Two months down, four to go the eight is continuing to take shape as the pretenders are separated from the contenders.

This round had it all, elements of controversy with calls and non calls, sublime play from a rampant Collingwood as they dug deep over the Swans, and Essendon falling agonising short for their third loss in a row. Read on for my power rankings this week.

18. North Melbourne Kangaroos (down one)

The Kangaroos are down on the bottom yet again as they kicked 2 and a half times as many points as they scored goals in what was an extremely dire match that had all the hallmarks of a David Noble special when the Kangas were bereft of any hope whatsoever.

I suppose there was some bright lights as Jaidyn Stephenson is quietly putting together his best season since his Rising Star winning year in 2018 as he collected twelve disposals and kicked a goal. While Jack Ziebell continues to be an unofficial captain while Jy Simpkin and Luke Mcdonald continue to work through their own leadership styles. Jack Ziebell collected 36 disposals 30 of which were kicks alongside an enormous 18 marks.

The Kangaroos have absolutely no hope, it is a depressing state of affairs right now and there’s no clear solution aside from playing the kids and bearing with it.

17. Hawthorn Hawks (down three)

It was the unsociable Hawks again as they gave away several ill disciplined free kicks against an out of form Dockers side. James Sicily failed to remember his role as captain as they went down by 69 points to a resurgent Freo in what is fast becoming a long long season for the Hawthorn faithful.

They dropped onto the bottom of the ladder on percentage as they firm as favourites for the signature for the much vaunted Harley Reid at the end of this year.

However, I don’t think we can be too harsh on the Hawks as they had several contributions from the midfield with Conor Nash, James Worpel, and Will Day combining for 77 disposals and 21 clearances leaving Jaegar O’Meara and Tom Mitchell a distant memory.

16. West Coast Eagles (up two)

Oscar Allan is a super star, contributing four of the first six Eagles goals it is clear to all the football watching public that he is shaping up as an important spearhead in the absence of key personnel.

It was the sixth straight loss for the Eagles as they’re firming as favourites for the Harley Reid cup despite managing to creep off the bottom of the ladder on percentage to 17th.

Making their injury crisis worse was the early substitution of Jai Culley who was limping off at the end of the first quarter after an apparent knee injury as they head dangerous close to being forced to name all their listed players. Wins are secondary at this point in time, but the Eagles are showing some good signs with Jarmaine Jones as a half back with another 30 disposal game ably assisted by the older cooler heads in Tim Kelly and Dom Sheed (29 disposals each).

Now I have yet to see this new game style that has been talked about in the off season, but Adam Simpson seems up for the challenge which is important.

15. Fremantle Dockers (up one)

First off they ought to be commended for wearing such a jersey to acknowledge the marvellous work that the Starlight Foundation does in what I hope will continue to be a tradition for the Dockers as they head towards a more positive future.

It was the Luke Jackson show on Saturday Night with 24 disposals, 6 marks, along with 2 goals and sixteen contested possessions.

Now they have only beat Hawthorn yet they kicked their highest score since round one 2019 and their most number of goals in seven years as the Dockers played with more intent as they retained the ball with some deadly kicks into the corridor to move the ball from back to front and kick a solid winning score.

The Dockers now face a horrendously out of form Sydney Swans at their former fortress of the Sydney Cricket Ground.

14. Sydney Swans (down one)

The Swans are struggling. They have exceptionally poor form at the MCG which is secondary to their horrendous loss at the Grand Final lastr year.

They attempted to play Ryan Clarke as a defensive forward to shut down the run and carry of Nick Daicos yet they are lacking in so many parts of the ground that such a nullifying role was never going to work against a rampant Collingwood.

The Swans were unable to go with the Pies as they kicked away in the last quarter as it was a match that was dominated by its spite on the field, and in the stands as the rabble attempted to make their voices heard in extremely ugly fashion.

In addition, I thought Errol Gulden is fast becoming the most important player in Sydney’s young crop with a massive 37 disposals 32 of which were kicks as he showed how he could operate both inside and out as a smaller midfielder.

13. Greater Western Sydney (down one)

It was a tale of two Green’s on Saturday evening with Toby Greene pulling out of the match an hour out, and Tom Green dominating with 38 disposals and three goals in a banner game early in Tom Green’s career. Tom Green frequently found himself opposed to fellow superstar Marcus Bontempelli with Tom Green edging him ever so slightly in what is close to a record breaking dream-team performance with 170 AFL fantasy points.

The other point that I feel worthy of mentioning is how Nick Haynes continues to wind back the clock with 10 intercept possessions along side Conor Idun (11) and Jack Buckley (7) performing admirably in the absence of their talismanic key defender in Sam Taylor.

The Giants have been significantly better then I have said this year, I expected they were going to be a bottom four fancy but Adam Kingsley is encouraging a confident style of play different from his time at Richmond.

