The middle of the three bye rounds begins with one of our favorite matchups in Richmond taking on Port, which will hopefully live up to their tilts the past couple years. When the Bombers host the Blues on Friday, we'll see how different Carlton looks in the back sans Jacob Weitering. Saturday will see Fremantle and Hawthorn squaring off in Perth in a game that could end up sneakily being a strategic test for the third-place Dockers, before the Lions look to bounce back against another top-5 opponent in St Kilda. Sunday's North v GWS game could see an exceptionally low crowd by Melbourne standards, but the round-closing Queen's Birthday match will have all the pomp and intrigue around it. From the May / Melksham incident to the potential for the Pies to continue their good form, it should be another Monday blockbuster.

Why is this progress report longer than the previous one? The answer is this simple: both our favorite teams, the Eagles (Benjamin) and the Cats (Ethan), are off this round, and we dive headfirst jnto relaying our analysis of the clubs we watch most closely. Also on their bye and profiled here are the developing Crows, the might-finally-be-something Suns, the recently surging Swans, and a Bulldogs side that has shown respectably as of late, but has already played through the easier part of their schedule.

For our episode to be this long despite there only being six games this past round means that there was still as much intrigue as any weekend this season — and that's even with a couple blah games in there. The Crows held on despite the Eagles outworking them in the second half, and the Suns and Roos switched directions after the first quarter, but it's the other four matches that dominated our discussion. The Cats' win over the Bulldogs was one of the grittiest of the year, coming largely without Tom Stewart. Then on Saturday, Sydney demonstrated their depth and proper distribution of the ball in the forward half as they outlasted Melbourne. On Sunday, we expected Hawthorn and Collingwood to be close but unremarkable; instead, the Pies ground out a waterlogged win despite a much better second half than we expected out of the Hawks. Finally, Fremantle may not have climbed above Brisbane on the ladder, but in taking the four points in the round closer they established that only water falling from the sky can stop them.

Hot on the heels of Jai Culley being selected first by West Coast in the midseason draft, Gryan Miers looks to continue his hot form as Geelong visits Marvel to play the Bulldogs. The Adelaide–West Coast game could be a car crash of epic proportions whether or not rain plays a factor, and in Darwin, Gold Coast looks to build off their dominating win last weekend when North comes to town. The rest of the games in this shorter round are all big matchups in their own right: Melbourne look to bounce back from their first defeat in 10 months against the Buddy- and Hickey-less Swans; Hawthorn and Collingwood do battle in what could be a frenetic affair with plenty of fast attacks; and Freo may be short handed when Lachie Neale faces them with his Lions, but the Dockers will have the home crowd on their side.

We didn't want to gloss over the six teams taking the first byes of the season — Carlton, Essendon, GWS, Port, Richmond, and St Kilda — so in a shorter episode, we highlighted each of them. We discuss surprising performers both good and bad, individual and collective, and we make injuries and schedules part of our evaluating framework.

You rank things to gain clout, so we're ranking two things in this episode. Firstly, we're looking at this year's Sir Doug Nicholls Round jumpers, and then we dive into the club songs, which helped us fall in love with Australian rules football a couple years ago. Enjoy!

We say a lot about all nine games, plus these descriptions have been long-winded lately, so let's keep this shorter: after weeks without a down-to-the-wire, we had just that two of the highest-profile games in the round. The other marquee matchup turned in the first quarter, though the effects of that turn were only really seen after halftime. Also featured in Round 11 — good coaching and adjustments, questionable umpiring, a couple breakout performances from younger players on established teams, and a scoring record tied. ...Oh, yeah, and Gryan Miers kicked three goals.

Welcome to the midway round of the season, and one with no shortage of high-profile matchups and talking points heading into it. The swans have dropped 3 of 4, but can make things right if they get past a Lynch-less Tigers — how will Richmond have to adjust? Then there's the first real game for McVeigh's GIANTS at Brisbane, and Geelong's chance at revenge for last year's Round 1 defeat to Adelaide. The standalone Saturday game should be a thriller between Narrm and Freo, with each side missing a key piece. The Eagles exist, and the Bulldogs should run right through them, which means the Suns and Hawks should get all the love and viewership as the AFL returns to Darwin for the first time since 2020. On Sunday, St Kilda may take advantage of a North Melbourne side that may very well be affected by off-field tumult, and Charlie Dixon looks to return for Port against Essendon, but Collingwood and Carlton should dominate the day for all the right reasons.

Not even the poorest of umpiring could derail the action in part one of the Sir Doug Nicholls Round, which lived up to a lot of the hype built around it. Call the round opener a typical Carlton win if you want, with a dominant second quarter preceding a palpitation-inducing second half, but they got the job done. Meanwhile, the Swans have dropped three of four, and the closeness of teams 2–11 on the ladder means they're in a dangerous spot given their recent form.

The Bulldogs have finally strung together consecutive wins, but the Suns lost no admirers in defeat — in fact, they may have gained some. Geelong outclassed Port Adelaide to end the Power's winning streak, before the rechristened Narrm Demons got over North in a game closer than its 47-point final margin suggests. Dreamtime at the 'G returned after three years, and two Riolis were part of Richmond's success, while Essendon are in even direr straits after their top defender copped a suspension for hitting the Yiooken Award winner; however, the Crows and Saints played the more compelling of the Saturday night games, and Adelaide may have been better as a team, but Max King and 200th-gamer Brad Hill were nigh unstoppable.

Sunday's action saw the McVeigh era begin for GWS with an all-hands-on-deck offensive onslaught against the Eagles, as well as a thrilling Hawks win over the Lions in Launceston, in which the victors got the job done in the fourth quarter. At the end of it all, a waterlogged Fremantle looked out of sorts, and Collingwood more than took advantage with a huge performance from their sub.

The Sir Doug Nicholls Round is here! With it will come all sorts of Indigenous pride, great jumpers, and a round that wastes no time getting interesting, with short-rest Carlton and Sydney starting things off. Can the Swans take advantage of Harry McKay's absence, or will the midfields cancel each other out? The next day you've got Geelong having more to prove at home than visiting Port, as hard as that may be to believe with how the Power opened the campaign, as well as the Bulldogs and Suns squaring off in a fixture that has suddenly become ridiculously compelling. North with a replenished ruck and renamed Narrm square off at the Docklands before Adelaide — with Riley Thilthorpe in tow! — host St Kilda, and Dreamtime returns to the 'G with Richmond and Essendon, though without a couple players we would've loved to see in action. Sunday sees the most up-in-the-air game of the round as Mark McVeigh begins his GIANTS caretaker stint against the Eagles. Hawthorn hosts Brisbane in Launceston, and the round closer pits the Dockers against the Pies as both hope to rebound from humiliating Round 9 defeats.