St Kilda's win seals AFL play-off line-up

Adelaide: The AFL's second-last round settled the eight teams who will contest the month-long play offs.

St Kilda's 48-point win over Adelaide at the Telstra Dome shut the door on Richmond, Brisbane and St Kilda.

But the battle for fourth spot - and the crucial double chance - is still wide open.

Five teams could take the position this week with North Melbourne the favourites.

They currently sit fourth and will play the disappointing Port Adelaide at the MCG.

David Hale's scored a career-best eight goals for The Kangeroos but Geelong still won by 33 points.

The other four contenders for fourth are limping towards the finals with major question marks hanging over them.

Missed chance

Adelaide would have been fourth if they had beaten St Kilda at the Dome. The Crows kicked the first three goals but only but managed three more in the remaining three-and-a-half quarters.

Collingwood has found form since the controversial club-imposed suspensions of Heath Shaw, Rhyce Shaw and Alan Didak.

They beat fellow Sydney by 45 points but, without Didak in particular, the Magpies lack a touch of class.

"I don't know how far we're going to go, but the more we play this group together, the better we're going to get," said coach Mick Malthouse.

St Kilda were highly impressive against the Crows. The Saints may prove perform well in the finals but they are seventh and have a history of inconsistent efforts.

Sydney has the oldest playing list of the teams in the eight and looks to have hit the wall badly having won just one of its past five.

Top side Geelong will go into the finals as the shortest-priced Premiership favourite in history. The Cats have beaten the other three teams in the top four in the past six weeks.

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