The 2007 AFL premiership is Geelong's for the taking after a weekend which finally confirmed what has been obvious for some time - West Coast and Sydney's dominance of the competition has come to an end.
In fact such was Geelong's dominance in its 106 point demolition of the Kangaroos in the qualifying final on Sunday that they are already been compared to the great premiership teams of recent years such as Essendon in 2000 and Brisbane from 2001-03.
While this week's other winners Port Adelaide, Collingwood and Hawthorn will all now be entitled to be eyeing the game's ultimate prize, the Eagles are hanging on by a thread and the Swans are officially dead and buried.
The Eagles and the Swans had contested the past two grand finals - two of the greatest ever staged with the Swans winning by four points in 2005 and the Eagles by a point last year.
But the toll those two epic grand finals have taken on both sides really hit home this weekend as the Swans bowed out in the first week of the finals with the Eagles likely to join them within a week.
Both sides are battling injury, fatigue and in the Swans' case age as well.
The Eagles might well enjoy home advantage in next week's semi-final against Collingwood but John Worsfold's team is running out of players.
With Daniel Kerr (finger) and Ashley Hansen (hamstring) already out, the Eagles have now lost Ben Cousins (hamstring) while skipper Chris Judd must be in serious doubt due to groin and ankle injuries.
Judd was a sad sight on Friday night, barely able to move as injuries have turned him from the best player in the AFL to an old man in the space of one season.
And the contrast between the Eagles skipper and the man that for many years has been unfavourably compared to him - Hawthorn's captain-in-waiting Luke Hodge who was drafted two places ahead of Judd in that famous 2001 draft - could not have been greater on the weekend as Hodge defied injury to produce one of the greatest finals debuts ever seen in the AFL.
The only thing that is going to cure Judd is rest but can the reigning premiers afford to do that next week knowing that would mean going into a final without their three best players in Judd, Kerr and Cousins.
The Swans, while not suffering the same injury toll, looked just as tired and fatigued in Saturday night's elimination final against Collingwood - proving yet again just how hard it is to stay at the top of the AFL for any long period.
Spearhead Barry Hall, like Judd, looked a shadow of the player he has been in the past two years because of wear and tear.
Sydney coach Paul Roos might have been optimistic after the game, saying his current team could be premiership contenders for another two years, but with Hall, Leo Barry, Jared Crouch, Peter Everitt, Brett Kirk, Michael O'Loughlin and Ben Mathews all in the twilight of their careers - the Swans' could soon be forced into a re-build.
In contrast the younger sides - most of whom have not been worn down by recent gruelling finals campaigns - all prospered in week one of the finals.
Geelong and Port will now be clearly favoured to meet in the grand final,