IN A football season as even as this, any time a team can put together a winning streak of four matches, then it is worth taking note of. 

That's where St Kilda sits right now aftera 67-point thrashing of Richmond at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night, capping off a great month of football that has the club firmly in the finals mix once more.

In the space of those four weeks the Saints have gone from one of the more disappointing teams in the competition to one of the most impressive. After three straight defeats that culminated in a 57-point Friday night stinker against Adelaide, the Saints have knocked over North Melbourne (17 points), Gold Coast (31 points), Fremantle (nine points) and then the Tigers, and have looked better with every passing week.

Their opening half might have been the best played by any team this year and at one stage late in the third term they led by 95 points. Had they kept their foot to the floor all evening they would have flipped places with the Tigers and given themselves a chance of being in the top four come the end of the round. 

The template the Saints have been building towards was on show for all to see and enjoy. Manic ball movement with excellent spread, and plenty of aggression when they didn't have it. On Saturday night, they seemed to have the right mix of speed and grunt, but it is a weekly challenge to get the combination right, hence their bid to bring Josh Kelly to the club next year.

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The Saints also derived great benefit from the new tactic of putting work into Alex Rance. Port's Jackson Trengove did it well for a half last week, but Nick Riewoldt did it for even longer on what was a special night for him. Riewoldt is a master and in his 17th season still finds a way to add a new dimension to his game and that of St Kilda.

Plenty of hype surrounded the Saints entering this season and many had them pencilled in as the team most likely to break into the eight. They were a bit more cautious, saying there could yet be improvement without necessarily making the finals. But the Saints, like the little girl in the taco ad, might get to have both – improvement and finals. 

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Lewis shows his worth in Demons' vital win

Where to start after a magnificent game of football at the MCG on Sunday?

The Blues were into Jordan Lewis all afternoon, and fair enough after the events from when they played earlier this season, after which the former Hawk was rubbed out for three weeks. This time, he kept his emotions in check and delivered one of his most important games for Melbourne. Lewis had 24 touches in a depleted midfield and some veteran savvy at the end to find space, call out for a pass from Alex Neal-Bullen and then take the mark to milk the final 30 seconds off the clock and kick the goal on the final siren for the cherry on top for the Demons.

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The question going in was how Melbourne would fare with three gun injured midfielders – Jack Viney, Nathan Jones and Dom Tyson – watching on from the stands. A fair bit was resting on Clayton Oliver and he was terrific with 29 disposals, 15 contested possessions and nine tackles, but it was also a day the Demons will be glad they made the play to get Lewis. 

The Blues weren't helped when their own midfield gun Patrick Cripps went off injured and were two short for much of the afternoon when Simon White was hurt as well. But they nearly lifted the roof off the MCG with three quick goals to open the last quarter and one of the most courageous wins of the Brendon Bolton era seemed on the cards.

But then the Demons dug in and the contest that finally decided the match was when Neville Jetta halved a marking contest with Dale Thomas on the outer wing. It probably says a bit about where Thomas is at these days, in that he smartly won the ball at ground level, but he went sideways rather than towards the goals because he just doesn't have the acceleration he once did. 

Another feature was the six contested marks to Carlton's Levi Casboult, who will surely become a wealthier man next year when he signs a new deal, either with the Blues or a different suitor. He has just about the best hands in the competition. The only rider will be that surely, Sav Rocca – ostensibly Carlton's kicking coach but in reality the Levi-whisperer – comes across with Casboult in a package deal.

Irrespective of all that, this has become a bit of a rivalry in the AFL, so memo to fixturing boss Travis Auld: put these two clubs on a Friday night sometime next year.

Clarko's grand plan begins to take shape

Is it possible that the 'reverse tank' is taking place at Hawthorn?

Coach Alastair Clarkson admitted last week that the finals haven't been on the radar at the Hawks for the last six weeks or so, but in that time they have beaten Sydney and Adelaide on the road and drawn with Greater Western Sydney. 

Hawthorn might have bottomed out already and the transformation has been built on youth. If you take Luke Hodge out of the backline, the group that quelled the uber-qualified Giants forwards for large stages on Saturday comprised Blake Hardwick, Kurt Heatherley, Kaiden Brand, Ryan Burton and James Sicily. The Hawks have long been confident in the quality of the youth they have been stockpiling, but who haven't been given the opportunity until now, for obvious reasons. 

