Right now, the teams that rank 1st to 4th in terms of points conceded per game also fill the first four places on the competition ladder, while those that rank 1st to 4th in terms of points scored per game currently lie 6th, 8th, 11th and 4th respectively. It seems then as though success in the competition is more related to defence than it is to offence.

Sydney, Essendon and West Coast's defensive superiority has come from denying opposing teams' opportunities to score: they have the three best records in terms of scoring shots conceded per game of all teams in the competition.

Collingwood, however, has not denied teams scoring shots - it has only the 12th best performance in the league on this measure - but has presented them with opportunities that have been relatively hard to convert. Collingwood's opponents have converted only 46.7% of their scoring opportunities, a rate fully 2 percentage points lower than for any other team in the competition.

Fremantle and St Kilda are two other teams that - like Sydney, Essendon and West Coast - have been relatively good at denying their opponents scoring opportunities. That's why they occupy positions 4 and 6 in terms of scoring shots conceded per game. What's hurt them though is that their opponents have been able or allowed to convert those opportunities at relatively high rates: about 55% of the scoring opportunities they've presented to opponents have been converted into goals.