2011 MARS Ratings After Round 13

Almost all of this week's movement on the MARS Rating ladder took place amongst teams in the bottom half.

At the top, Hawthorn grabbed 3rd position from Carlton, even though the Blues picked up a couple of Ratings Points in their 34-point victory over the Swans. The Hawks' 71-point win over the Suns was rated about a point higher, which was sufficient to edge the Hawks 0.2 Ratings Points clear of the Blues.

Lower down, the Roos and the Dees both jumped two spots, while Richmond and Port Adelaide climbed one place each. Essendon, Adelaide and the Gold Coast each fell one spot, and Fremantle recorded the season's equal-largest single-round decline in falling three places to 12th on the back of their 89-point loss to Melbourne.

Five teams have gained 7 or more Ratings Points over the course of Rounds 9 to 13, four of them the highest-rated teams on MARS Ratings.

The Roos are the other big gainers having picked up 11 Ratings Points in the last five rounds during which time they've climbed from 13th to 9th on MARS Ratings.

Teams that have shed a large number of Ratings Points include Adelaide, which has dropped almost 14 Points, Gold Coast which has dropped almost 12 despite only playing four times, and Essendon, which has also played only four games and has dropped over 9 Ratings Points.

In shedding so many points so rapidly, Essendon has fallen from 7th to 11th on MARS Ratings, and from 6th to 11th in just the last 3 rounds.

With the four top teams failing to drop Ratings Points this week and the bottom four all managing this feat, the Ratings differential between 4th and 14th increased yet again and now stands at 43.4 Ratings Points, which is an increase of over 13.5 Ratings Points in the last 4 rounds.

If, with thoughts of the Finals in mind, we confine our attention to the Ratings Point differential between 4th and 8th position, a similarly disturbing picture emerges. Four weeks ago the difference was just under 9 Ratings Points; now it's about 24.5 Ratings Points.