AFL 2026, Power Rankings after Round 2

Welcome back to the Power Rankings.

While a few flag threats were absent in Round 2, others staked their claim to contender status – and another fell further back from the pack than you think.

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See our ranking of every AFL club from best to worst after Round 2 below!

How do the Power Rankings work? We take wins and losses into account, but also the quality of opposition faced and whether teams are likely to get healthier and/or improve going forward. It’s a little bit ‘who’s hot and who’s not’; part predictive, part analysis of what’s happened. If Team A is above Team B, we’d probably tip A to win if they were playing at a neutral venue this weekend.

All times AEDT.

1. WESTERN BULLDOGS (3-0, 137.2%)

Last week: Ranked 2nd, def Adelaide by 6 pts

Of the two unbeatens, the Bulldogs clearly have the best resume, beating both Brisbane and Adelaide on the road – they may have already won more games against finalists in 2026 than they did in 2025. It’s why we have elevated them to No.1. But winning a thriller like Friday night against the Crows is the perfect example of how a team’s luck can turn and make them seem way better; last year you would’ve expected the Dogs to find a way to lose, right? They are improved on last season, primarily defensively – good thing they didn’t trade Buku Khamis! – but not massively improved overall. It’s more complex than ‘they were always good and it’s only now that the results are reflecting it’… but that’s also a pretty fair statement. The gap between this year’s contenders and last year’s pretenders is way smaller than you think.

This week: BYE

2. GOLD COAST SUNS (3-0, 191%)

Last week: Ranked 1st, def Richmond by 68 pts

Fair enough if you think the Suns should still be first – they have won all three games they’ve played by 10 goals – but we have to respect the Bulldogs also being 3-0 but with a tougher draw. We’re keen to see Damien Hardwick’s side without Christian Petracca against a quality opponent to get a better gauge on them. It may be a while though. Their early season fixture continues to be pretty cruisy, with Melbourne after the bye, Sydney in Gather Round (which is less scary than it sounded two weeks ago) and Essendon at home; then before the bye they get St Kilda and Port Adelaide in Darwin (where they always win), and North Melbourne at home. This is why we tipped them to be this season’s ladder-leaders-at-midseason-then-drop-off-a-bit-late team. And, while this is completely out of their control, they’re getting more of these easier games when they’re without early-season Brownlow fancy Petracca and the reigning actual Brownlow medallist, Matt Rowell. Fixture timing is an often forgotten part of seasonal luck.

This week: BYE

3. HAWTHORN (2-1, 118.1%)

Last week: Ranked 8th, def Sydney by 17 pts

Remember that we didn’t think the GWS loss was as bad as everyone else did (for expected score reasons). Put that game to one side and the Hawks have been absolutely electric the last two weeks – they should’ve beaten the Swans by closer to eight goals. They are not quite at the level of the top two, just because we have the same questions about their midfield as everyone else, but you cannot argue with their scoring prowess and that’s what seems to matter most in 2026’s version of footy. Remember, one of the key Power Rankings metrics is ‘would we tip them against the teams below them at a neutral venue’… we will absolutely be tipping Hawthorn against Geelong on Easter Monday, and would probably lean their way over the Lions or Dockers in this hypothetical neutral game (presumably Covid is back and the AFL is stuck inside… South Australia, we guess).

This week: BYE

4. BRISBANE LIONS (0-2, 77.2%)

Last week: Ranked 4th, BYE

The Lions had the bye, and the weekend’s results mean they’re actually below West Coast on the ladder, which is a very strange sight. But as we’ve said for a couple of weeks, they have earned our blind faith and should get back on track soon enough. The team we think they are would beat St Kilda this week, and then this underpowered version of Collingwood on Easter Thursday… you never know, though. They can afford to drop one, but a four-game deficit to the leaders even this early in the season would be pretty sizeable.

This week: St Kilda at Marvel Stadium, Saturday 12:35pm

5. FREMANTLE (1-1, 121.1%)

Last week: Ranked 7th, def Melbourne by 48 pts

Yep, we’re believing now. For the second straight week the Dockers produced a peak period of irresistible footy, and we think the Dees are a pretty OK opponent too. As we’ve said a couple of times now we needed to see Fremantle do it, to be convinced they’re able to play like the team their list suggests they can be. We are now seeing it. They have genuinely changed their style of play, moving the ball by hand, which is the modern way – and they’re good at it! We still have to put them in fifth for now simply because ‘we beat Melbourne’ isn’t a top-four resume, but they’ll get there. This is a top four contender with a premiership ceiling, and they should be able to capitalise on a fixture including 12 more games in WA and plenty of winnable road trips (Bombers, Giants, Power, Demons and Blues).

