One down, one to go. Victoria's worst nightmare is on the verge of being realised after the red hot Swans destroyed Geelong in a one-sided preliminary final to book a berth in their second grand final in three years.
The 37-point win, however, was soured by a knee injury to Aliir Aliir, who is now in danger of being a grand final heartbreak story a day after being name dropped by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at a United Nations conference. Luke Parker is also under an injury cloud, also with a knee issue but, unlike Aliir, he returned to the field.
The league's fairytale club, the Western Bulldogs, is all that stands in the way from the AFL having a historic all-Sydney grand final. But as much as Sydneysiders would love to ruin Melbourne's big day, the red and white side of the city will be hoping they do not share the big stage with little brother, given Greater Western Sydney's recent dominance over the Swans.
If the Swans play like they did for much of Friday night it may not matter who they face. For the second week in a row, they blew away their opponent with a powerful first quarter, where they slammed on seven goals to nothing.
It was exhibit A for anyone wanting evidence as to what effect the week off, as opposed to playing through, would have. The Swans showed they were battle-hardened rather than battle-wearied.
This was trademark Swans: bash, crash, do whatever is necessary to push the ball their way, then run in waves, leaving a battered opponent in their wake. It started from the word go when Ben McGlynn goaled within 29 seconds of the start and did not relent.
After 14 minutes it was 0-32, not a bad scoreline if you've won the toss and batted first on Boxing Day, but grim news for the Cats.
The knock on Geelong this year has been their perceived over-reliance on Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood. It would prove prophetic. The pair were comfortably the game's two leading possession-getters but the Cats received little from the rest of their midfield. Dangerfield's big moment in grand final week is likely to come on Monday night but that will be it.
The Swans had a much more even contribution. They won the midfield battle through weight of numbers. Tom Mitchell was damaging in close, opening play up with incisive handballs. Isaac Heeney pounced like a cat. Dan Hannebery was everywhere, putting himself in harm's way for the betterment of his team.
Their forwards had plenty of space to work with. Lance Franklin ran Tom Lonergan off his legs early, his influence on the game not done justice by how many goals next to his name. Ditto McGlynn, who played with the desperation of a man fighting for his football life, while Tom Papley was lethal in front of goal.
The major difference between the two sides was what happened when they did not have the ball. When the Swans had it, the Cats could not keep up, possibly because they were playing second game in four weeks or their opponents were working that much harder.
When the Cats had it, the Swans shut down their space, though the Cats were not exactly running hard into space either. Their entries inside 50 suffered accordingly and their forwards even more.
Dane Rampe cashed in, just like he did when the two sides met in round 16. Nothing got past him in the first half and very little in the second until Harry Taylor was swung forward. The game, however, was already over.
