Terry Wallace has placed the magnifying glass over a quartet of clubs at the midway point of the 2018 AFL season.
Carlton, Hawthorn, Western Bulldogs and the table-topping West Coast Eagles all have the bye in Round 12 which provided a great opportunity for the Hall of Fame inductee to analyse how they have performed until this point.
Speaking on SEN's The Match Committee, Wallace went through each of the four teams and explained why he delivered the grades that he did.
Plough's mid-season report card
Carlton: E+
18th with 1 win
“On a report card scheme, you can’t have the Carlton side passing. Now that doesn’t mean there are not reasons for why they are in this situation.
“Obviously, (they) gave away Bryce Gibbs. It’s going to take a couple of years for the kids, the picks they got back, to come through.
“Then they lost (Sam) Docherty, they’ve lost (Marc) Murphy, they’ve lost a lot of their senior leadership.
“I’m not shocked they’re in the position they’re currently in.
“(Patrick) Cripps has done a great job for them, (Matthew) Kreuzer in the middle of the ground has been pretty solid and Charlie Curnow continues to improve.
“Not shocked where they are but you’ve got to win games to pass.”
Hawthorn: C+
10th with 6 wins
“They are almost in exactly the spot that I expected them to be at this time of the year – percentage out of a top-eight position.
“When I did my top eight at the start of the year, they were the ones that I thought: ‘will they just marginally finish in or out?’
“That’s about how I read them and that’s about where they sit.
“The (Cyril) Rioli scenario of him missing so much football has really hurt them.
“James Sicily has been the real highlight.”
West Coast: A+
1st with 10 wins
“Go to the top of the class.
“Most of us who saw that practice match at the start of the year when they played Fremantle, where were all sitting back going, ‘oh, they’re going to have a stinker this year’.
“But they’ve been exactly the opposite.
“Nic Naitanui back into the line-up has led the way. Jack Darling and Jack Redden playing their best footy.
“They’ve actually brought in six debutants along this journey.
“The bye has come at the perfect time to re-align themselves, take the top of the class accolades and move on.”
Western Bulldogs: E
14th with 4 wins
“You have to consider them a fail.
“Right from Round 1, where they played against the GWS, it was a monumentally disastrous start.
“We all wondered and questioned why they decided to go so young when they had senior players playing VFL and still have.
“Yes they lost (Liam) Picken and (Dale) Morris, there’s some reason for it.
“But no, it’s been a disaster year.”
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