Last weekend's unexpectedly high-scoring round has done little to raise hopes for a repeat this weekend where we find both bookmakers' average expected margin coming in at just 166 points per game. 

Only one game this weekend has an expected margin in single digits - the Essendon v Collingwood game - and four of them are expected to be decided by five goals or more, so impartial followers might be in for a disappointingly one-sided round.

MoSSBODS and MoSHBODS were both far less impressed with the Pies' win over the Suns than they were with the Tigers' over the Swans, which meant that the gaps between the Tigers and the Pies at the head of the respective rating leaderboards increased this week.

Only five favourites were victorious this weekend, and ENS_Linear managed to tip one of the four upsets, thereby extending its lead to two tips at the head of the MoS Leaderboard. It's now on 91.5 from 126 (73%). None of the other Head-to-Head Tipsters did better than 5 from 9, and the all-Tipster average came in at 4.4.

The Melbourne v St Kilda game is this week's best hope at producing a total over 170 points according to all four of our forecasters, though in the case of the two bookmakers it's the only game of the nine more likely than not to do so.

This week sees a return to nine game rounds and feels an appropriate point at which to decide that we are officially 'in the run home'.

Beating Carlton by only 20 points and 10 Scoring Shots wasn't quite enough to convince either of the MoS Systems to raise Collingwood's rating this week, with the result that they now find themselves rated 3 Scoring Shots and about 11 points lower than Richmond.

Five of six favourites won this week, which kept the all-Tipster average high across the Head-to-Head Tipsters, and a general lack of disagreement allowed ENS_Linear to retain its one tip lead over Bookie Knows Best at the head of the Leaderboard.

If the bookmakers are right, not a single game should be expected to generate more than 168 points over this elongated in time and truncated in content weekend of football.

Just six more games this weekend, but only one with a single-digit expected margin and five with expected margins of roughly four goals or more. Unless you're a fan of one of the firm favourites or these pre-game expectations prove to be wrong, this round could get fairly ugly, fairly quickly from an aesthetic viewpoint.

Richmond didn't do quite enough this week to impress either of the MoS twins and so saw its rating lead over Collingwood cut on both Systems, albeit by only small amounts. Richmond is now about a 2.7 Scoring Shot or 10 point better side that Collingwood, according to the Systems' ratings.

Most Head-to-Head Tipsters tipped the card this week, which once again left the top of the Leaderboard unchanged. ENS_Linear still leads Bookie Knows Best by a single tip but has improved its season-long record to 80.5 from 111 (73%).

If the bookmakers are right, not a single game should be expected to generate more than 168 points over this elongated in time and truncated in content weekend of football.

We have the first of two back-to-back, snack-sized rounds this weekend where only two-thirds of the teams get to take the field across a four-day span. 

Collingwood's emphatic victory over Melbourne on Monday impressed the MoS twins enough to have them both install the Pies as their second-highest rated teams, dumping the Dees into 4th while leaving Richmond and West Coast in 1st and 3rd places, respectively, on both Systems.

We knew before the round started that there'd be no significant moves on the Head-to-Head Tipster Leaderboard, though we might reasonably have hoped for a better than 4 from 7 return, but that's what we got from all the Tipsters except Home Sweet Home, who bagged only 3 from 7.

Seven games this week, and not much to make you happy if you're craving attacking, high-scoring football, with only the Lions v Dons game expected to breach the 180 mark for total score.

Just the seven games this week as we navigate through the who's-got-the-bye-again-this-weekend portion of the season, which won't end until we're through Round 14. Having successive weeks with 8, 9, 7, 6 and 6 games seems an odd way to accommodate the effectively nine games worth of byes required, but I'm sure there were constraints that necessitated it. 

Richmond remained top, but Melbourne grabbed second from West Coast on both MoSSBODS and MoSHBODS this week, as neither System found the Eagles' win over the Saints sufficiently convincing to justify their previous rating.

As we noted pre-round, interest this week was never going to be about the Head-to-Head Tipster race, which saw absolutely no change in the ordering with all but Home Sweet Home bagging 7 from 9 for the round.