THE TAKE-OUT from this weekend of footy is that the premiership race is still wide open – but there are likely now just five teams that can win the premiership.

Hawthorn, Greater Western Sydney, Geelong, the Sydney Swans and Adelaide are the remaining teams with legitimate claims on the silverware.

That one of them will need to come through the elimination final makes things all the more intriguing.

The Western Bulldogs, West Coast and North Melbourne would appear safe finalists, each with a three-game buffer with four games to go. One more win will make absolutely certain of their respective appointments with September. 

North has righted the ship with a pair of wins in the past fortnight after dropping six of seven before then. The Kangas laboured past St Kilda on Saturday night in a match that didn't befit the occasion of Brent Harvey's record-breaking 427th game, but it is difficult to place them in the same class as the big five with Shaun Higgins, Ben Jacobs and Luke McDonald still out of the side. 

They'll be back in about three weeks, but whether they have the match fitness to have a major impact is the big question mark at Arden Street.

There is no doubting the heart at the Western Bulldogs, but is Luke Beveridge running out of soldiers? Five changes at selection last Thursday for the Geelong clash were imposed by injury and now Tom Liberatore and Jack Macrae join an ever-expanding injury list. They might not be back until next season, which is when the quixotic attempt by the Dogs to snare that elusive second premiership might have its best chance.

And then there's West Coast, whose MCG campaign for 2016 – at least during the home and away season – finished with a 1-2 record, but even then, they barely hung on to defeat Carlton there a fortnight ago.

West Coast is a different team when wearing the white shorts – next week's derby against Fremantle is an away game – and on Saturday the Eagles were out-hunted by Collingwood, which stuck a club record 118 tackles.

They're not as quick as last year – Lewis Jetta hasn't been the answer – and the forward line is also down. Josh Hill and Mark LeCras aren't as effective as last season.

Adam Simpson is an excellent coach and he will find the root of the problem that makes the Eagles so mighty at home and meek away. But perhaps not in time to keep the Eagles in premiership contention this year.

They need to win one more game to make 100 per cent certain of their finals berth and even then, four away finals likely stand between them and the flag.

Moore proves he'll be a star

Saturday at the MCG confirmed another suspicion of many. And that is that Darcy Moore might just be worth the hype.

Moore mesmerised the near 35,000 fans at the MCG with 3.2 and five contested marks in less than a half of footy before a tight hamstring forced him from the ground.

Moore marked everything in sight, to provide the best glimpse yet as to why the Collingwood forward line will revolve around his considerable talents for the next decade or so.

Collingwood's dominance started in the midfield and all up, it was as good a day at the football that the Pies have had all year. The challenge for Collingwood is to bring that sort of effort more often because the contrast between, say, the opening quarter against North last week and the final quarter against West Coast is too extreme.

Has a big Cat finally come of age?

Rhys Stanley has been a slow-burn as a league footballer. He was a constant source of frustration at St Kilda, save for that breakout game against Fremantle in 2014.

The improvement at Geelong in his nearly two seasons there has been slow and steady, but he exploded on Friday night with five contested marks and a career-high five goals in the win over the Bulldogs.

The question now is whether that sort of performance can become closer to the norm for the 25-year-old, who should be approaching his prime. Stanley offers a mix of height, mobility and great hands and he shapes as a huge weapon for the Cats in the run home to the finals.

The Cats have a great draw from here to the finals – four almost-certain wins, which offers coach Chris Scott the chance to keep giving Stanley exposure and responsibility as the finals approach. 

For a time it appeared as though it would be either Stanley or Mitch Clark as a ruck/forward option for the Cats in the finals. Stanley would now seem to have a mortgage on that position.

Narrow focus pays off for Petrie

Drew Petrie, one of the good guys of the footy world and a friend to us here at AFL.com.au, recently slapped a media ban on himself in a bid to concentrate on his footy, and to be perfectly frank, save his career.

Things were heading south for Petrie and some urgent attention was needed. And while if every player took that approach then it would be extremely bad for our business, it has been a good move for Petrie.

Last week he started sticking some tackles and his forward pressure played a big part in the important win over Collingwood.

On Saturday night against St Kilda, Petrie rolled back the years. He was busy crashing packs again, but this time his work with the ball was equally effective and his 12 marks and two goals were instrumental in the win over St Kilda.

How Petrie finishes off the year will be the key determinant as to whether he plays on next year, with Jarrad Waite seemingly a week-to-week proposition with his dicey hip, Petrie simply has to keep contributing from here if North is to make another run deep into September.

Whether or not he has a chat about it to us, well, that doesn't really matter.

Other observations

1. Remember John Butcher? The Port key forward, at one stage something of a cult figure, kicked four goals for the Power in the romp at the Gabba on Saturday night. Granted, it was such a blowout that Port chairman David Koch would likely have kicked a few against the pathetic Lions, but a late-season flurry this time last year earned Butcher a one-year contract extension. Will history repeat? 

2. Count me as one of those who thought the Western Bulldogs spending Thursday night ahead of the Geelong clash at a Torquay resort was the right way to go. Given the difficult week they had experienced, getting the group away and having a run at Simonds Stadium seemed the right way to go. The fighting effort against the Cats would seem to vindicate the decision. And besides, have you ever tried to drive out of Melbourne, down the highway and into Geelong on a Friday afternoon? Good luck making that trip in less than two hours.

3. The amazing juggling act continues at Hawthorn. Two games clear on top of the ladder and chasing the historic four-peat, yet Blake Hardwick was unveiled as the club's fifth debutant on Saturday against Carlton. The Hawks played seven players with 50 games or fewer to their name and if you dig a bit deeper, they had five with fewer than 20. Having said that, there is precious little depth remaining at Box Hill, which won't play finals this year, so the Hawks will be hoping to keep a clean bill of health for the rest of the year. 

4. The Hawks won their 19th straight game in Tassie. It has been a mutually beneficial relationship between the club and the state, and the newly rusted-on Hawks faithful in Tasmania have been rewarded with year after year of winning football. Greater Western Sydney has borrowed from the Hawthorn textbook as it grows in Canberra and the fans in the national capital are being rewarded with a team they can call their own and which also plays attractive, winning football. Saturday's 92-point humiliation of Richmond made it three wins from three this year and five from their past six. Saturday was a sell-out, there was heaps of orange and grey in the crowd and like Launceston is for the Hawks, Manuka is fast becoming a fortress for the Giants. Good luck to any team trying to eke a win there in the next few years 

5. The end of the season cannot come quickly enough for Richmond, where so many big decisions are looming. We know the coach is safe, but pretty much anyone else in the football department and most of the playing list will be shifting uneasily in their seats. And deservedly so. The place needs a shake-up. 

6. Even the rubbish games can be worth watching. Melbourne-Gold Coast was a bruise-free snore-fest for the first 95 minutes before coming alive in the final few minutes with some desperate end-to-end stuff. Jack Watts was the hero for the Demons with the final goal of the match as his best season yet marches on. Tom Lynch made a decent, oh-so-close fist of the match-winning attempt after the siren. Five metres closer and he might have made it.

7. "Geelong. P. Dangerfield, three votes." We'll be hearing a lot of that come Brownlow night. 

8. Boomer got the win for his milestone match this weekend, as did Corey Enright and Jimmy Bartel in theirs. Matthew Pavlich, sadly, deserved much better than a 90-point belting from the Sydney Swans in his 350th game. Just four games remain for Pavlich and you suspect he cannot wait.