AS IS their wont, Collingwood last night shattered dreams of September. In a shock twist they were not their own fans’ hopes. That fate is left for later. Perhaps in a week or two.

Collingwood's loss was last night more painfully felt by St Kilda. Collingwood will play in the finals, St Kilda cannot.

Playing for St Kilda mustn't be much fun, for even Collingwood didn't want to do it. Last night's 19-point loss to Adelaide at the Telstra Dome established one certainty: the eight is complete, only the placements remain to be decided. St Kilda will miss out. Brisbane Lions miss out and Fremantle seemingly already knew they had missed out. In defeat Collingwood simultaneously cemented Adelaide's place in the finals and denied its own slim hope of claiming fourth place by stealth.

Should Sydney defeat Hawthorn tomorrow the Magpies will confront the Swans next week in the finals, the Swans lose and the Pies play the Crows. Again. Next week.

That game at least should be at the MCG, for Collingwood has typically found Adelaide a more difficult commodity on narrower, faster grounds such as Telstra Dome where there is less breadth to stretch a fl ood. Last night again proved the point.

The most realistic prospect leading into last night was always that a Collingwood win would likely end Adelaide's season and introduce St Kilda to the eight. The Saints would only need to account for bottomplaced Richmond - for whom a victory would mean the loss of a priority pick - to grab eighth place. That opportunity is now lost to the Saints.

For the Magpies a loss entering the finals is a not unexpected stumble but also not a welcome one after refreshingly finding their best form of the season last week against Sydney.

Their form, it seems, remains a weekly proposition. They will be helped by the likely returns of Alan Didak, Josh Fraser and even Sean Rusling from injury. The latter was a late withdrawal from last night's match and his replacement Ben Reid performed sufficiently to suggest the young Rusling's return is not certain if fit.

Adelaide did as Adelaide does, playing unattractively but effectively. The Crows' obstinate game of playing behind the ball made for a tedious contest not unlike watching Nikolay Davydenko play tennis. Or even table tennis. It is a game of sweat and tears, predominantly sweating on another's error - forced or unforced - and punishing them for it. The tears are of frustration.

Collingwood confronted something similar last week against Sydney and patiently waited across half-forward before finding an avenue to goal. Against Adelaide, however, the Magpies were punished more readily by their own misadventure. Adelaide is quicker by foot and more precise. This was evidenced with the first attempt at goal when a Travis Cloke hoof from 50 went out on the full and Collingwood did not touch the ball again before Scott Thompson kicked their first goal at the other end.

To be successful against this flood it is more imperative than normal that tall forwards hold their marks and isolated defenders win their individual contests. From the outset Collingwood found this difficult at their end of the ground. Anthony Rocca attempted four marks in the first term, all of which he would normally expect to take. Three he dropped and from the one he did take his subsequent shot at goal, as Cloke's before it, swung out on the full.

Not coincidentally Rocca's latter ability to mark and goal was significant in Collingwood's fightback into the contest. Not as significant mind as Heath Shaw and Tarkyn Lockyer's work further afield. No matter how doggedly and patiently the Magpies massaged their way into the contest - with four goals to one in the second term - they were brought unstuck by their own hand. Or foot as the case may be.

Sadly, victory for Adelaide, and with it a finals place, provides some vindication for a game style constructed on the promise of another's mistake and rarely on the confidence of your own to attack. Victory without adventure is barely victory at all.

Masking this pessimism of approach are the exquisite talents of Mark Ricciuto and Andrew McLeod and the flamboyance of Brett Burton. Last night, in what would have been his last AFL game had his side lost, Ricciuto played as a man intent that it not be.

In a week of furious indignation directed to the broadcasting network confrontation and embarrassment for player and TV station was avoided. Players left the ground maintaining a solidarity that was not tested. Seven chose discretion, in this case Neil Craig, as the better part of valour and opted not for player but coach who, by league rules, can't say no.

With the AFL's complex finals arrangements and attempts to offer equality of breaks, only Hawthorn, Sydney and the Kangaroos will be guaranteed that they will not be required to play next Friday night. The league maintains it wants to offer top side Geelong the longest break - seven days - but will only do so if it can fit that in with the rest having six.