1. An era is over. The Hawks losing to Melbourne means that this will be the first time since  2002 that none of Hawthorn, Geelong or Sydney have made it into the prelims. Those three teams have dominated September in that time winning eight premierships between them.

2. Melbourne have what it takes to go all the way but they need to play more consistent  footy if they want to beat West Coast over in Perth. Their game against the Hawks contained similar lapses in concentration, and, at times, inefficiency going forward that we saw in the elimination final versus Geelong.

3. Hawthorn are in a bit of a no man’s land. Do they bank on their veterans and trade out early picks for mature age players again like they did for Mitchell and O’Meara or do they take their first pick to the draft to bolster the thin ranks of the young talent?

4. Gunston missing that shot running into goal was the story of the game. 999 times out of 1000 he kicks that. Nothing could have deflated Hawthorn more, and the electric rebound and goal couldn’t have gotten the Melbourne crowd any more excited.