The inconsistent and fluctuating form of a number of sides was a talking point on Monday morning.
Not taking into account the West Coast and Melbourne game, with that match still to be played, we saw 14 sides mix their form across Rounds 20 and 21.
Only Port Adelaide and Hawthorn have won two in a row with the Demons a chance to join them if they can beat the Eagles in Perth on Monday night.
The likes of St Kilda, Carlton, Brisbane and Fremantle in particular put up completely different performances over the past two weekends, prompting Garry Lyon to comment on the topsy-turvy nature of proceedings.
“How can you tip when you can’t climb inside the head of half of these teams who will turn up one week and will go, ‘You know what, just not feeling it today’,” he said on SEN Breakfast.
“The whole lot of them just go through the motions and it’s really apathetic.
“Then five, six, seven days later… I’m looking at St Kilda, who lost to Carlton last week, then came out and played the best contested team in the competition (Sydney) and put them to the sword.
“The Suns against Melbourne, beat Carlton.
“Carlton defeats St Kilda, lose to the Suns.
“The Lions lose to the Hawks. What about the Lions? They are Exhibit A for me.
“Their loss to Hawthorn was just passive and then they were ferocious again Freo.
“And you could add Freo who beat Richmond the week before.
“Can anyone explain?
“Everyone has had their moments but the ones up the top end have had less of them.”
Kane Cornes concurred with Lyon’s sentiments, picking out the teams he believes have been up and down the most frequently of late.
He said: “It’s half the competition, isn’t it?”
“You can’t question Sydney. Port Adelaide show up most weeks, they’ve been missing a couple of times.
“Melbourne (has) occasionally (played poorly), Geelong have done it, the Giants do it regularly.
“The ones you mentioned - Carlton, St Kilda and Brisbane - this year are the biggest offenders of that.”
The uncertain nature of weekly results is what’s making the 2021 AFL season so intriguing with no clear-cut premiership favourite and still two spots in the top eight up for grabs (provided the Eagles don’t win on Monday) with two rounds to play.
There are a number of reasons for undulating form. It could be a lack of crowds, the uncertain nature of venues on a week-to-week basis or the mental weight of being in lockdown.
Whatever it is, it’s hard to work out form lines across the competition, making it a nightmare for tipsters.
