The big winners of Round 18 were...
Sydney Swans and Port Adelaide Power, both of whom kept their remote hopes of finals qualifications alive with important victories to remain three wins off the pace.
The Swans' hard-fought win over St Kilda was their fourth win from their last five weeks and they face an interesting remainder of the season with three games against current top-nine clubs, against who they have a pretty ordinary 3-6 record, and what should be three soft wins against Essendon, West Coast and North Melbourne.
Port Adelaide had to work a lot harder than they should have for their reward thanks to some wasteful kicking for goal in the third quarter but they too are still in the hunt, even if it's likely that six consecutive wins from here will be required to be part of the mid-table logjam.
The big losers of Round 18 were...
Western Bulldogs as they were yet again defeated by a fellow finals hopeful, leaving them with one of the worst records in the competition against such clubs.
Luke Beveridge's side have now lost seven out of eight games against current top-nine sides this year with only North Melbourne, West Coast and Essendon carrying winless records in such circumstances.
Beating up on the likes of Richmond, St Kilda and North Melbourne during their recent four-game winning streak kept them in the hunt mathematically, but they've still got Brisbane, GWS Giants and Fremantle on the run home so their race to a minimum of 14 wins is going to be very difficult on that current trajectory.
Things only become more difficult knowing that most of the five clubs one win ahead of them on 44 points are in much better form when it comes to taking on the best teams of the competition, and whilst it's not yet too late to turn things around, somehow the Swans currently appear to be more of a finals-bound side than the Bulldogs.
Coleman Medal leaderboard
Riley Thilthorpe (Adelaide) and Aaron Cadman (GWS Giants) were the stars of the weekend as far as goalkicking was concerned, whilst there were five-goal collects for Aaron Naughton (Western Bulldogs), Shannon Neale (Geelong) and Jake Melksham (Melbourne).
There was little movement at the top of the Coleman Medal race with Mitch Georgiades picking up three to inch closer to Jeremy Cameron.
AFL Coaches MVP leaderboard
Gold Coast skipper Noah Anderson is in scintillating form and has edged ahead of Bailey Smith to third in the Brownlow Medal betting markets behind Nick Daicos and Jordon Dawson. He could be excellent value at this time of year if the umpires are in agreement with the coaches.
Josh Dunkley, Matt Rowell, Aaron Cadman, Tim Taranto, Sam Switkowski and Christian Petracca all picked up the maximum ten votes this week.
Goal of the Year: Round 18 nominations
Noah Anderson (Gold Coast):
Sam Darcy (Western Bulldogs):
Marc Pittonet (Carlton):
Mark of the Year: Round 18 nominations
Darcy Moore (Collingwood):