JUST when it looked like a couple of clubs might be positioning themselves at the head of the field as the 2016 season turns for home, along comes a weekend like this to turn all that thinking on its head.

The Sydney Swans were emerging as the 'smart' tip for the premiership, only to stumble in the wilds of western Sydney.

North Melbourne encounters its first significant hurdles of the year as the pressure starts to ramp up on and off the ground. 

Patrick Dangerfield plays one of the greatest individual games as Geelong regains its mojo. The Western Bulldogs savour one of the great road wins, as does Adelaide. And West Coast rids itself of an unwanted label, but not for the right reason.

Injury woes hit the Swans

We'll work through things in reverse order, starting with the Sydney derby. The feeling was that the big, hard bodies of the Swans' midfield might be the deciding factor, but Josh Kennedy, Dan Hannebery, Luke Parker and Kieren Jack were collectively quiet and this handed the ascendancy to the Giants.

And they took full advantage, to register a seven-goal win that snapped a two-game losing streak and has the Giants back in top-four calculations once more. A quick glance at the draw suggests of their remaining 10 games, only Port Adelaide and North Melbourne (both on the road) would appear overly difficult challenges. Given the way they have now dispatched Geelong, Hawthorn and the Swans in Canberra and at Spotless Stadium, they appear every chance to run the table at home and finish the season with something like a 16-6 record. Remarkable.

The Swans have some problems. Kurt Tippett is now injured and when you include the words 'hamstring' and 'tendon' in the same sentence, the prognosis can't be good. The Swans have confirmed their ruckman will be out for up to six weeks. Youngster Harry Marsh also suffered a hamstring strain in the same game and is expected to miss their next match against Melbourne. Sam Reid hurt his calf again in what might have been his last reserves game before an AFL recall. He will miss another three weeks. And although there were fears for Gary Rohan given his hamstring history, the Swans expect him to play in round 13.

What appealed about the Swans before the weekend was that they seemed the team with the fewest flaws, and in an even season like this, that counts for plenty. But no Tippett for the next little while throws added pressure on Lance Franklin and Callum Sinclair and in the next month they play the Western Bulldogs, Geelong and Hawthorn.

The Swans rarely put two bad games together so the expectation is that they'll rebound strongly. But it shapes as challenging and demanding month all the same.

Kangaroos set for critical test

The three most important people at North Melbourne this week have never pulled on a jumper. Highly regarded director of high performance Steve Saunders and conditioning coaches Jona Segal and Dan Meehan have the important job of managing the banged-up Kangaroos through a pair of six-day breaks and freshening them up for two huge games against Hawthorn and Adelaide.

Andrew Swallow (concussion), Nick Dal Santo (groin) and Ben Cunnington (corked thigh), Shaun Atley (ankle) and Robbie Nahas (finger) were all casualties of the loss to Geelong and are doubtful to varying degrees to take on the Hawks. 

Sydney's loss keeps North a game clear on top of the ladder and given the casualty count, there is no need to be down on the Kangaroos for the loss to Geelong. But they're 1-2 midway through this vital six-game spell and a win on Friday night becomes critical given the growing logjam in the top eight.

The player they really missed on Saturday night was tagger Ben Jacobs. It was pretty clear early on that Patrick Dangerfield was on, but Brad Scott had no options to shut him down, without drastically recasting his own side. On Friday night it will be Hawthorn's Sam Mitchell, after that it is Rory Sloane, Scott Thompson or any of the other key Adelaide prime movers.

Scott will need to be inventive and creative at match committee this week.

Dynamic duo star again

Cats skipper Joel Selwood protected his turf in a Channel Seven interview immediately after the 31-point win over the Kangas, maintaining he was Michael Jordan while Dangerfield, coming off his 48-possession master class, was still Scottie Pippen. 

He demurred later on, conceding that perhaps Dangerfield deserved the Jordan comparison, as comparisons were made between the two star Geelong midfielders and the great Chicago Bulls partners and other great dual superstar combinations in world sport.

It was a great win by Geelong, particularly with suspended Tom Hawkins looking on and it suggests that the great chemistry experiment, injecting Dangerfield, Zac Smith and Lachie Henderson into the side, is working a treat.

Selwood was no slouch on the night himself. He racked up 38 touches and said afterwards that work rate and desire were the two ingredients the Cats had rediscovered after consecutive losses to Collingwood and Carlton.

"We're a bit more hungry," he told AFL.com.au.

"It was only simple things, turning the ball over in the wrong spots and not working hard enough. We've stopped doing that and the rewards are there."

Ominous was his suggestion that the Cats are still working things through.

"With Zac, Paddy and Lachie, we're still learning what each other can do," Selwood said.

The Crows' game-changer

Small comfort for Eagles coach Adam Simpson, but at least the odious 'flat-track bullies' moniker won't be thrown around West Coast any longer. 

Not when you blow a 26-point lead at home to Adelaide early in the third term, concede the last eight goals to lose by 29 points.

Nic Naitanui is hobbled by a sore Achilles, the midfield is fading fast and Simpson needs to find some answers quickly.

