THERE were two games of AFL football on television on Saturday night, but if you'd been flicking between them, they would have seemed to have about as much in common as a V8 supercar race has with a game of chess.

From the MCG, Hawthorn and St Kilda were putting everyone to sleep with a soporific, stagnant stalemate, which produced only four goals to half-time and had those unfortunate enough to have turned up to watch booing both teams as they left the ground for the break.

Those lucky enough to be able to afford pay TV could tune in to the Gold Coast for a stunning contrast, the Kangaroos and Carlton locking horns in an attacking, free-flowing, end-to-end contest.

The Roos and Blues finished with 42 goals between them, the Hawks and Saints 16, of which more than half were kicked in the final quarter to save their clash from complete infamy.

There was finger-pointing in both directions afterwards. St Kilda, according to one claim, was at fault, playing spare men in defence and not backing the marking power of Nick Riewoldt, Fraser Gehrig and Justin Koschitzke in attack.

The counterclaim was Hawthorn playing too safe despite its opponent's severe shortage of manpower — the Hawks a common denominator in some of the most boring games of the past couple of seasons.

Predictable was the defence by both clubs about an "absorbing contest" and that favourite line about this being the sort of patient, calculated, low-scoring slog that wins finals and premierships.

But will it continue to be? Not only have the Kangaroos won their past five games, the way they're going about it — a daring, high-scoring game plan — is becoming the good-news story of 2007.

Leigh Brown and Aaron Edwards are far from Wayne Carey-like targets up forward, but the Roos back them by banging the ball in quickly. What they — and Shannon Grant — can't grab, exciting crumbers such as Lindsay Thomas and Matt Campbell pounce on.

It's clearly working and providing a lesson that seems to be rubbing off. Essendon captain Matthew Lloyd said yesterday the Bombers had taken careful note of how the Roos had "gone back to how footy used to be played".

No surprise, then, that the Dons cut out the aimless short chipping, which had blighted their game in recent weeks, and scored 18.19 in thumping the Brisbane Lions.

Sydney was beaten by the Roos a fortnight ago. Yesterday, against Port Adelaide, the Swans set up their win by being more direct and positive. They took their opponents on and took risks to give Michael O'Loughlin and Barry Hall some badly-needed space up forward, a season-high 17.16 the result.

With two successive grand final appearances, the Swans have become an obvious template for rivals looking to emulate their success. But even at its most dour, Paul Roos' team always has had the capacity to score heavily in bursts of quick counterattacking.

Adelaide, like Sydney, tends to cop flak about its methods, but the Crows last season didn't just close opponents down, they also rebounded the ball quickly into attack, to help them rank second for points scored.

Saturday night at the MCG often seemed to be about two sides so determined to control possession and territory that they'd forgotten about the most fundamental pressure of all — on the scoreboard.

The Kangaroos took that one on board last summer and have gone from being the lowest-scoring side in the AFL to the second-highest after eight rounds of this season.

Yes, their defence could improve plenty, Dean Laidley's team in the bottom half for points conceded. But sixth on the ladder, thanks to some vastly-improved scoring power, is a fair trade-off.

There's been plenty said this season about good and evil in football matters off the field. The two games on Saturday night provided a case study in good and evil on it.

I doubt I'm the only one who desperately wants good to prevail, and an accepted maxim of the modern game shattered in the process. Because if garbage like that played by Hawthorn and St Kilda really does win finals, you wonder just who'll be left around to watch.