COULD the 2022 grand finalists already be decided?

If previous winning streaks of 11-plus in a season in VFL/AFL history are any indication, they may be.

Geelong and Collingwood have both won 11 consecutive matches heading into round 22 to sit as the top two on the ladder.

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They are the 45th and 46th teams in history to win at least 11 straight games in one year, and all indications are they should be going deep into September.

With Geelong (1897) excluded because no Grand Final was played, of the previous 43, 38 made it to the decider and 26 were crowned premiers.

But, interestingly, 2022 is just the fourth time two teams have gone on an 11-match winning streak in the same year. Of the previous three times, both teams made the Grand Final twice.

The last time was in 2011 when, intriguingly, it was the Cats and Pies.

Collingwood's only three losses in that year all came to Geelong. The Magpies were 20-1 before being destroyed by the Cats in a 96-point loss in the final round – and they were beaten again in the Grand Final.

The time before that also involved Geelong, which was premier against St Kilda in 2009. They were the two best teams that year and met when both were 13-0 in an enthralling clash won by the Saints.

In 2000, Carlton and that famous Essendon team both embarked on winning streaks of more than 11 matches. The Blues, though, lost a qualifying final to Melbourne and a preliminary final to the Bombers, who went on to beat the Demons in the Grand Final.

Geelong enters the closing stages of this season as the premiership favourite needing to right some finals wrongs.

Collingwood is the surprise packet still needing to prove itself and suddenly daring to dream.

Both, it seems, could be heading to the MCG on the final Saturday in September.