12. Gold Coast Suns (down one)

As my learned colleage Tim Miller said this was the best game by the Gold Coast against solid opposition, however it remains to be seen i they can parlay it into anything more. The Suns had multiple career games from Noah Anderson (37 disposals 10 clearances) and Malcolm Rosas (4 goals).

The Suns could not get over the line yet they had their opportunities and unlike against Essendon they didn’t drop their heads in the last quarter and pushed Melbourne to the final siren.

I think the match was lost when the Suns attempted to replicate what worked so effectively worked when Essendon played a two ruck system with Levi Casboult, Mabior Chol, Ben King, Jack Lukosius, and Jarrod Witts playing in the same side making them a little too top heavy against a lighter and faster Melbourne outfit.

11. Essendon Bombers (down one)

The Bombers should have lost this game by a lot more yet thanks to their extreme accuracthe y they were able to staunch the bleeding and push the Port Adelaide Power to the latter stages of the fourth quarter.

I think this match required some extremely shrewd thinking from Brad Scott as he started playing Kyle Langford on Aliir Aliir as he forced him out of his comfort zone running up and down the ground gathering 21 disposals and kicking two goals.

While the Bombers are clearly relishing a resurgent Jake Stringer enabling them to get first use with a huge 8 straight centre clearances at the start of the match.

The match was lost as soon as Jordan Ridley was concussed by a drive by action from Junior Rioli making an already short Essendon defence even shorter, making matters worse was an injury to Zach Reid in the VFL as he crept off with an injured hamstring.

The Bombers need to recover pretty urgently but this stretch of matches was always going to be extremely difficult facing Collingwood, Geelong, Port Adelaide and Brisbane in consecutive weeks.

10. Carlton Blues (down one)

This was a strange game for the Carlton Blues faithful, at home, playing an interstate side that is notoriously poor away from home and even still they could not get the job done.

It appears that when there’s no Patrick Cripps throwing the side on his back there is no Carlton and he was effectively shut out of the game by a rampaging Josh Dunkley who collected 33 disposals, 13 tackles and 555 meters gained to Patrick Cripps’ 17 disposals.

Outside of a small stretch at the beginning of the fourth quarter where there was a faint hope that the Blues could come back, Friday night was exceptionally disappointing for the Blues faithful who seem to be unable to capitalise on their dominance in the inside midfield.

The Blues are stuck in the logjam from 3rd to 13th this year. They have key pillars secured in Charlie Curnow, Harry McKay, Patrick Cripps, Sam Walsh and Jacob Weitering absorbing a large portion of their salary cap.

9. Richmond Tigers (up six)

This game was in danger of becoming an embarassment for the Tigers as the Eagles stayed with them for a half of footy. However, thanks to a 3rd quarter cameo from Dion Prestia with 3 goals the Tigers were able to put away an assertive Eagles outfit.

The Tigers have not had a good year, of that there is no uncertainty, however, you can only beat the opponent in front of you and they gained valuable percentage in addition to the four points as they were able to kick away in the second half.

Tim Taranto, and Jacob Hopper have been maligned as over priced recruits for a Richmond system that prides itself on putting aside it’s ego yet they led the Tigers midfield from the front combining for 62 disposals, 20 clearances and three goals.

Ably assisting them was the always handy Shai Bolton with three goals, 13 score involvements to go with his 31 disposals indicating he is a potent midfielder forward threat.

The Tigers now face a resurgent Geelong on Friday night in what is sure to be an enthralling clash between the two ageing heavy weights.

8. Adelaide Crows (no change)

Taylor Walker is fast becoming an ageless wonder with yet another three-goal contribution and no signs of slowing down as he heads into the middle of his fourth decade on this earth.

I am not going to lie, but I did not rate the decision to make Jordan Dawson captain at the beginning of this year, I thought that Tom Doedee was the next captain in waiting as he heads into his free agency year, despite that Jordan Dawson effectively becomes the control tower of the Adelaide outfit working the central corridor with brutal efficiency and provide ample score involvements (5) alongside two centre clearances.

I still have questions about their performances against the best teams but the Crows are an intriguing watch this year which is not something I thought we’d be able to say about them this year.

7. St Kilda (down one)

The Saints won. Thats about all I can say about this game. The Saints needed to win and they won with the paltry 8 goals 16 behinds to 4 goals 10 behinds. Mattaes Phillipou had a highlight with an almighty leap taking a mark of the year smokey on Sunday evening.

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera also had a career high in possessions with 28 disposals, while they were ably assisted by Cooper Sharman playing a traditional centre half forward role with 18 disposals and a goal.

The Saints are still desperately missing Max King as a talisman with which to straighten up with and push the undermanned Kangaroos to the limit. The Saints got the four points, but North are in a world of hurt after the honeymoon period of Alastair Clarkson early on this year.

