam Saad, who between them have missed just two games for the year.

But if you're playing the long game – which many in footy like to do – then the Bombers might be well placed. They lost just four games since the inexplicable (but seemingly annual) loss to Carlton in round eight. And once abysmal on the road, two of the club's best wins for the year were at Spotless Stadium, beating the Giants by 35 points and Optus Stadium, with a 28-point win over West Coast when the Eagles were flying.

The Bombers would seem to have more depth than before and may have belatedly discovered their identity, swift ball movement and multiple scoring options. Kyle Langford has emerged as an important player and Aaron Francis is showing every sign of living up to the hype.

The post-mortem of the season will still need to ask some hard questions. What was the story with Joe Daniher and was there a misdiagnosis of his osteitis pubis complaint that kept him to just seven games and eight goals for the season? He didn't offer much this year and significantly, the Dons started winning once he was out of the side.

Why did it take until after the Carlton game for the Bombers to click? Was it really just a case of assistant coach Mark Neeld leaving the club?

Brendon Goddard's future also divides Essendon people. He played every game this year and provides certainty and experience in the Bomber back half. But will he be in the best 22 next year? The club is moving like treacle to re-sign him but after 333 games over 16 seasons, the headstrong Goddard is unlikely to wait around until the Trade Period is done and the Bombers have assessed their list, in the hope of earning another contract.

He has done enough for the club to give him a definitive answer sooner rather than later.

Essendon owes Brendon Goddard a quick call on his future. Picture: AFL Photos