Geelong's pasting at the hands of Collingwood on Friday night might have rung a few bells for Cats fans.

It was in the 2010 preliminary final against the same opponent that the curtain first appeared to have been drawn on a grand era, the Magpies making Geelong look slow, reactive and a little bit outdated.

That, of course, proved to be rubbish. The Cats didn't panic. They got a new coach. Chris Scott, tinkered with the mechanics and a game plan, and within another 12 months had won another premiership.

Five years on, and the Pies having again officially ended Geelong's aspirations for the season, there's similar hand-wringing. But again, the solutions to the problems mightn't involve all that much pain.

Yes, the core of Geelong's golden era is about to be finally gutted, even Scott conceding the list management to take place will be "brutal". The latest whispers have James Kelly, Steve Johnson, Matthew Stokes and even [of his own volition] Corey Enright finishing as Geelong players next week.

Normally, that would make a traditional rebuild via youth in the national draft a no-brainer. But Geelong's list profile is anything but normal.

Before the various delistings are done and the trade and draft period begins, the Cats will be pondering the addition of no fewer than seven virtual walk-up starts who haven't played a part in the business end of 2015.

Four of them, Daniel Menzel, Nathan Vardy, Mitch Clark and Rhys Stanley - the latter pair having missed the entire second half of the season - provide a more-than-handy combination of height, flexibility and scoring power.

Then there's the potential inclusion of a trio all at various stages having been declared as good as wearing the blue and white hoops - Patrick Dangerfield, Lachie Henderson and Scott Selwood.

Put together a Geelong line-up containing those seven names and you have a side not only far more potent than what took to the MCG on Friday night, but one that  would easily justify the Cats taking a dramatically different path from the draft-based recruiting and junior development that  reaped the tremendous rewards of 2007-11.

The key, despite the undoubted talents of Dangerfield, Henderson, Menzel, Vardy and co, will be just how much more Scott can extract from the younger likes of his 2015 playing group.

But even on that score, I think there's more room for optimism than some more pessimistic Geelong supporters spoiled by the last decade might believe.

Even without the senior influx, the Cats still have the leadership planks for the next few years in Joel Selwood, Mitch Duncan, Tom Hawkins and, for the next couple, Harry Taylor. Steven Motlop deciding to stay with the club would obviously be a huge plus.

The current generation of kids collectively haven't  enjoyed the continuity or steady development that was the case with Johnson, Kelly, Ling, Chapman, Bartel and co. But there's still been plenty of growth.

Mark Blicavs, 24, and Cam Guthrie,  23, will soon enough join that band of leaders. Josh Caddy, Jordan Murdoch, Darcy Lang, Jed Bews and Jackson Thurlow have improved again.

As far as 2015 debutants go, tall defender Jake Kolodjashnij has been a revelation, Cory Gregson very impressive, and Nakia Cockatoo, while hardly starring, has an obvious X-factor about him that you'd think is likely to emerge on a consistent basis sooner rather than later.

Less certain are the futures of Josh Walker, George Horlin-Smith, Billie Smedts and the talented but injury-plagued Lincoln McCarthy. But the various parts of the Geelong make-up amount to a lot more than has seemed the case for much of this season.

Perhaps that's why Scott might not have been too fussed by whether Geelong ended up making finals for a ninth straight year or not.

The departure of that roll call of greats will be an easier sell now. Geelong has the sixth-oldest list in the competition. It will be a far younger group that goes about its business in 2016. But with an influx of readymade senior talent, still one more than competitive.

Scott conceded earlier this season that attempting to gel not only the kids with the veterans, but the existing imports with the other two groups, was a task that might take more time than some realised.

As great as Johnson, Kelly etc. have been for the club, their departures would give Scott a far fresher canvas with which to paint his picture, a playing group not so set in its ways, and one with which he would have more licence to create the sort of ethos and game style in keeping with those teams currently at the top of the ladder.

It also might see some of those younger types of whom we have seen enough promise already flourish even further without the inhibition of the big names.

While a great era will officially end for Geelong next Saturday against Adelaide, in practice it's already been over for a while. But with some valuable "recruits" already in the place, some genuine ones about to arrive, and enough youth ready to blossom, perhaps the next great dynasty for the Cats is also a lot closer than some might think.

And while I'm at it...

