With the league heading into the final of three bye rounds this weekend, we here at Zero Hanger decided to take a look back at the season as a whole, discussing topics from controversial small forwards to flag favourites.
Here are eleven thoughts and opinions from the season so far:
1 - The AFL community loves to hate individuality. Everyone is quick to harp on about how good football used to be, when rules were lax and players had personality, but at the first sign of it, Jack Ginnivan has been made public enemy number one.
Fair play to those genuinely frustrated at the young forward's tendency to earn an inconspicuous free kick, but he is by far not alone in this category. Take away a Go-Pro, some peroxide dye and comments by a certain media figure, and Ginnivan would be like any other small forward in the competition.Â
Football is not just a sport, but an entertainment product, and sometimes it seems that pundits - both in the media and online - have forgotten that the young Pie isn't a character, but just a 19-year-old.
2 - If there was ever a year for Flagmantle … 
Fremantle are sitting pretty in third spot on the ladder, with a healthy percentage and ten wins to their name as they approach their Round 14 bye. After big wins over premiership fancies Melbourne and Brisbane over the past month, the once distant term Flagmantle is becoming more of a reality with each day we draw closer to September.
With the Eagles doing their best to be the poster child for AFL relegation, there would be no greater kick in the guts for cross-town rival relations than a maiden premiership flag heading to the Dockers.
3 - The Rising Star race is one of the stories of the season. At the time, the 2021 AFL Draft seemed stacked with talent, and now we've seen them in action it's certainly hard to deny.
On paper prior to Round 1, the Rising Star award looked like it would be contested by three young stars - Jason Horne-Francis, Nick Daicos and Josh Rachele, and the trio have certainly impressed. Emerging as a favourite though is 2021 debutant Jai Newcombe.
At just 20-years-old, Newcombe seemingly plays beyond his years, bringing a new level of grit to the Hawks midfield. With ten rounds still remaining in the season, it's still anyone's guess who will take out the title, but it's undeniable that this kind of young talent is great for the game.
Midfielder
Disposals
Tackles
Clearances
4 - Lygon Street should be readying for a busy September. Injuries have undoubtedly taken a toll on the Blues heading into the second half of the season. With Jacob Weitering, Mitch McGovern and Oscar McDonald just some of the names sitting on Carlton's injury list, things certainly aren't looking great.
However, a blistering start to the season to secure a top eight spot at the halfway mark has at least set the club up well for a tricky end to the year. Winnable matches are aplenty, with the club still to face Essendon, West Coast and Adelaide, but they will have to produce something special against their top eight foes.
If we have truly seen the last of the embarrassing Blues of old, an appearance in the September action should be in their sights from here. Should Carlton finally make their return to finals, let alone actually win one, prepare to see Lygon Street painted navy blue.
5 - We should be mourning the days of the old-school key forward. Watching Buddy kick his 1000th goal and fans flood the field is undoubtedly one of the best moments of the season.
The event however, was soured by the knowledge that it could very well be the last time we see something like that happen in our great game. Gone are the years of Tony Lockett and Jason Dunstall, who kicked 100 goals in a season on seven occasions (four for Lockett, three for Dunstall), and though the competition's goalscorers have been in pretty great form this year, it's just not the same.
1000 goals is no easy feat, just six players have reached that milestone before, but I think we would all settle for another ‘Thirteen, thirteeeeeeen!’.
6 - Pre-season predictions are about as accurate as the weather app. If we rewind a few months, Essendon were on track to win the flag (one man's opinion) and St Kilda were destined to experience yet another season of dismal disappointment.
Now firmly in the midst of the bye rounds, both of those things couldn't be further from the truth. Perhaps we are all naysayers who enjoy judging a team ahead of a 23 round season on the back of two pre-season matches under the summer sun, and while it is fun to revisit predictions with a little bit of hindsight, we really should start taking it all with a grain of salt.
St Kilda vs Gold Coast under the lights at Marvel Stadium on a crisp September evening? It would have sounded ludicrous four months ago (maybe it still does) and yet there is enough evidence to not completely rule it out. Anyway, for a man many had out of a job by this point in the season, Brett Ratten should be breathing pretty easy with a contract extension looming.
7 - You'll always have 2018 (and 1992, 1996 and 2006), Eagles fans. Putting it lightly, 2022 has been an absolute train wreck for West Coast. With a growing injury list and COVID cases spreading through the club, it always seemed like it would be a long season, but no one quite predicted just how disappointing the Eagles would be.
Sitting on the bottom of the ladder with just one win to their name and a percentage of 50.7% (the second worst in the league since 1969), while in the WAFL, the Eagles are yet to win a game from eight attempts and boast their own percentage of just 44.09%, things can certainly be classified as bad.
Still to face Geelong (twice), Carlton, Fremantle and St Kilda, now might be the time to make sure the 2018 grand final is downloaded and ready to go. Living in the past is rarely good, but hey, it can't be worse than the present.
8 - Melbourne or the field? The field is looking pretty good. Three weeks is a long time in footy. Three weeks ago, the Demons looked unbeatable on a 17-game winning streak, but now coming off the back of losses to Fremantle, Sydney and Collingwood, there may be some chinks in the Demons' armour.
Brisbane, Fremantle and Carlton round out the current top four, and while none of them are in the certified premiership favourite basket just yet, they've shown enough to count on them beating the Dees on an off day.
9 - Is this the best Gold Coast team yet? It certainly seems like it. While the Suns seemingly have a natural predisposition to be annoyingly inconsistent, at least this season their best seems to be soaring far above that of previous years.
The Suns have pulled off wins against Carlton, Sydney and Fremantle, showing that they can match it with some of the best in the competition. Currently sitting at 6-6 and two games out of the eight, it will be an uphill battle to claim that maiden finals appearance, but with a pretty recent run home, the sky is the limit for these Suns.
10 - Hot Pies to bring some flavour to September. After a 17th spot finish in 2021, few could have accurately predicted the revival we have seen so far from Collingwood in 2022 under Craig McRae.
Currently on a four match winning streak, the latest a 26-point win over the reigning premiers, and finding themselves with a spot in the eight heading into Round 14, the Pies genuinely look like they could make an appearance in September if they keep up this form.
11 - Less is more, whistles included. It's fair to say that the standard of umpiring has been under the microscope more than usual in 2022. The league's dissent rule has unfortunately dominated discussion for much of the first half of the season, with several contentious calls garnering more airtime than the games themselves, while in other matches the whistle has sounded more often than fans are used to.
With the AFL's recent decision to wind back the interpretation of the dissent rule, but pointedly deciding not to reveal that to fans, it just seems like there may be a disconnect between those in the stands and those at AFL house. While it would be unfair to say that rule changes are ruining the game, it is fair to say that umpiring decisions becoming the main story after four quarters of footy is the exact opposite of what the league would want.
With the ongoing debate around crowd sizes continuing to pop up throughout each round and fans voicing their reasons for staying away, perhaps this is the time the AFL need to really listen to the people and adjust accordingly.
