With six weeks of the marathon run, the line between contenders and pretenders is becoming much more opaque.

Although 94.4% of the competition's 18-teams have now put a win on the board, the gap between first and last is still chasmic.

As we edged toward the end of the season's second month, the question marks surrounding every side – whether they are leading the league or languishing – are still aplenty.

With Round 7 set to start this Friday night, we have cast an eye across each of the league's combatants and have sought to answer the key questions facing each and every one of them.

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North Melbourne

How do they counteract what was once theirs to deploy?

With an aggregate of 35.22 goals in his 18 games at Bellerive Oval, Ben Brown is more than adept at splitting the sticks in his native state.

After being told to seek opportunities elsewhere at the end of last season, the 28-year-old – despite his pleasant personality – should be in the mood for revenge against his old side.

With the collective conundrum of Brown's average of 1.9 goals at the venue, the Demon's mean of 12.8 majors per game, and his best key defender still sidelined, David Noble will have his work cut out for him.

Although Ben McKay is expected to initially line-up on his former teammate, it is also expected that like their many intra-club battles at Arden Street, Brown should come up trumps.

Noble could deploy multiple defenders at a time to the redheaded spearhead, but with Melbourne proving adept at finding avenues to goal from all over the ground, these potential efforts are likely to prove futile.

With an 0-6 record coming into their clash against the 6-0 Demons, nobody has given North a snowflakes chance in Hades. So, although they may not be able to counteract Brown and his newly found offensive buddies, lessons will be learnt across the four-quarters contest played at their home away from home.

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