The absence of any Head-to-Head bets has brought about a slight reduction in the aggregate volume of wagering this week, though the Margin Fund has made up for some of the difference by increasing its level of activity to 10 bets for the round. That feels a little like turning up at the Globe Theatre and being informed that the role of Lady Macbeth will tonight be performed by Kermit the Frog.

Nine teams' ChiPS' Ranking changed after Round 14 results, four rising and five falling, though only one team's Ranking altered by more than a single place.

By Sunday afternoon, Investors had made enough money during the round that neither Saints nor Demons could truly bother them. 

This week's portfolio of wagers seems much better aligned with the Funds' recent form, so I feel a lot more comfortable with what we have in Round 14 than with what we had last week. Which, oddly, makes me uncomfortable ...

ChiPS altered the Ranking of eight teams this week, elevating Fremantle, Geelong, Melbourne and GWS, and demoting Collingwood, the Roos, the Lions and St Kilda.

Thanks to another impressive performance by the Line Fund and a 1 from 1 result for the Head-to-Head Fund, Investors enjoyed their best round of the season this weekend and their fourth successive week of profitability.

There are weeks - take this one as a compelling example - where I partly wish I'd allowed myself veto rights for MatterOfStats wagers.

With results mostly going to script this extended weekend, there was little movement in ChiPS Team Ratings.

At half-time in Sunday's Roos v Tigers clash I was not in my 'happy place'.

The Margin Fund has responded this week to our reduction in its bet size by increasing the number of wagers that it's demanded we make - 12 in all on 6 separate games, representing 12% of the Fund and almost 2.5% of the entire Portfolio. Like a true retailer, the Fund's compensated for a reduction in price by ramping up volume.

Hawthorn, for the third game in a row - and despite eventually prevailing over the Giants, however narrowly - this week dropped Rating Points (RPs) on both the ChiPS and the MARS Systems.

With the Line Fund snaring four from six wagers to jump by 4c, and the Head-to-Head Fund winnowing a small profit from a pair of successful wagers having tantalised with two more, it felt as though we deserved more this week for our frenzied efforts. But, the Margin Fund's none from eight knocked 10c off its price and was enough to hand back to the TAB Bookmaker all but 0.3c of the profits contributed by the two other Funds, leaving the Recommended Portfolio virtually unchanged and now down by an even 2c.

Remember last week's 10 restrained and ultimately profitable wagers? Well this week we've almost twice that number of bets and we've about two-and-a-half times the total original Funds at risk. 

GWS returned to its more normal role as ChiPS Ratings Point (RP) donor this weekend, surrendering almost 6 RPs to Richmond and allowing the Tigers to leapfrog over Adelaide and into the Top 8. The only other ranking changes saw Port Adelaide slip into 2nd, relegating Geelong to 3rd.

This blog is a day delayed - though not, I'm pleased to say, as a consequence of any dissatisfaction by me with the wagering outcome - because I've been away on business in NZ and refused to pay the usurious rate that the hotel there was demanding of its inmates for internet access. Even the AUD/NZD conversion rate couldn't make that transaction worthwhile financially.

With four of the home teams short-priced favourites this week, the Head-to-Head Fund had only two decisions to make and, in both cases, it decided "no". Neither the Giants' $3.85 price tag nor the Blues' $2.15 offering were deemed sufficiently generous to merit a wager.

The Line Fund also passed on these two games, and on two more, eventually venturing just two wagers, one on the Cats giving the Roos 14.5 points start and the other on Port giving the Hawks 15.5 points start. The Margin Fund has two wagers on each of the Cats and Port Adelaide too, as well as two more on the Pies and two on the Suns.

ChiPS altered the ranking of eleven teams this week - two of them without even needing to take the field. Only one team though moved by more than a single spot, Collingwood, who fell two spots to sixth after losing to the Crows by 19 points, a result that cost the Pies 2.3 Rating Points (RPs).

It's disappointing when a round that starts so well, finishes so poorly. Thursday night's victory by the Crows landed our head-to-head and line bets and had us 2.2c closer to profitability, but just a single additional collect throughout the remainder of the extended round saw us hand all of the 2.2c back, with a 0.1c tip toppling us just over the edge from break-even into loss

This week presented the Fund algorithms with another half-dozen contests to evaluate and they've responded with wagers, in aggregate, sized very similarly to last week. We've nine bets spanning five games and representing 5.2% of the original Recommended Portfolio.

West Coast and Sydney were the two biggest Ratings Point (RP) accumulators in a truncated Round 8, West Coast ending a five-week long Ratings slump and Sydney extending a now four-week long Ratings climb as a result.