Sydney and Adelaide (despite losing) both lifted their MARS Ratings this week, while their respective opponents in Collingwood and Hawthorn saw their Ratings decline.

Hawthorn, nonetheless, retains a sizeable Ratings lead over the next-highest Rated team, the Swans, which they'll meet in the Grand Final. The Ratings gap between Hawthorn and Sydney is such that, no matter the margin of any imagined Sydney victory, the Hawks will finish the season as the top Rated team. It's also hard to countenance a Swans' loss by a sufficiently extraordinary margin to have their Rating dip below Geelong's.