Grinners:
Geelong
The greatest team of all.
GWS
Whatever you want to say about the new kids, these guys have ticker. The Giants hadn’t kicked a goal to half-time, but came out and gave it a red-hot crack in the third. Did deservedly well in the second half.
Port Adelaide
Sure, they fell away late, but three months ago no one would have expected Port to run Essendon close at all.
Carlton
They haven’t had the big test yet. That comes on Friday night. But they’re looking very up for it.
The umpires
A 20-to-1 half on the free kick count in a match and no one questions it because they were all reasonable? Superb.
Gary Ablett
Superstar. Imagine if he had stayed in Geelong.
Sydney
Steadily going about their business. Although there are five sides being mentioned for the top 4, if Sydney simply keep winning and chugging along they very well should be a slippery contender.
Moaners:
The AFL
They only have themselves to blame. But three 100-point drubbings and a fourth 90-point drubbing point to a massive gulf in class between even the middle clubs and the bottom tier.
Yes, to a point it will fix itself over time, but until then it’s going to be ugly and it’s going to hurt the so-called ‘balance’ of the competition.
Melbourne
The most concerning part is their two best players were both Mark Neeld recruits.
Gold Coast
Are they improving? Swallow, Smith and the defence seem to be the only ones getting genuinely better.
Hawthorn
The only thing that makes me question their finals chances are the Cats. Monday was the chance to change that. They didn’t.
Collingwood
Apart from the Scott Pendlebury show, the Pies haven’t exactly been impressive yet. The loss to Hawthorn saw them stall without momentum, and the win against Richmond wasn’t exactly a powerful victory.
There’s no silverware for being top of the ladder in April, but there are cracks in the Collingwood shell.
Brisbane
It was the chance to show they’d really improved. Instead they just showed how bad Melbourne really are.
