LET'S be honest, this hasn't been the most riveting of finals series so far. Six games, no major upsets, and the narrowest margin still more than five goals.

We've been spoiled in recent years. Two grand finals decided by less than a kick, eight finals between 2005-07 in which the margin was a goal or less, and another that required extra time after a draw.

This September, there's hardly been a final that hasn't seemed over at three-quarter-time, Collingwood's gutsy elimination-final win in Adelaide probably the pick to date.

But while it hasn't been particularly heart-stopping stuff, the past two weeks have at least offered more evidence, if we needed any, that the finals system, last revamped in 2000, is, from a purist's point of view, probably the best we've had.

For the seventh time in the nine Septembers since the second version of the final eight was introduced, the four teams on the ladder after 22 rounds will fight it out for a spot in the grand final. And isn't that the way it should be? Surely there has to be some sort of decent reward for the work completed over the previous five-and-a-bit months, and the double chance, the opportunity of a week's break, and, at the very least, guaranteed hosting rights has ensured there is.

Come late Saturday night, 36 teams will have contested a preliminary final since 2000, 34 of them having finished top four. Hawthorn in 2001 and Collingwood last year have been the only exceptions. Honourable ones, too, the Hawks almost making it to the last day of the season, the Magpies famously getting within a goal of Geelong last year.

But the top three teams of 2008 have been a cut above the rest, and while fourth-placed St Kilda finished eight games behind the ladder leader, its eight wins over the final 10 rounds, which included a defeat of next Saturday night's opponent, gave it superior claims to the last "box seat" than anyone else.

The week off before the preliminary final has proved a critical factor in determining the grand finalists, 13 of the 16 preliminary finals since the revamp having been won by the team that had the rest. The Brisbane Lions in 2003, Sydney and West Coast not only defied the trend, but went on to win a flag. Good news for those who have been salivating over the prospect of a Geelong-Hawthorn grand final since early in the season.

Obviously, the composition of the preliminary finals is equally good news for parochial Victorians, that bout of angst about the state of local football as recently as last season having proved to be the silly overreaction it always was.

But it's good news also for lovers of football romance, whatever those hard-hearts in South and Western Australia now apparently turning their back on the action may think.

Geelong might have been up for a while now, but having only last year broken a near half-century flag drought, popular sympathy for the Cats hasn't dried up just yet. Plus, it's hard to hate a team that plays such breathtaking football.

The back stories to the Western Bulldogs and St Kilda attempts to win a premiership hardly need to be told again, the proverbial Cinderella clubs with just one flag each and droughts of 54 and 42 years, respectively.

Then there's the precocious Hawthorn, fuelled by the show-stopping Lance "Buddy" Franklin, a power of the 1970s and 1980s but itself flagless for the past 17 years.

Grand final success for any one of that quartet is going to be a good story. Let's hope that, unlike the first fortnight of this September, the ending is still unclear as we reach the final chapter.