The big winner of Round 13 is...
Geelong Cats who, albeit with the assistance of some filthy wet conditions at Kardinia Park, held one of the most potent attacks and midfields to just five goals all afternoon despite losing star rover Bailey Smith to a late hamstring injury.
Gold Coast Suns, hovering around the top four as one of the breakout teams of the first half of the year, had the best chance of their 15-year history to break their Kardinia Park duck at the eighth time of asking. It wasn't to be.
The Cats just seem to be the kind of side capable of filling any chink in their arsenal at any time with their immense squad depth and throngs of unsung heroes.
On this occasion it would be Max Holmes with a career-high 40 disposals playing the role of midfield boss that Smith has become accustomed to, whilst Mark O'Connor deserves high praise for holding the Suns' Noah Anderson to just 19 disposals - his equal-lowest return since Round 1 of 2023.
It was therefore only fitting that Geelong jumped back above the Suns into fourth place. They won't be taking any opposition lightly, but Essendon could offer four easy points next weekend.
The big loser of Round 13 is...
Western Bulldogs who, with three defeats from their last four matches, have plummeted down the power rankings into the 'pretenders' category - which their conquerors Hawthorn arguably topped coming into the weekend.
We expected Hawthorn to be outclassed based on their poor performances against top-eight sides this year but neglected the Dogs' own such struggles in the process.
They now hold a 1-6 record against current top-eight clubs, having only defeated GWS Giants who themselves are lacking winning consistency and are lingering around a mid-table position.
Luke Beveridge's side are no guarantees against St Kilda next week but have that, a mid-season bye and what they should consider to be a couple of soft kills ahead of stern tests against top-four Adelaide and Brisbane.
All of a sudden, Sam Darcy can't come back quickly enough.
Dishonourable mention: Brisbane Lions were one straight kick away from opening up a six-point gap to Geelong on the ladder, so whilst on any other day they probably would have got the job done, it's still a significant setback.
Where did all the points go?
Did that feel like an unusually low scoring (and perhaps for many, boring) round? That's because it was!
The famous Channel Seven sports statistician colloquially known on the Twittersphere as 'Swamp' has pointed out that the average of 62 points per team is the lowest of the AFL era (1991-2025), appropriately excluding the shortened quarter matches of 2020.
Ironic how Ross Lyon's Fremantle had the week off, isn't it?
Coleman Medal leaderboard
All that considered, it comes as no surprise that it was a very quiet weekend for the sharpshooters of the league.
Hawthorn's Mabior Chol and Geelong's Tyson Stengle were the lead goalkickers of the weekend with four each, and the frontrunners for the Coleman Medal couldn't manage more than two each.
Mark of the Year: Round 13 nominations
1: Jordan Dawson
2: Jake Melksham
3: James O'Donnell
Goal of the Year: Round 13 nominations
1: Dion Prestia
2: Josh Rachele
3: Kysaiah Pickett: