Saints' time to shine

Is this the week when St Kilda finally lives up to its potential and stamps itself as a genuine premiership chance?

While the Saints' qualifying final clash against Geelong on Sunday at the MCG might seem mission impossible against a side that has won 40 of its past 42 matches - remember it is the Saints who have long been compared favourably to the Cats for natural talent.

Indeed the two teams have built up a healthy rivalry since both emerged from the wilderness simultaneously in 2004.

Incredibly, Sunday's clash at the MCG is their first finals meeting during that period - although they nearly played off in the 2004 premiership decider.

The rivalry began when the Saints beat the Cats in the 2004 pre-season grand final after which Geelong star Paul Chapman claimed he still felt the Cats were a better side than the Saints.

When St Kilda beat Geelong by even more the following week - in the opening round of the 2004 home-and-away season - Chapman's comments appeared ridiculous but have since proven to be spot-on.

While both teams suffered more finals heartbreak in 2005 and both went into decline in 2006 - the Cats have since fulfilled their potential by ending a 44-year premiership drought in 2007 before this year becoming only the second team after Essendon in 2000 to win 21 of 22 home-and-away games during the regular season.

The Saints in contrast finished ninth in 2007, in their first year under new coach Ross Lyon, and appeared set for a similar finish midway through this year before winning eight of their last 10 matches to surge into the top four.

It has been a fantastic achievement and there is no doubt the Saints have plenty going for them heading into September from the devastating form of captain Nick Riewoldt - the AFL's No.1-ranked player over the past 10 weeks - to the inspiration of trying to win a premiership for 21-year veteran Robert Harvey in what will be his final season in the game.

Certainly Riewoldt believes the Saints are capable of beating Geelong.

"It's AFL footy, any team can be beaten, we have really improved in the last half of the season and are confident we have still got our best footy in front of us," he said.

"If we continue to improve like we have there is no reason we can't match it with Geelong and you could say we are peaking at the right time of the year."

And Lyon is certainly not backing away from the challenge, saying the Cats' dominance of the home-and-away season now 'counted for nothing'.

"The challenge of AFL footy is going out and re-producing it against quality opposition on a big stage, under extreme pressure, and that is the challenge that lies ahead," he said.

But if the Saints can conquer that challenge on Sunday then suddenly what appeared a pipedream for Harvey, when he announced his retirement a month ago, could be on the verge of becoming a reality.

In the other qualifying final, the Bulldogs also start clear underdogs against Hawthorn on Friday night at the MCG.

The Hawks may have lost their only meeting to the Bulldogs this season but the Dogs are limping into the finals with five losses from their past seven matches while the Hawks are flying - as evidenced by the fact they finished the home-and-away season with a percentage of 131.8 - some 13 percent better than every other team except Geelong.

But the two elimination finals should be much closer with Adelaide and Sydney only slight favourites in their knockout clashes against Collingwood and North Melbourne, mainly because of their home-ground advantage.