There's no shortage of romance about what Adelaide is putting together come the pointy end of the season, Sunday's win over West Coast the Crows' sixth win from their past seven games.

But the manner of the 57-point dispatching of the Eagles suggests the incredible resilience of an entire club since the tragic death of coach Phil Walsh has a lot more substance than just sentiment.

Adelaide's first-term onslaught was breathtaking stuff, and while the Crows wobbled briefly in the second quarter as West Coast hit back, they regained their composure quickly enough to soon have the result beyond doubt.

It things go right for the Crows with other results next weekend, they could well end up with a home final. But who's to say in this sort of mood Adelaide isn't just as capable of winning a final away as at Adelaide Oval?

Sunday's total of 19.12 made it 66 goals in the last three games for the Crows, their points per game average now comfortably in three figures at 101.4, the win the fifth time in their past seven games they've topped the 100-point mark.

It was Josh Jenkins' turn to take centre scoring stage this week with six goals, Taylor Walker the man last week. But the Crows still had nine individual goalkickers, and while Walker and Eddie Betts both have more than 50 each for the season, Adelaide's top six on the goalkicking charts – Walker, Betts, Jenkins, Charlie Cameron, Tom Lynch and Patrick Dangerfield – have now compiled an imposing total of 223.

It's not just about forward firepower, though. Adelaide demonstrated again on Sunday how lethal they can be from centre bounces during that opening eight-goal blitz, ruckman Sam Jacobs' combination with Dangerfield explosive, the return an amazing 20 inside 50 entries for the quarter.

The Crows' propensity for the odd defensive lapse remains the only concern, the Eagles banging on five goals in a hurry at the start of the second term. That said, West Coast still only finished with 10 for the game, after conceding only six, eight and eight over the previous three games.

It's fair to say their defensive unit is one of the lower-profile among the top teams, but while Daniel Talia did the job again, this time on soon-to-be Coleman medallist Josh Kennedy, the likes of Rory Laird, Jake Lever, Kyle Hartigan and co. are more than doing their bit right now. Which just about covers all bases. Not to mention the one about peaking at the perfect time. The Crows have  beaten Richmond and North Melbourne this season. Either would be pretty nervous about a potential finals rematch in a couple of weeks.

The wrap

The return

Daniel Menzel's return to football on Friday night was the latter-day equivalent of Peter Hudson's arrival at Waverley in a helicopter in 1973 after nearly two years out of the Hawthorn lineup. Perhaps it was even better, even if his method of arrival was more orthodox. Hudson kicked eight goals in his return. Menzel, after nearly four years' absence, managed four and a bona fide "hanger" for Geelong. In an ordinary evening for the Cats, he still provided plenty of joy. Not only that, given this sort of seamless display, he may also prove to be one of the "recruits" of 2016, too.

The stayers

Remember Sydney? The Swans have long been used to being the low-profile commodity of an approaching September, but there's been equal amounts of disdain this time to go with the yawns of apathy as John Longmire's team struggled to match the firepower of those flavour-of-the-month sides. Until Sunday, anyway, when for the second week in a row, the Swans booted 20 goals. With victory over Gold Coast next week looking a given, the Swans are set for a trip to Perth to play Fremantle in a qualifying final. Only the foolish will be writing them off as a decent chance to win it.

The beltings

With the composition of the final eight settled by Friday night, there was always the danger of some relatively meaningless weekend games blowing out. And they did. While the North Melbourne-Western Bulldogs clash kept the punters happy, even that was eventually decided by four goals. Other margins included 97, 81, 72, 57 and 48 points as contenders thumped pretenders. Other sides like St Kilda and Carlton appeared to have already mentally taken off on their end-of-season breaks. It's been a long season. And the expectation of a cracking finals series is only making the wait these last couple of rounds seem even longer.

The protest

Essendon was looking for "clear air" when it hastened the departure of coach James Hird a couple of weeks back. It may have found some at the MCG on Saturday night, too. Literally. Just 37,000 turned out for the Bombers' last home game of the season against Richmond, the lowest crowd for any game between the two clubs since 1992. Yes, it was wet and cold. But it was hard not to think there was an element of silent protest about it, a reaction not just to the departure of James Hird, but of a fan base which sees a club increasingly losing touch with its grassroots, and its soul. I agree with them.