The AFL finals buildup continues to develop into two competitions - who finishes where in the top four and who survives the mad scramble below.

Ladder leader St Kilda, Brisbane, Port Adelaide and Melbourne all won this weekend, as expected, to maintain their two-game buffer at the front of the pack.

Only percentage separates the Saints from fourth-placed Melbourne.

Geelong was the big winner in round 16, beating Sydney by 15 points at home to open a one-game break in fifth.

But big wins for the two Perth teams and Carlton's upset of the Kangaroos muddied the situation from sixth to 11th.

The 11th-placed Blues are now finals outsiders after their win, two games behind slumping Essendon in eighth.

Behind the Cats, only one game separates sixth-placed Fremantle from 10th-placed West Coast.

Geelong has impressed in the last few weeks, handling every challenge well and building an impressive head of steam six weeks out from September.

The Cats were far from their best in Sunday's 11.11 (77) to 9.8 (62) win.

But they withstood the Swans' constant pressure and will start big favourites against the Blues next Sunday at Telstra Dome.

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