The great divide: 2026 is the most top-and-tailed season since 2016

The gap between the AFL's best and worst is the widest it has been in a decade. Fremantle sit on 146% at the top while the wooden-spoon side is down at 61% - a runaway leader and a soft underclass at the same time. For tippers it means fewer genuine coin-flips: the big teams are winning big and the cellar-dwellers are getting beaten heavily, so trust the ladder more than usual in mismatches.

St Kilda, the flat-track flat-earthers: 0-8 vs the top eight, 6-1 vs the bottom six

St Kilda are hanging around 10th, but look closer and the record is built entirely on bullying the weak. They have NOT beaten a single top-eight side all year (0 from 8), while feasting on the cellar (6 wins from 7 against the bottom six). Tipper takeaway: when the Saints line up against a genuine contender, history says fade them; when they draw a bottom-six side, they are close to automatic.

The top eight is a members-only club: five teams haven't cracked it once

Getting a win against the 2026 top eight has been near-impossible for the also-rans. Five clubs are completely winless against the eight this year: Richmond (0-9), Gold Coast (0-9), St Kilda (0-8), West Coast (0-8) and North Melbourne (0-6). Tipper takeaway: in any matchup between a top-eight side and one of these five, the form book is brutally one-sided - lean hard on the top-eight team, especially at line.