Form ladder 2024

[David]

I usually wait until Round 3 to get the form ladder up and running. But it seems like Round 2 is the new Round 3 in 2024, so let’s do this:

Round 2 form ladder

1. Sydney
2. GWS
3. Port Adelaide
4. Melbourne
5. Fremantle
6. Carlton
7. Geelong
8. Western Bulldogs

9. St Kilda
10. Brisbane
11. Gold Coast
12. Adelaide
13. Essendon
14. Richmond
15. Collingwood
16. North Melbourne
17. Hawthorn
18. West Coast

[David]

Round 3

1. GWS
2. Sydney
3. Melbourne
4. Carlton
5. Fremantle
6. Port Adelaide
7. Geelong
8. Western Bulldogs

9. Gold Coast
10. Richmond
11. St Kilda
12. Essendon
13. Collingwood
14. Brisbane
15. Adelaide
16. North Melbourne
17. Hawthorn
18. West Coast

[David]

At half time I was ready to move us up to 9th or so…

Round 4

1. GWS
2. Melbourne
3. Port Adelaide
4. Sydney
5. Carlton
6. Fremantle
7. Geelong
8. Western Bulldogs

9. St Kilda
10. Richmond
11. Gold Coast
12. Collingwood
13. Brisbane
14. Essendon
15. Adelaide
16. Hawthorn
17. North Melbourne
18. West Coast

[dalyc]

^ nothing much to argue about here. You could flip a couple but it’s a matter of opinion.

[LaurieHolden]

Remind me again of the ranking criteria?

[drewdavis]

What are your ranking criteria?

[dalyc]

^ One drop of essence of terror, two drops of sinister sauce

[Pies4shaw]

^ That, right there, shows how arbitrary this all is. The weighting is so wrong. Everyone knows that Champion Data uses 6 drops of essence of terror and 5 drops of sinister sauce.

[David]

[LaurieHolden]

So just how you're seeing it?

[David]

Yep, but I've always encouraged other posters to post their own ladders in here too!

[David]

Round 5

1. Port Adelaide
2. GWS
3. Sydney
4. Geelong
5. Melbourne
6. Carlton
7. Fremantle
8. Brisbane

9. Gold Coast
10. St Kilda
11. Western Bulldogs
12. Essendon
13. Collingwood
14. Adelaide
15. Richmond
16. West Coast
17. Hawthorn
18. North Melbourne

[piffdog]

Havent got my own ladder to post, but I think there is merit in separating the bottom 2/3/4 teams from everyone else. GWS are "flying" apparently - but have had the good fortune of already playing North and the Eagles... The crows by contrast havent played one of the bottom four teams once! Blues have a tough 5 weeks coming up and may well go from "flag favourites" (lol...) to 5-5 mid ladder also-rans.

When you have bad teams which are sooo bad, when and how many times you play them had a huge role in the shape of the ladder. It detracts even more from some of the crap like "top 8 locked in already" which we are already readong on the likes of fox footy.

To be clear - none of this means we should be higher in the ladders posted on this thread. Probably somewhere between 10-13 is about right IMO. Need to be win at least two of the next three to suggest we are still a decent team capable of being in the top 6 or thereabouts.

[David]

Agreed on all counts.

When I was trying to work out this week’s ladder I divided the teams into three categories: my top eight, which I think are all hard to split at the moment (no clear frontrunners so far, as noted above); the more middling teams from 9th to 15th, which I think are experiencing more mixed fortunes and of whom I’d like to think we’re the best-placed to move up to the next group, though unfortunately not on exposed form so far; and the bottom three, who I think are clearly a fair way behind the pack.

It’s absolutely worth noting that the Giants haven’t played anyone in my top eight yet. They have had a couple of good wins over us and the Suns, but otherwise are yet to really face any real contenders (much as I hope we will become seen as such soon). But other good teams like Port, Sydney and Melbourne have already faced strong opposition and stumbled themselves – and the Cats, like the Giants, have barely played anyone and only squeaked past the Saints and Bulldogs – so there’s no team that clearly deserves the mantle of premiership favourite imo.

[Pies4shaw]

So Port down to 23rd?