Ratings superiority counted for little this week, as the number 1 and 2 rated teams on both MoS Systems came away with Preliminary Final losses.

Despite their losses, Richmond and Melbourne retained their top rankings, and might well still be there at the end of the season, although a very big win in the Grand Final could see Melbourne lose 2nd place on both Systems to the eventual winner.

A little rejigging of the team rankings by both Systems left them agreeing, in total, about the ranking of 11 teams, while still differing in the ranking of only St Kilda by more than a single place. MoSSBODS has them 12th and MoSHBODS 14th.

Looking next at the component ratings, we see that:

• MoSSBODS still has a Top 3 on offence of Melbourne, Richmond, and then Adelaide, and MoSHBODS still has a Top 3 on offence of Melbourne, Richmond, and then Essendon

• MoSSBODS now has a Top 3 on defence of Richmond, Collingwood and then West Coast, the latter taking Melbourne’s place.

• MoSHBODS has a Top 3 on defence of Richmond, Collingwood and then West Coast, with the Pies and the Eagles swapping places this week.

Across all 18 teams, no team is now ranked more than two places differently on either offence or defence by the two Systems. 

The latest version of the animated GIF of MoSSBODS ratings appears below, and shows the increase in the offensive and defensive ratings of both Collingwood and West Coast this week.

As things stand now:

• eight teams have a positive offensive and a positive defensive rating (unchanged from last week)

• one has a positive offensive and a negative defensive rating (unchanged from last week)

• three have a negative offensive and a positive defensive rating (unchanged from last week)

• six have a negative offensive and a negative defensive rating (unchanged from last week)

In total, nine teams now have a positive offensive rating while 11 have a positive defensive rating.

ChiPS re-ranked no teams this week, but MARS elevated West Coast two spots and into 2nd, slipping Melbourne to 3rd and Geelong to 4th.

That left ChiPS with a Top 3 of Richmond, Melbourne and then Geelong, and MARS with a Top 3 of Richmond, West Coast and then Melbourne. With large enough victories in the Grand Final, it’s conceivable that either Collingwood or West Coast could finish as high as 2nd on ChiPS and, though less likely, that West Coast could finish in 1st on MARS.

Across the 18 teams, the two Systems currently agree about the ranking of eight teams, and differ by more than two places only in their rankings of West Coast (5th on ChiPS and 2nd on MARS), and Adelaide (12th on ChiPS and 9th on MARS).

Looking across the team rankings of all four Systems we find the largest disparities for:

• Sydney, ranked five places differently across the Rating Systems, from 8th to 13th

• Geelong, ranked four places differently across the Rating Systems, from 3rd to 7th

• Essendon, ranked four places differently across the Rating Systems, from 6th to 10th

• Adelaide, ranked four places differently across the Rating Systems, from 8th to 12th

• No other team is ranked more than three places differently across the Rating Systems.