IT'S been nearly 15 years since there was a Collingwood-Carlton clash with anything like high stakes attached to it. The most recent time both the Magpies and Blues made the finals was way back in 1994.

That was the year Collingwood legend Mick McGuane executed his famous seven-bounce run and goal against the Blues at the MCG in front of more than 85,000 screaming fans, Sav Rocca kicked five goals and Nathan Buckley was brilliant in only his second game for his new AFL club. Yep, that long ago.

But all of a sudden, a rivalry that ever since has survived pretty much in name only has real meaning again. Collingwood is 7-4, has won its past four and is only a game outside the top four. Carlton, after Sunday night's amazing last quarter against Port Adelaide, is 5-6, and on the cusp of the eight.

Their clash on Sunday is seriously big, one which, given fine weather, could draw 80,000-plus. It's certainly good enough to market itself, without the usual recourse to memories of Jezza's mark, Wayne Harmes' tap, McGuane's run and that ol' staple, "no matter where they are on the ladder".

Collingwood, certainly, is as aware as any rival of Carlton's capabilities, having finished on the wrong end of the Blues' first victory for this season back in round four.

The Magpies weren't terrific in yesterday's slogging 21-point win against Melbourne, something of a let-down after their successive smashings of Geelong and West Coast. While the Pies did what they had to against the Demons, a similar performance level on Sunday, given Carlton's rising confidence levels, would probably hand their bitter rival a "clean sweep" of their two annual clashes for the first time since 2004.

Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse knows his side is in for a tough time. It's no great surprise, was his line last night, with first-round draft picks that have enabled the Blues to land Marc Murphy, Bryce Gibbs and Matthew Kreuzer, alongside the established stars such as Chris Judd and Nick Stevens.

"At some stage, they're going to click, and they're a good football side that is going to challenge for the eight," said the veteran coach. It's fair to say that stage is coming sooner than later.

Carlton's emergence is also a good indicator of how quickly the football wheel turns these days.

The same afternoon, at Skilled Stadium, Geelong and Port Adelaide, last year's grand finalists, meet again, their bout at the same venue in round 21 last year probably the best game of 2007.

You can have generous odds on a repeat this time, or on even a fraction of the same interest being generated. Port is a miserable 4-7 at the halfway point of the season, has lost three of its past four games, each coming after an inexplicable late lapse, and five of its six appearances at the supposed fortress that is AAMI Stadium.

The Power lags 1½ games behind the top eight. While that might superficially seem retrievable, you have to wonder whether the psychological damage done by Sunday night's disaster can be reversed.

At the halfway point of the season, Port Adelaide sits 11th, a game behind St Kilda and Carlton, the only other teams with any sort of show of forcing their way into the top eight. The Saints' serious structural problems were laid bare once more in stark fashion by the Western Bulldogs on Sunday.

Which makes Carlton the most credible of the would-be top-eight contenders. You really have to admire the Blues' pluck under Brett Ratten, for whom his players are giving everything.

Sure, Carlton is still a mile from the Geelongs of the competition, but even when the Cats showed the Blues first-hand how far they have to go, Ratten's team never turned it up. And its past two wins have been stirring come-from-behind affairs, the effort against the Power one that won't be forgotten quickly.

Carlton will take heart for Sunday not only from Melbourne's efforts against Collingwood, but the injury prognosis from the Magpie rooms. Anthony Rocca might not be seen in action again for another month, and Scott Pendlebury is no sure thing, either.

The Pies have been kicking plenty of goals without Rocca, but Pendlebury's class and poise were missed yesterday.

His health will be just one point of intrigue leading up to Sunday's clash, and there's plenty of others.

It's about time we had a Carlton-Collingwood clash to which we really could look forward, rather than just pretend to. And one in which, finally it actually does matter where they are on the ladder.