Needless to say, it was Adelaide's best performance of the year. The Crows have been plucky on the road, but that is all, so this was a game-changer when assessing them for the rest of the season. Like the Giants, they have a handy draw over the remaining 10 games with a return Showdown and trips to Geelong and Fremantle their biggest hurdles from here.

With Eddie Betts in sublime form and Josh Jenkins good for at least three goals a game, the Crows' scoreboard pressure shapes as their biggest weapon for the rest of the year. Be prepared to run and to score heavily if you want to beat them. 

'String' to the wing pays dividends

The Crows enjoyed a great flight home late Saturday night, as did the Western Bulldogs from Adelaide a few hours earlier.

This was the Dogs' narrowest win of the year but easily their best as they withstood wave after wave from Port Adelaide, which was playing for its season. 

Marcus Bontempelli was magnificent for the Bulldogs, but the move of Jake Stringer to the wing in the final quarter was equally significant.

Luke Beveridge's backline was resolute once again despite the pre-game loss of full-back Marcus Adams. That's four of the best possible back six missing for the Dogs, yet they got the job done again, this time in an intimidating and hostile environment where they couldn't buy a free kick for love or money.

Four goals to Jack Redpath, including three in the first quarter, means he continues to put more daylight between he and Tom Boyd in the Dogs' best 22.

For Port, the rollercoaster continued. All year, the Power have not won – or lost – two games on the trot and the form line is not one of a side likely to play finals.

Other observations

1. St Kilda got a nice glimpse of its future on Sunday. No Nick Riewoldt, no Sam Fisher, no Sean Dempster and no problems in accounting for the in-form Carlton by 32 points. Yes, Riewoldt has re-signed for next season, but the other experienced heads aren't likely to be around within a couple of years. The young Saints were pretty much in control from wire to wire. Among several highlights on Sunday was the five-goal haul from Tim Membrey, who now has 20 from seven games this year. Alan Richardson has the task, and the pleasant one at that, of constructing a forward line around Josh Bruce, Membrey and Paddy McCartin, who didn't play on Sunday. Get it right and the Saints will be dangerous before too long. 

2. Who would have thought the Saints and the Blues would have created such ticketing chaos on Sunday? Clearly, Carlton fans are back on the bandwagon, but the bigger issue remains that fans still like to make the impulse decision to head to the footy – like they have for 120 years - and that's what caught the Etihad staff unawares. From the sounds of things, nobody – the AFL or the clubs – forecast this large a crowd.

3. Daniel Menzel's terrific four-goal outing for the Cats on Saturday night was marred by a leg injury suffered when he slid on the synthetic turf beyond the boundary line at Etihad Stadium and into the fence. Synthetic turf is becoming stock-standard outside the playing fields at most AFL venues because of the amount of foot and equipment traffic and also because it is the most difficult place for natural grass to grow. This is an issue for the AFLPA to manage with the League and the respective stadia as it comes under the bounds of occupational health and safety. The fake grass isn’t a great, but neither are the pools of mud that preceded them.

4. Gold Coast probably should have got the win over Richmond at the MCG on Sunday. But as the quality returns to the side, expect the Suns to win a few more games before the end of the season.

5. Matt Taberner, Connor Blakely, Darcy Tucker, Jack Hannath, Sam Collins, Tanner Smith … the future of Fremantle was on show on Saturday evening as the Dockers spanked the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba. Taberner kicked five goals in easily the best of his 38 matches to date as Freo starts to contemplate life after Matthew Pavlich. That's two straight wins for the Dockers, whose confidence soared after quarter-time and you get the impression that they won't be an easy out for the rest of the season. Finals aspirants Geelong, Port Adelaide, Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs are still slated to travel west, while another derby clash with West Coast also awaits and if Fremantle's fate is not to play finals, then shaping the fortunes of those that might, will be the next best thing.

6. Paul Roos will likely not steer Melbourne into the AFL finals before his three-year stint as coach winds up at the end of the season. But he has delivered them a Grand Final win of sorts, their first Queen's Birthday victory over Collingwood since 2007. In the years since, the Pies have taken great delight in crashing Melbourne's biggest day of the year, so excuse Melbourne types for basking in the joy of this one. You couldn't help but be thrilled for the likes of Jack Watts, Nathan Jones, Jack Viney and Jack Trengove, who have been on the receiving end of a few of those beatings. Monday's win was also the first time the Demons have beaten Collingwood twice in the same season since 1988.

7. The Travis Cloke omission made no sense when it was announced and even less so as the shambolic Pies kicked just four goals in the final three quarters on Monday. Cloke didn't star against Port Adelaide last week, but the effort was OK and surely he deserves, say, a four-week run at it to decide once and for all whether he fits into what Nathan Buckley wants to build at Collingwood. Jarrod Witts and Mason Cox delivered 15 touches and six marks between them, whereas poor old Cloke was still peeling off the mud following his run around the boggy Casey Fields in the VFL on Saturday. Cloke and the Pies are heading towards an unhappy divorce and he could well be the seventh player from the 2010 premiership team who will finish his career at another club.