In a season such as this where Ratings towards the top of the table are quite compressed - at the end of last round, for example, six teams were separated by only a little more than 3.5 Rating Points -  unexpectedly large or small wins or losses can lead to significant team reorderings. So it was then that 10 teams changed their ChiPS Ranking this week, three of them by more than a single place.

On Sunday the Pies and the Hawks recaptured a significant portion of what the teams before them had collectively surrendered earlier in the weekend, but their combined efforts could only mitigate and not extinguish the overall loss.

This week's activity takes us past the point where every dollar in the Recommended Portfolio has been wagered twice over.

A round full of upsets brought about Ratings declines for six of the eight highest-Rated teams on ChiPS and saw 12 teams change places on the ChiPS Rating Ladder.

The Hawks' victory on Saturday night - which, by game time, even the bookmakers thought more likely than not - simultaneously snapped the Swans' 12-game winning streak and ended Investors' two-round losing streak.

The Line Fund has just four more games during which it can wantonly Level-stake at 5% of the Fund per wager.

Not a full blog post this evening as there's still four-ninths of the round to complete, but a quick update nonetheless to let Investors know that we're up by 1.7c on the round.

Round 18 is a split round with five games taking place this week and four games next week. Although TAB prices have been posted for the markets in which we're interested for all nine contests, I've only considered wagers in those games due to be played this weekend. Call me an optimist but I'm hoping for better prices next week on the four remaining games.

Collingwood, on the backend of a 10-goal thumping by the Dons, were shuffled down to 8th on the competition ladder this weekend. ChiPS treated them similarly, promoting the Roos, Crows and Cats above them.

An Adelaide upset win was this week the key to a bountiful haul for Investors and, once that result went unachieved on Friday night, albeit only narrowly, taking over 6.5c of the Recommended Portfolio with it, the remainder of the round was then solely about sizing the eventual loss. At least, that's how I saw it.

I can't remember a game in the history of MatterOfStats (or of MAFL, as MoS was formerly known) where the range of potential Recommended Portfolio outcomes from a single game spanned a 13.5c range, let alone one where Investors could swing from one end of that range to the other on the basis of just one opportune or inopportune goal.

Six teams changed places on ChiPS' Rankings this week, though only Carlton (up 2) and West Coast (down 2) moved by more than a single place.

It's my - and, not entirely coincidentally, my wife's - 23rd Wedding Anniversary today, so this post is perhaps a little later than might otherwise be the norm. Not that I had any incentive to write it sooner.

You're a portfolio manager basking in the warmth of six consecutive periods of sweet profit that have served to lift your original investment by over 20%. What do you do?

There's not been a lot of movement on team Ratings and Rankings as a consequence of Round 15 results, so there'll be fairly minimal commentary this week.

Despite the Margin Fund's best intentions, Investors enjoyed another week of profitability, extending the run of unbroken joy to six straight weeks. I'm now genuinely in fear of just how mean that mean regression is going to be.

The absence of any Head-to-Head bets has brought about a slight reduction in the aggregate volume of wagering this week, though the Margin Fund has made up for some of the difference by increasing its level of activity to 10 bets for the round. That feels a little like turning up at the Globe Theatre and being informed that the role of Lady Macbeth will tonight be performed by Kermit the Frog.

Nine teams' ChiPS' Ranking changed after Round 14 results, four rising and five falling, though only one team's Ranking altered by more than a single place.

By Sunday afternoon, Investors had made enough money during the round that neither Saints nor Demons could truly bother them. 

This week's portfolio of wagers seems much better aligned with the Funds' recent form, so I feel a lot more comfortable with what we have in Round 14 than with what we had last week. Which, oddly, makes me uncomfortable ...