Some will, I'm sure, disagree but on MARS Ratings the Eagles will now finish the season in 6th, with Carlton in 4th and St Kilda in 5th. That's the upshot of this week's Preliminary Final results, which saw the Cats snatch 2.7 Ratings Points from the Eagles and Collingwood, despite winning, surrender 0.8 Ratings Points to the Hawks, such was the unexpected narrowness of their victory.

The Cats' Ratings Point gain and the Pies' loss has narrowed the Ratings gap between the two teams to just 3.8 Ratings Points, which represents a reduction in this gap by over 20 Ratings Points since the end of Round 23 of the home-and-away season, and which also means that next weekend's GF will see the 4th-lowest Rating difference between the competing teams in the past 12 seasons.