According to MoSSBODS and MoSHBODS, Port Adelaide didn't do enough in defeating the Brisbane Lions by 40 points and 10 Scoring Shots over the weekend, and so shed Rating Points (RPs) on both Systems. As a result, they slipped to 3rd on Combined Ratings.

GWS, despite not playing, took 2nd, but remain 2.7 Scoring Shots (MoSSBODS) and 10.5 points (MoSHBODS) behind Adelaide, who also didn't play.

Further down the ladders, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs were the big movers, the Dees climbing 4 spots on both Systems and the Dogs sliding down 3.

Both Systems also lowered Geelong's ratings on the basis of their 13 point and 8 Scoring Shot loss to West Coast, but it was only on MoSSBODS that the reduction also changed their rank. The Cats fell 3 places on MoSSBODS into 10th, but remain in 5th on MoSHBODS, making them the team most differently ranked under the two Systems. Only one other team is ranked more than a spot differently: Collingwood, which MoSSBODS ranks 6th and MoSHBODS 8th.

Currently, reflecting the even-nature of the competition, 11 teams are rated above-average and only 7 below-average by both Systems.

The two Systems' rankings remain very similar at the component level. No team is ranked more than two places differently by the two Systems on Offence, and on Defence this is the case only for GWS (ranked 9th by MoSSBODS and 6th by MoSHBODS), Melbourne (7th and 10th), and Carlton (4th and 7th).

Both now concur that the three best offensive teams are, in order, Adelaide, GWS and Port Adelaide.

For defence, MoSSBODS has the top 3 as Sydney, Western Bulldogs and Richmond, while MoSHBODS has the ordering as Western Bulldogs, Sydney and then Richmond.

On offence, no team saw its ranking change significantly on both Systems this week, whilst on defence Melbourne rose 5 places on MoSSBODS and 2 on MoSHBODS, West Coast rose 2 places on both Systems, Carlton rose 3 places on both Systems, and Collingwood fell 2 places on MoSSBODS and 3 places on MoSHBODS.

The latest round-by-round MoSSBODS Rating journey animation appears below.

We can see how the current MoSSBODS Ratings compare to teams throughout history at the same point in their respective seasons in the following chart.

At this point in the season it's really only the top 5 teams on MoSSBODS that have Combined Ratings similar to those of any significant number of previous Flag-winners at the same point in the season. This also reflects the exceptionally competitive nature of this year's competition, which has kept a relatively large number of teams within reach of, but slightly below, Grand Final-worthy Combined Ratings.

ChiPS AND MARS

ChiPS and MARS both altered only 6 team's rankings this week, and none by more than a couple of spots.

That left ChiPS with an unchanged Top 3 of Adelaide, GWS and Port Adelaide, and MARS with a new Top 3 of Adelaide, GWS and Sydney after Geelong fell two places from 2nd to 4th.

Again this week we'll finish by bringing together the overall team rankings of all four Systems and comparing them with the current competition ladder ordering. Note that the icons here denote System team ranking relative to ladder ranking.

Sydney and Collingwood stand out as the teams that are ranked much higher by the Rating Systems than their ladder position would suggest, and Fremantle, Essendon and West Coast (MARS aside) as the teams whose ladder position would seem to flatter their underlying ability.