Nine movers this week on the MARS Ratings ladder, three of them multi-rung movers.

The Dogs climbed most, jumping 3 spots to 6th and falling just 0.4 Ratings Points short of claiming 5th. West Coast, by virtue of not playing, and Fremantle, Essendon and Adelaide, by virtue of victories, all climbed 1 ladder position.

Sydney, meantime, fell 3 spots to 8th, while Melbourne fell 2 spots and the Roos and Richmond fell 1 spot each.

All the commotion has left the ladder looking very congested in positions 5th through 8th, the gap for which is now just 1.2 Ratings Points. 

While this part of the ladder is compressing, the gaps between 4th and 14th and between 4th and 8th are expanding. The first of these gaps stands at 48.4 Ratings Points, up 7.5 Ratings Points on last week, and now at an all-time high, and the second stands at 20.3 Ratings Points, up 1.8 Ratings Points on last week and at its 3rd highest level for the season. None of this augurs well for the finals.

The growing divide between the "mights" and the "definitely wont's" is also reflected in the Ratings Point change statistics for the last 5 rounds.

Over these five rounds, six teams have gained more than 5 Ratings Points, the Roos, Eagles, Blues, Dogs, Hawks and Pies. Five of those six teams now occupy spots in the top 6 on the MARS Ratings ladder and two of them have registered these gains despite playing only four games in this time.

Conversely, four teams have shed 5 or more Ratings Points across these same five rounds and three of them now occupy the bottom three positions on the MARS Ratings ladder.