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AFL Power Rankings 2018: Round 4

15th April, 2018
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(Photo by Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images)
Roar Guru
15th April, 2018
105
2667 Reads

What a wild week in football. Upsets, appalling performances and mightily impressive wins. No wonder, then, that seventeen teams move in the rankings.

1.Sydney Swans
Last week: 1

Excellent win, and easily the best (and closest) game of the weekend. The Swans are probably the best-placed side, and would probably be favourites to dispatch of the Crows on Friday night.

2.GWS Giants
Last week: 3

Like Geelong, nothing too notable here. Just a comfortable victory over a lower-ranked side at a home-ground where they have an especially good record at.

3.Hawthorn
Last week: 5

I didn’t think they’d be finals aspirants. I especially didn’t think they’d be finals aspirants after four rounds. I (and it pains me to say this) might be wrong.

4.Port Adelaide
Last week: 2

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Well, their winning streak came to an abrupt end. There were some doubts over whether or not they’d win, but they largely failed to show a sniff. Still, their first three weeks held them in good steed, but they’re probably lucky not to fall further.

5.Richmond
Last week: 6

It’s not hard to look good when the opposition’s so inept. Reigning premiers comfortably beating the reigning wooden-spooners isn’t an unusual headline, but ‘reigning premiers hold the reigning wooden-spooners goalless until almost three-quarter time’ is.

6.Geelong
Last week: 7

No surprises here. A win over the Saints was Geelong doing as expected, and they made it through with no injuries.

7.Adelaide
Last week: 4

Not a good night, no matter which way you put it. It was wet, sure, but Adelaide just played dumb footy, and failed to adapt the challenge posed to the Pies. They cannot afford to be as complacent against the Swans on Friday night.

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8.West Coast
Last week: 9

Like North and Hawthorn, the Eagles are a team that have surprised me. Big win, return of JJK and they’re 3-1. Not bad for a team predicted to encounter doom and gloom this year.

9.Essendon
Last week: 10

Needed a response after a poor few weeks, and got it with their domination of Port. Fantastic day, and Jake Stringer’s four goals were the cherry on top.

10.Melbourne
Last week: 8

What on Earth? So excellent for the first quarter, so damn poor for the three remaining terms. Almost quintessentially Melbourne, to be honest.

11.Collingwood

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Never been as pleasantly surprised during a live blog as I was on Friday night. Being masters of ‘backs-to-the-wall’ footy is a weird thing to excel at, but they won’t mind. Great win.

12.Fremantle
Last week: 10

Had a good fortnight, but found Canberra’s winds and GWS’s goodness a little tough. Nothing to be disgraced by, though. Bulldogs next weekend is winnable, then it’s the derby.

13.North Melbourne
Last week: 15

North truly aren’t as bad at this footballing caper as we think. 2-2 is not too bad a position to be in, but the Hawks next week will be a challenge. A welcome challenge, perhaps.

14.Western Bulldogs
Last week: 17

The first two weeks are forgotten, and while they didn’t win against the Swans, no one can doubt the fact that they were in the game for its entirety. Fremantle over in Perth this weekend will be interesting to watch.

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15.Gold Coast
Last week: 13

Tough fortnight. The loss to Freo was excusable, somewhat, but the flop against the Eagles was frustrating. They’ll head back to Queensland with their tails between their legs, but confident they could win against the Lions in next weekend’s Q-Clash.

16.Brisbane Lions
Last week: 14

It’s hard to know which words describe Saturday’s performance. Apt options include: ghastly, horrid, despicable, god-awful. I understand young teams will have peaks and troughs, but that was as rough a performance I’ve seen from any team in a long, long time.

17.St Kilda
Last week: 18

A tough year gets tougher. Another loss, but the bigger concern would be Dylan Roberton’s collapse. Frightening vision.

18.Carlton
Last week: 16

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Horrifyingly and excruciatingly bad. Brisbane’s worse performance a few hours earlier saves it from being worst of the week, or does it?

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