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Of course, the Hawks have little incentive to finish near the bottom this year because their first-round draft pick later this year belongs to St Kilda, courtesy of the Jaeger O'Meara trade.

The coaching from Clarkson continues to be outstanding and he has flipped the team around. Taylor Duryea and Will Langford forward, Sicily back and Jack Gunston further up the ground. And how was the ambition to try and win the game with 12 seconds left on Saturday? Had there been 13 seconds, they would have pinched it. 

Hawthorn won't play finals this year, but wouldn't it be ironic if this was finally the year that Clarkson wins his first coach of the year award? If the formline continues, then he has to be in the conversation, which is quite something.

Other observations

1. 'Nathan Buckley watch' is now officially on. It will be a drawn-out process and nothing will happen immediately because Pies president Eddie McGuire is out of the country. But Buckley's demeanour changed after the loss to Essendon on Saturday that effectively ended Collingwood's season, and the prediction here is of some sort of dignified, mutual decision before the end of the season that will bring six largely disappointing years as coach to an end. But he won't be sacked and he will coach until the end of the season. A bit has to change at the Pies but Buckley will be treated with respect and affection from here on in and rightly so. But the decision to make a change will be the right one.

2. Technically speaking, Port Adelaide still hasn't beaten a team in the top eight this year given that as of the end of this round, West Coast is now ninth place. But that’s being way too harsh. This was a stirring win by the Power in a remarkable game in which they kicked the first four goals, fell behind by 24 points in the second term, then totally dominated after half-time, winning contested possessions by 11, clearances by four and inside 50s by 19. That's a belting in anyone's language and the sort of form that should stand up in the frenzy of September. The story of the game was Port's goalscorers – five to Charlie Dixon, three to Robbie Gray and two each to Justin Westhoff, Jackson Trengove and Paddy Ryder. Port is loaded with scoring power – excuse the pun – and it will take a strong backline to keep it in check from here. 

3. This is West Coast's final season at Domain Stadium before the move to the palace by the river at Burswood. For so long a fortress, the Eagles have lost three of their past four games there and if they miss the finals or find themselves in the lower reaches of the eight, which seems likely, the lack of a killer punch at home will be a key reason why.

4. The story in Sydney gets better by the week – this time it was a five-goal haul to Gary Rohan – and the build-up to the Sydney rivalry this week will be huge. The lingering question over the Swans will be how much petrol they will have left in the tank after this barnstorming run to the finals.

5. The Cats took a calculated risk in moving their entire football operation out of Geelong for a week, but it appeared to have paid off. Instead of returning home after their game in Sydney last week the Cats decamped straight to the Gold Coast and spent the week there preparing for their clash with Brisbane at the Gabba. It is standard practice in the NFL for teams who have back-to-back games on the opposite side of the country to stay in the area for the week and there is no surprise that a club as professional as the Cats made it work so well. Nor are we surprised that Patrick Dangerfield didn't spend the week up north – he was otherwise occupied for the birth of young George Dangerfield – yet was still best on ground, despite not training with his teammates all week.

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6. Ryan Nyhuis was probably about tuck into an extra pancake at breakfast on Sunday when the Dockers informed him he was coming in for his debut game to replace the ill David Mundy as a late replacement. And what a first game it was, with four goals including the last two of the game to help Freo to a four-point win, their first in six weeks. Not only that, but as he explained to Fox Footy afterwards, it was one of the first games he had ever played in the forward line. Bulldogs forward Clay Smith is the only other current AFL player to have kicked four goals on debut.

7. It was another close loss for the Kangas, with the result decided once and for all with Todd Goldstein's miss from a set shot with only a few minutes to go. It spared a few blushes for young Freo ruckman Sean Darcy who grabbed Goldstein around his shoulder and gave away the free kick. North did well to get back into the game and take the lead in the final quarter, but the Kangas dug themselves a hole early on with a poor first quarter. The Kangas are getting games into the kids, but that, and the gold-star form of Shaun Higgins, are about the only positives of their season.

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8. Add Jake Lever to the list of those playing great footy while weighing up gargantuan contract offers next season. He had 22 possessions and nine marks and joins Josh Kelly and Dustin Martin as those watching their value go up by the week.

9. Now that Luke Beveridge is admitting that there might be an issue with the Dogs' hunger, it might be the first step towards properly addressing why the club's premiership defence has been so lousy.