This week: Richmond at Optus Stadium, Saturday 4:15pm

6. GEELONG (1-1, 79.6%)

Last week: Ranked 5th, BYE

The Cats had the bye, and after a wobbly start to the season could use a more comfortable performance in the friendly confines of the Cattery, though there’s important context there – we suspect they’ve played two of the competition’s best teams thus far (and Adelaide is a top eight side too). Their fixture basically doesn’t let up until the final weeks of the season, including rematches with Gold Coast, Fremantle and Adelaide before their midseason bye – so they can’t afford a lengthy period of figuring things out if they want to be a top-four threat again.

This week: Adelaide at GMHBA Stadium, Thursday 7:30pm

7. ADELAIDE CROWS (1-1, 104.6%)

Last week: Ranked 6th, lost to Western Bulldogs by 6 pts

The Crows haven’t done a whole lot wrong this year, and now they’ve split two close games against finals contenders, which is a pretty reasonable result given their injuries. They definitely look like top-six threats and while they’ll find plenty of wins, where they end up in the pecking order may be more about whether any of the teams above them drop off (Geelong? …Brisbane?). At the very least we are quite confident Adelaide is not going to suffer the sort of collapse a few previous minor premiers have fallen victim to. If you’re in a tipping comp and need to tip an upset this weekend we’d recommend the Crows over the Cats – we just have this weird feeling about that game (but are too scared to tip it ourselves).

This week: Geelong at GMHBA Stadium, Thursday 7:30pm

8. SYDNEY SWANS (2-1, 139.5%)

Last week: Ranked 3rd, lost to Hawthorn by 17 pts

A five-place drop in our rankings for a three-goal away loss without their two best players probably sounds harsh, but allow us to explain. For a start, the margin was flattering – the Hawks absolutely dominated the second half in particular, and should’ve won by another five goals. And while the Swans showed flashes of being able to continue their exciting ball movement without Errol Gulden in particular, we saw enough that suggests they are back in the pack rather than the clear top-four threat they were when he was healthy. And that pack is incredibly close – right now we would struggle to tip any game involving two members of the Lions/Dockers/Cats/Crows/Swans group. If you wanted to argue the Swans should still be fourth we would not fight hard against that, but for now, this is where we’ve got them. We won’t get any more intel on where they really sit until Gather Round against Gold Coast.

This week: BYE

9. COLLINGWOOD (1-1, 98.7%)

Last week: Ranked 10th, BYE

The Magpies had the bye and would’ve loved seeing Bobby Hill back at training on Monday, for the first time in ages. His talent is exactly what their underwhelming forward line desperately needs right now, and while his health and ability to regain consistency in his life are the most important things, getting him back at AFL level in a couple of months’ time would be rather large for the Pies’ season. Not makes-them-a-flag-contender large, but still.

This week: GWS at Marvel Stadium, Friday 7:40pm

10. GWS GIANTS (1-2, 81.1%)

Last week: Ranked 9th, lost to St Kilda by 4 pts

Expected score always gets you in the end. The Giants gave themselves a bit too much work to do in the second half, thanks to their poor accuracy when they finally had a few chances in the second quarter. And so the team that has overperformed on our favourite stat for years has now underperformed a couple of weeks in a row, arguably costing them a win against the Saints. This is the sort of regression we were expecting from them when we predicted they would finish 11th this year, and even the stars who are healthy are underperforming a bit. They recovered from 1-3 to make a prelim a few years back, and they can still challenge the better teams more than anyone below them in these rankings can, so we’re not counting GWS out by any stretch. But they’re feeling more and more like a mid-table side that’ll need to take advantage of the wildcard round.

This week: Collingwood at Marvel Stadium, Friday 7:40pm

11. ST KILDA (1-2, 92.3%)

Last week: Ranked 12th, def GWS by 4 pts

The Saints deserved a win, narratively – 0-3 against three fellow mid-table sides would’ve been a very unfair reflection on their form this season. They’re a totally cromulent footy team and the funny thing is, they’re being powered more by players the footy world isn’t talking about (Jack Sinclair, Max Hall, Cal Wilkie) than the recruits. With the Lions looking pretty shaky last time out, there’s a real chance Ross Lyon’s men can prove the doubters wrong again this Saturday afternoon. Throw in post-bye games against Port Adelaide, West Coast and Carlton and there’s a path back to a winning record; from that point the Saints would absolutely be in the finals race, where they’re expecting to be. After all, it looks like they’re only going to need to finish above one of Collingwood or GWS to sneak in, which is entirely feasible.