6. Western Bulldogs (up one)

Marcus Bontempelli will break records at the Brownlow this year. It is nearly certain that he will pole in every match he has played ably taking advantage of Tim English’s astute taps as they form a tough one two punch in the midfield as they combined for 14 score involvements and 55 disposals.

The Bulldogs are taking their chances against their opposition however, I do still have questions; as has often been mooted the Bulldogs have never made the top four despite making two grand finals across Luke Beveridge’s tenure as head coach forcing them to win every single game in the post season without a margin for error.

I expect the Bulldogs will make finals again, but I feel that they have an all or nothing mentality where if they don’t make the pointy end of finals they crash out in Elimination finals.

5. Geelong Cats (no change)

Worryingly for the Cats Patrick Dangerfield was forced off of the ground with an apparent hamstring injury yesterday afternoon. It is a concern for a club that has been so consistently solid for the past decade and a half, yet despite that the Cats were able to get the job done at their home fortress thanks to three goals from Jeremy Cameron (who is slightly below the rate required for a ton at this point) and 22 disposals from Max Holmes who proved a valuable understudy for Patrick Dangerfield playing a more central midfielder role this week.

The Cats would be very happy to walk out of that game with four points particularly as the Crows appear to be good this year with a potent offense that would stretch the Cats’ defence that has been inconsistent against the form sides of this competition.

4.Port Adelaide Power (down one)

The Power have made it six in a row as they build a significant body of work that makes me think that they might not be the easy beats that they’ve been in years past. The one criticism I would say of the Port is they didn’t make the most of their opportunities and the 12 goals 20 behinds score line means they clearly should have3 won the game by more than five points.

However, the optimist in me says that the Power have effectively transitioned from the older heads in Travis Boak and Oli Wines to the young champions in Conor Rozee (29 disposals, and a goal), Zac Butters (28 disposals) and Jason Horne-Francis (20 disposals 5 tackles).

What the Power have managed to do is throw their players around while Charlie Dixon is playing on one leg and they clearly need to clone Jeremy Finlayson as he is perhaps the most important player for the Power.

3. Brisbane Lions (up one)

That’s five on the trot for the Lions. I believe we will look back at this match as an eight point game as the Lions beat a fellow top eight challenger, away from home, and an offensively potent side at that. Jack Payne is fast becoming a rock in defence, and Friday Night was no exception as he was matched up on Charlie Curnow keeping him to one goal two behinds forcing Charlie Curnow to roam as far afield as the half back flank to get possessions.

The Brisbane Lions forward line as well was able to remove the Blues’ best weapons off the half back flank running a tight team tag on Adam Saad as he was matched up on different opponents all night while also providing pressure to ensure every kick out of the backline was under pressure.

The Lions are now firming as top four favourites this year, they do still need to show it more frequently away from home however they’re starting to make me a believer.

2. Melbourne Demons (down one)

This was a contentious game, and Melbourne were lucky to take out the win with some contentious calls going their way along with some inaccurate kicking from Darcy Macpherson.

Max Gawn is a reinvented man with the presence of Brodie Grundy as ruck #2 he no longer needs to be the main man and can float forward as he did on Saturday evening with two goals among his 15 disposals and 17 hit outs.

In all honesty the Dees were lucky to get their win as they dominated the territory game winning the inside fifty count by 16 despite losing clearances and contested possessions to a Suns outfit that brutalised them at the coal face.

Despite that, the Dees were able to easily win the post clearance differentials while their three key midfielders getting involved in scoring chains with Jack Viney, Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca combining for 22 score involvements.

1. Collingwood Magpies (up one)

Now I want to say one thing that may fall on deaf ears but the Collingwood suppporters need to pull their heads in, booing Lance Franklin is not on.

However, by that same token I want to commend the Collingwood Football Club for releasing a statement excoriating the act of booing someone who is objectively a champion of the game.

Now onto the game, I thought Brody Mihocek played an outstanding game with a season high five goals as he continues to show his worth to both Nathan Buckley’s and now Craig Mcrae’s system enabling the Pies to straight up and focus around the focal point that is an under sized key forward in Mihocek.

Another thing I noticed was the Pies were able to shut out the spiteful actions of Tom Papley and Ryan Clarke rallying around their young champion in Nick Daicos.

Additionally, Brayden Maynard flew the flag dragging the Swans players down in what was an almighty fracas that has resulted in 9 individual players being fined.

The Pies are in ripping form at the moment, and they’re deservedly the premiership favourites, in order to beat them sides will need to attack more than the Pies and push them to their limits as they do leave openings in their line up.

Well there you have it folks. What you think? Do you agree? leave your thoughts below and I will do my best to respond quickly.

Post Script: Shameless plug time – I will be on the Lace Out Podcast with Chris Pepper next week as a guest co-host have a listen if you want to hear my ramblings.