The Dogs walked off with the four points, but Round 13's football tells a different story — Hawthorn were the better side by about 39 and got zero for it. Geelong got done by a point they'd earned.
The ladder rewards whoever was in front at the final siren. That is its job, and the results of Round 13 stand. But the football underneath a scoreboard does not always agree with it.
This was a round where two sides walked off with nothing they hadn't earned, and one side walked off with everything it had no right to. The scoreboard says close games and clean wins. The football says something blunter.
So let us read it honestly — the earned margin, not the final number.
Hawthorn are the robbed side of Round 13, and it is not close. The Western Bulldogs won by 6. By the football, Hawthorn were in front by about 39 — the better side by six goals on the day. They lost a game they had earned and then some.
That is the clearest injustice of the round. The football had the Hawks level or in front for the length of it, and they walked off with a loss. The scoreboard robbed them plain.
Geelong were done too, in a quieter way. Adelaide won by 1, but by the football the Cats were the better side, in front by about 1. A game they had earned, handed to the other mob by a single point. Two sides, two robberies — one loud, one you'd miss if you only read the ladder.
The Western Bulldogs are the flattered side, and there's no way around it. They won by 6. The football had them behind by about 39. That is a win built on the other mob's football, not their own.
No sneering here — four points are four points and the Dogs banked them. But the result flatters them. On the day the better side wore brown and gold, and the scoreboard said otherwise.
Adelaide belong in this conversation too, if softer. Their 1-point win came against a Geelong side the football rated a touch better. They got the result. They did not earn it.
Elsewhere the football and the scoreboard mostly shook hands. Port Adelaide won by 6 and earned every bit of it — barely a point of that margin was a gift from West Coast. An honest win, no argument.
Melbourne won by 8 and the football actually had them worth about 11 — if anything they were a shade under-rewarded, not flattered. Give them their due.
And two winners had bigger days than the scoreboard admits. Brisbane won by 31 but the football had them by about 44. Sydney won by 2, yet the football rated them 19 clear. Both banked the win and then some — they just don't get the credit the number suggests.
The results of Round 13 stand. The Dogs won, Adelaide won, and nobody is handing points back.
But the football underneath tells you Hawthorn were the best-beaten side of the round by a distance, and Geelong were done by a point they'd earned. It tells you Brisbane and Sydney were more convincing than their margins let on.
Read it and rate these sides how you see fit. The scoreboard had its say. Now you've heard the football's.
The results stand — nobody is rewriting the ladder. This is the football underneath the scoreboard. What it means for how you rate these sides is yours to weigh.