'If only we had showed the fighting spirit of Melbourne'.

That is what North Melbourne and Richmond fans are entitled to be thinking right now on a weekend when they watched their finals hopes all but disintegrate at the same time as the lowly Demons showed that hard work and persistence can still pay off in adversity.

While the Demons' shock one point win over Brisbane - when they came from 11 points down with three minutes remaining - shows that the lower members of the top seven teams that appear certain finalists are still vulnerable - the battle for eighth spot now looks a two way race between Carlton and St Kilda.

The Blues took another huge step in their impressive development this season by beating the disappointing Richmond at the MCG on Saturday while the Saints' win over the Kangaroos on the Gold Coast could be the turning point in what has been a difficult reign for coach Ross Lyon to date.

But for the Tigers and the Kangaroos - their defeats in this weekend's 'mini elimination finals' casts huge doubts on their finals claims and even worse their character.

While it is always dangerous to write off the Kangaroos - their loss to St Kilda was by far their most disappointing in an inconsistent season to date.

Kangaroos' coach Dean Laidley quite rightly labelled some of his key players as "consistently inconsistent" after the Roos kept the Saints goalless in the opening term before going down by 15 points when the Saints booted six goals to one in the final term.

With six wins, seven losses and a draw from 14 games, the Roos remain only half a game behind the Blues and the Saints but face a nightmare run home with games to come against seventh-placed Collingwood, sixth-placed Brisbane (in Queensland), the top-placed Western Bulldogs and reigning premier Geelong as well as a crunch game against the Blues in round 20.

And considering they will need a minimum of five wins from their last eight games to make the eight - this week's loss to St Kilda was a huge blow.

But as disappointing as the Roos were against the Saints - the Tigers were even more disappointing against the Blues at the MCG on Saturday as they yet again failed a test of character.

Little separated the teams for three quarters but with the emotion of the day - as the Tigers officially celebrated their AFL centenary - one felt it would be Richmond which would surely finish the stronger and beat a Carlton side missing its inspirational skipper Chris Judd.

But as they have done in just about every important game since 1982 - the Tigers again failed to deliver when the pressure was on as they were easily brushed aside by the Blues in the final term.

The loss leaves the Tigers a game and a half adrift of the top eight and almost certainly guarantees yet another season without finals action and again puts the heat on coach Terry Wallace, despite some improvement this season.

But the fact is that in Wallace's fourth year in charge, the Tigers still have only won five games from 14 matches this season and during his entire tenure have won just 29 out of 80 matches as they look set to miss the finals for the eighth year in a row.

However for Carlton, the win over Richmond was arguably their best effort of the season - considering the absence of Judd, the limited output of spearhead Brendan Fevola and how much the game meant to their opponents.

But the Blues, under impressive first year coach Brett Ratten, no longer rely on just one or two stars to win games - as evidenced by the improvement of youngsters such as Bryce Gibbs and Marc Murphy as well as Andrew Carazzo and Jarrad Waite - who thrashed Matthew Richardson - and veterans such as Heath Scotland and Simon Wiggins, who appear reborn under Ratten's coaching following the lean years under Denis Pagan.

However it is the Saints - who have been battered from pillar to post by the critics this season for everything from their failure to beat the top sides, to their inconsistency, to their team selection, to their style of play - that now looks the favourite to grab eighth.

The brave decision to drop star pair Nick Dal Santo and Stephen Milne last week paid dividends - as the pair returned to play key roles in the win over the Kangaroos - while Justin Koschitzke, arguably the Saints' most important player, also found form on the Gold Coast.

And with matches against teams already out of finals contention in West Coast, Port Adelaide, Fremantle and Essendon to come in the run home - there are no excuses now for Ross Lyon's team to miss the finals in 2008.