This week: Brisbane Lions at Marvel Stadium, Saturday 12:30pm

12. MELBOURNE (1-1, 84.4%)

Last week: Ranked 11th, lost to Fremantle by 48 pts

It sounds weird given we’re talking about the Dockers, but a lot of teams are going to be embarrassed defensively by that forward line in 2026. And as exciting as the Demons’ Round 1 win was, they also looked exploitable against the Saints, so Saturday night was a better team taking advantage. That’s expected as the playing group gets used to Steven King’s new system and is nothing to really be concerned about. We still think the Dees are a sneaky wildcard chance, with chances to bank wins against the Blues, Bombers and Tigers over the next month or so. A 4-3 record at the end of April is the pass mark right now.

This week: Carlton at the MCG, Sunday 3:15pm

13. CARLTON (1-1, 70.9%)

Last week: Ranked 13th, BYE

We hope Carlton fans enjoyed a blissful week of not having to watch their team play. (We sure did.) Their return to action on Sunday afternoon might be the most interesting game of Round 3 – we’re still trying to figure out if any of these bottom eight teams are going to be genuine wildcard threats, and the winner will have the inside track along with the Saints.

This week: Melbourne at the MCG, Sunday 3:15pm

14. PORT ADELAIDE (1-1, 109.3%)

Last week: Ranked 15th, def Essendon by 63 pts

In the same way that we looked at North Melbourne thumping Port Adelaide and thought ‘hmm, that felt more about the opposition than the winners’, the Power demolishing Essendon was heavily impacted by the fact the visitors simply cannot defend right now. That’s not to say the Power weren’t good – they were – and we were glad to see them being closer to the team we expected in 2026 (competitive and definitely not a bottom-four side, but definitely not a top-six threat either). Losing Connor Rozee for over half the season stinks, but they’ve still got that easy early draw we’ve been writing about for a while, with Richmond to come next week – so a 3-1 record heading into Gather Round is entirely realistic.

This week: West Coast Eagles at Adelaide Oval, Sunday 12:30pm

15. NORTH MELBOURNE (1-1, 116.3%)

Last week: Ranked 14th, lost to West Coast by 17 pts

This week: Essendon at Marvel Stadium, Saturday 7:35pm

16. WEST COAST EAGLES (1-1, 81.3%)

Last week: Ranked 18th, def North Melbourne by 17 pts

This week: Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval, Sunday 12:30pm

There are already a few situations in these rankings where we’ve got a team higher than someone they just lost to, this being a very obvious one. But this is the point of the Power Rankings… just because a result happened does not mean it’s the only piece of information we have. West Coast were better than North Melbourne on Sunday, but we are pretty sure North Melbourne will be the better team across the course of the season – one result can happen for many reasons (ie goalkicking accuracy, home ground advantage, or any other soft factors you want to throw out there). Did you come out of that game as a neutral going ‘jeez, the Kangaroos really should’ve won that, that’s a bad loss’? Then you agree the Kangaroos, in theory, are a better team. But the Eagles got the joy of victory, and as we discussed in Talking Points on Monday morning, they’ve done extremely well rebuilding their tall stocks. The Roos in contrast have the second-shortest list of any team in the 18-club era. (Which is ironic, because they’re not called South Melbourne.)

17. RICHMOND (0-2, 64.5%)

Last week: Ranked 17th, lost to Gold Coast by 68 pts

They were competitive for a while, and then fell apart against one of the AFL’s best sides while dealing with injuries to two key players who they simply don’t have replacements for. Hard to know exactly how to feel about the Tigers’ Round 2 performance but generally speaking we are mildly optimistic thanks to the first half. The injuries to Tom Lynch and Toby Nankervis point to a pretty clear flaw with their rebuild though; they’ve kept older players in crucial positions, like key forward and ruck, because those positions can be harder to fill and require a bit more veteran knowledge. That all makes sense if they’re healthy, but when they’re not, they’re either going with makeshift options (ie Campbell Gray) or kids who just aren’t going to be ready. At least they’ve drafted some young key forwards who need the reps, but they could be absolutely destroyed in the ruck by Freo this week.

This week: Fremantle at Optus Stadium, Saturday 4:15pm

18. ESSENDON (0-2, 55%)

Last week: Ranked 16th, lost to Port Adelaide by 63 pts

We had not seriously considered the idea Essendon could win this year’s wooden spoon until Sunday night. It seemed obvious to us they weren’t as bad as the injury-ravaged side that lost 13 straight games to end the year, and we expected a slight rise towards mediocrity. Instead they are actually even more depressing to watch. They simply cannot defend, despite having a reasonably healthy list, which points to a much broader problem – whether it’s coaching, lack of understanding of the tactics, and/or pure lack of talent. So if they’re gonna lose like that to Port Adelaide… who looked pretty terrible against North Melbourne… who just lost to West Coast… then they can certainly win the spoon based on the principle of transitive property. And when your coach is doing press conferences calling out senior players for being selfish in Round 2 – the sort of thing that can cause ruptures in a group – then you can definitely win the spoon.

This week: North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium, Saturday 7:35pm