So after the
past few weeks of strangeness which team has emerged as the best in the
AFL? Adelaide is back on top of the rankings, but with a much diminished lead compared
with three weeks ago. The Crows were awful in two of their past three
matches, against the Kangaroos and Melbourne, but take away those two matches and
they have been the best side so far this season. If the horrible version of the
Crows has been put away, never to re-emerge again in 2017, then Adelaide should
be hard to stop.
A few weeks ago Greater
Western Sydney looked to be the Crows’ biggest challenger. The Giants though
have been mediocre the past four weeks. Even though they eventually won three
of those matches, those were all narrow wins at home, and none of them were against
the top sides this season (though the Bulldogs are the reigning premiers). If
GWS cannot recapture its earlier form it will quickly fall into the second tier
of sides, no matter what its current, somewhat flattering ladder position may
suggest.
The best side in 2017 so far
though has been Port Adelaide. Port’s only ‘bad’ performance of the year has
been its loss at home to West Coast, otherwise it was decent in its losses to
Adelaide and GWS, and downright scary in its five other matches to date. If I had
to talk up any team’s chances in this up-and-down year it would be the Power.
Note though that last year’s
runners-up (and top ranked side) Sydney has re-emerged as a good team over the
past couple of weeks after a horrid start to 2017. It remains to be seen whether
the Swans are too far back now to make a meaningful tilt at the flag. If they
sneak into the finals though then they could take out a couple of 'second tier' sides along the way.
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