Sydney have now floated to the top of MoSSBODS Ratings ahead of Port Adelaide and Adelaide, though they remain 2nd behind Adelaide and ahead of Port Adelaide on MoSHBODS. 

No team climbed by more than two spots on either System this week, and only St Kilda fell by multiple spots on both, slipping 3 places into 9th on MoSSBODS, and 3 places into 10th on MoSHBODS.

The same 11 teams are now rated by as "above average" on MoSSBODS and MoSHBODS.

At round's end, no team is ranked more than two places differently on MoSSBODS and MoSHBODS, and only three teams - Adelaide, the Western Bulldogs, and Melbourne - are differentially ranked by even that much.

Turning next to the component ratings we find that, on offence, the only teams moving multiple spots on both Systems were Sydney, up 2 spots on both, and Richmond, down 2 spots on both.

Defensively, the only teams moving multiple spots on both Systems were:

• Hawthorn, up 4 spots on MoSHBODS, and 2 spots on MoSSBODS
• Melbourne, up 3 spots on both
• GWS, up 2 spots on both
• St Kilda, down 3 spots on both
• Carlton, down 3 spots on MoSSBODS, and 2 spots on MoSHBODS

Ratings remain compressed offensively and defensively, though a little less so than they were last week. On Offence, for MoSSBODS the gap between 3rd and 11th is only 2.1 Scoring Shots, while on MoSHBODS the gap between 3rd and 10th is only 5.5 points. Defensively, for MoSSBODS the gap between 2nd and 15th is only 3.3 Scoring Shots, while on MoSHBODS the gap between 2nd and 12th is only 9.2 points.

As noted last week, home ground advantage must surely be a bigger factor than usual this season.

Both Systems continue to agree about the composition of the Top 3 teams on offence, though they debate the order.

Offensively, MoSSBODS has the ordering as Adelaide, Port Adelaide, Essendon, while MoSHBODS has it as Adelaide, Essendon, Port Adelaide.

Defensively, MoSSBODS has it as Sydney, Western Bulldogs, Port Adelaide, while MoSHBODS has opted for Sydney, Western Bulldogs, Richmond.

The latest round-by-round MoSSBODS Rating journey animation appears below and shows Sydney moving into top spot overall with a 1.7 Scoring Shot superiority over Port Adelaide on Defence, and just an 0.6 deficit on Offence.

Next let's take our regular look at the current MoSSBODS Ratings compared with those for every other team in history at the same point in their respective seasons. (Note that we're continuing to lose some teams from prior years in this chart because they did not have a Round 18 in their Home and Away season.)

Adelaide, Port Adelaide and Sydney continue to form a group of their own ahead of a pursuing bunch led by GWS and the Western Bulldogs.

Carlton, North Melbourne, Fremantle, Gold Coast, and the Brisbane Lions all now seem to have dropped off the peloton.

ChiPS AND MARS

ChiPS re-ranked only five teams this week and MARS only six, as both Systems reach a landing, albeit maybe only temporarily, on the appropriate ordering of most of the teams.

No team moved multiple spots on both Systems, and only GWS did so on either, slipping two spots to 6th on ChiPS.

Amongst the Top 3, ChiPS made no changes whilst MARS moved Sydney into 2nd and Port Adelaide into 3rd. Both Systems still have Adelaide as their top-rated teams.

Across the four Systems the only teams now appearing in the Top 5 for all of them are Adelaide, Port Adelaide and Sydney.

As well, Sydney, Port Adelaide and the Kangaroos find themselves ranked a couple of places or more higher by all four Systems compared to their competition ladder rankings, while the opposite is true for Geelong and Fremantle, their ladder spots two places or more higher than their rankings on the four Systems.

The largest disparities in the rankings across the four Systems are now for West Coast (ranked 6th on MARS and 13th on MoSSBODS and MoSHBODS), and the Western Bulldogs (ranked 4th on MoSSBODS and 9th on ChiPS).  No other team is ranked more than four places differently across the Systems.