Richmond players (some wearing swapped Collingwood jumpers) after the 1980 grand final. Photo: RICHMOND FC

1. Melbourne might just explode. Richmond and Collingwood in a grand final – for the first time in almost four decades – would blow the lid off the joint.

You can feel the anticipation building already as you walk around town, with the traditional rivals both hot favourites to advance from their respective preliminary finals. But let’s just pump the brakes for a minute.

Geelong, for all its issues throughout the second half of the season, is still the minor premier – and with good reason.

It struggled in week one of September but bounced back to outhunt and outmuscle reigning premier West Coast, ending the Eagles’ flag defence in the process.

Chris Scott’s men won’t be willing to roll over and concede in another Friday night finals blockbuster against Richmond, like they did two years ago, regardless of Tom Hawkins’ suspension.

Greater Western Sydney, too, has played a quintessential brand of finals football over the past fortnight. It has been hard, tough and even crossed the line at times, with mixed consequences.

Just ask Toby Greene, nervously awaiting his fate in an appeal against the tribunal’s decision to ban him from playing against Collingwood.

Lachie Whitfield’s withdrawal because of an operation to remove his appendix is another blow.

But if the Pies think they can just waltz into a second successive grand final, they’re kidding themselves.

If there’s anything this season of upsets has taught us, it’s to expect the unexpected. There are almost certainly more twists in the tale to come.

2. Nathan Buckley will have Collingwood prepared for a physical GWS onslaught.

If recent form is any guide, it’s a charge that will be led by a Giants midfield group seemingly hell-bent on ditching its reputation – fair or otherwise – as a skilful and talented group that has lacked a harder edge in previous failed September campaigns.

Chief provocateur Greene might be out of action, but niggler-of-the-year Matt de Boer will no doubt have someone in his sights at the opening bounce. There are options galore, and no obvious choice, in a Collingwood midfield full of stars.

Scott Pendlebury and a pair of long-gone former Giants, Taylor Adams and Adam Treloar, will line up in the engine room. Steele Sidebottom, who remarkably took his already A-grade game to a new level during last year’s finals series, will take up his usual spot on the wing.

De Boer certainly isn’t nearly as decorated as any of his prospective opponents this week. The 29-year-old was discarded by Fremantle after 138 games at the end of 2016 and handed a career lifeline by Leon Cameron and the Giants.

He has since carved out a niche as the most effective tagger in the game. Importantly, he also wins his own ball. And where he decides to move at the first bounce will be an intriguing early watch that could have a huge say on the outcome of Saturday’s preliminary final.

De Boer has claimed two scalps already this September – former Dockers teammate Lachie Neale and another Brownlow Medal fancy, Marcus Bontempelli. But there is no form guide on who he will take against Collingwood.

De Boer missed the two sides’ meeting in round 18 while recovering from a shoulder injury and played across half-forward when they did battle on the same stage 12 months (and one week) ago.

You can expect a few Magpie eyes in the coaches’ box to be trained on the dogged Giant at bounce down.

3. How do you solve a problem like losing your primary target in attack for the second-biggest game of the year?

It’s a question Chris Scott and the Geelong coaching staff have no doubt been wrangling with all week after Tom Hawkins was rubbed out for whacking Eagles defender Will Schofield.

The All-Australian spearhead has played every game to date and popped through more than double the number of goals (56) kicked by any of his teammates bar Gary Ablett (33) this season.

Experienced defender Lachie Henderson appears the most obvious replacement, having played the last four games of the home-and-away season before dropping out of the side. His return could pave the way for Harry Taylor to swing forward.

A less likely decision would be the inclusion of a second-string tall target.

Wylie Buzza and Darcy Fort have barely had a look-in this season, with Fort’s three games mid-year (for a return of five goals) all they have mustered between them despite some strong VFL performances.

There’s another option… Is it time for Patrick Dangerfield to “do a Dusty”? That is, start in the centre square, where his presence is invaluable, and then move forward to create another viable scoring option.

The Cats will wrestle with whether they can afford to lose the Brownlow medallist’s talent in the cut and thrust of the contest. But it might be the only way they can kick a winning score.

Dangerfield famously played forward in a final against Sydney two years ago and kicked 4.3 from eight marks and 26 disposals. He was near-on unstoppable that night. He kicked the same tally against a hapless Carlton to help Geelong sew up top spot in round 23.

But his goal-kicking has been somewhat errant this season. And his tally of 26.18 doesn’t take into account a number of shots that have missed altogether.

Using Dangerfield predominantly in attack would be a risk on multiple levels. However, with a grand final spot on the line, it might be one worth taking.

4. GWS is the only non-Victorian club – let’s throw “interstate” in the bin – left in the premiership race.

There was a time when that might have been enough to ensure late-September support from most football followers whose loyalties lay outside the boundaries of the competition’s most prominent state.

But the Giants are a different beast to the likes of Adelaide, Sydney and West Coast in the ‘90s, or the all-conquering Brisbane team that broke through after the turn of the century.

Their make-up is a unique blend in AFL terms. The club was the child of the league establishment, a creation designed purely to open up one of the country’s biggest markets.

The franchise club was given the world upon entry to the competition. It’s not a “club” in the traditional sense, and though none of them really are these days, some at least keep up the façade.

Tell me if I’m wrong, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of love for GWS. This year, Greene’s antics and de Boer’s tagging tactics haven’t done anything to endear the Giants to the masses.

In an interview this week, Lachie Whitfield admitted he sensed a growing animosity. He urged his teammates to embrace it. The club website has gone further, declaring “orange is the new black and white” in a headline.

The first paragraph of the article reads: “Let’s be honest … there is a bit of ‘us against the world’ this week.”

But while the Giants aren’t exactly a flame for romantic football moths, there is one thing that works in their favour: the fact that they’re playing Collingwood.

That will be enough to get more than a few fans of other Victorian clubs onside this week. Just don’t expect them to outnumber the “Magpie Army” at the MCG.

5. One thing that often has traditionalists pining for “the old days” is the fact that we can’t ever “just focus on the footy” any more.

Not even in preliminary final week.

But there is a thirst for any sort of football news that is fed by a burgeoning football media throng and lapped up by almost anyone with access to a mobile phone or laptop.

It’s why every trade snippet spreads like wildfire online. Is there anyone who hasn’t been linked to Carlton yet?

And it’s why rumours and reports of Alastair Clarkson purchasing property at picturesque Port Coogee – deep in Fremantle territory – have attracted so much attention this week.

Whether or not the legendary Hawthorn coach would break a contract with three years left and be allowed to jump ship to a rival club is another matter altogether.

We suspect he wouldn’t, but stranger things have happened. Time will tell.

Speaking of the coaching merry-go-round, the Dockers won’t officially meet with Justin Longmuir until Collingwood’s finals series is complete. And Adelaide is still without a replacement for Don Pyke amid an external review.

Both clubs are in races against time as the trade period and draft draw closer by the day.

Then there is Essendon, which has gone down the “succession plan” path. These sorts of arrangements have proved tricky in the past, most famously the ill-fated Malthouse-Buckley handover at Collingwood.

At least the Bombers’ move gives a success-starved fan base some clarity moving forward, and players the stability they need to get on with the job of delivering a long-awaited finals victory (then, perhaps, a flag).