There are a number of teams that are fighting for a finals berth this year as seemingly year-on-year the list grows of teams that can sneak into the eight.
Richmond, West Coast, Geelong, Brisbane and Port Adelaide loom as the most likely to dominate top four discussions, but who are the boomers coming from the cellar for a top eight slot?
The trend with most teams in this cluster is that consistency isn't their best friend, hence why they finish just about square at the ledger.
So, we have decided to take you through why each team in this group can, and maybe more importantly, can't make finals.
8. Sydney
Why they can
Buddy is the key. If he can return, the Swans can compete. His best is simply too good for them not to be a chance. Whether he can get back to that or not is another question.
They have a good young list that took great strides forward last season and with another pre-season and possibly the inclusion of Franklin the Swans can be a real finals contender.
The will to fight is in their culture and you can't count them out as a result. They'll always be in the game and if they can add some class they may win more of those close ones than they lose.
Why they can't
If Buddy doesn't get a really good run at it and find some of his best form they simply aren't ready as of yet.
There is a good core list building for the Swans but they would need a seriously rapid rise without their best player to figure, should Franklin miss a large chunk of 2021. They too often found it hard to score and while they were able to defend well, the Swans couldn't seem to capitalize on the offensive end.
They just don't have the experience for things to go wrong in such a major way and recover in time for finals.
