In footy we play four quarters and right now it's quarter-time of the season.
It's hard to know exactly what's real and what's not.
Geelong sit on top of the ladder and North Melbourne are a long way last, that feels real to me.
Unfortunately for North Melbourne, who are looking rudderless in defence and a long way from being competitive after many years of their rebuild, there's still a long way to go.
Moving Harry Sheezel into the middle may happen, but it's not a magic potion as some are suggesting, and it will leave a hole in defence.
Time and some senior bodies is the only fix.
Collingwood are real, if they bring real effort.
And Brisbane are in a real hole, now on the edge of missing finals.
Adelaide have been really poor and Essendon's new midfield, well, it's unreal and have gone from a bust to a potential boom in just the last two weeks on the back of Sam Durham and Jye Caldwell.
For the first time in years their defensive profile is at the required level. Keep that going and they play finals footy too. And that would be very real.
The Giants' challenges over the next month, well, they are real with the Lions, Swans, Essendon and Bulldogs then the Cats at Geelong to top it off.
Now with key injuries and a couple of dumb suspensions, they will do well to go 3-2 in that block and may well surrender their mortgage on a top four spot.
Sydney's improvement is real but so is the challenge of winning, relying on ball movement only, but their 10 goals from front-half turnovers for just the second time in 10 years will go a long way to making them even more real.
And the Western Bulldogs, their best as we saw last Thursday night, it's unreal, but the inconsistency is very real and they have too much invested in tall forwards and not enough in defence.
There is an obvious solution in Aaron Naughton, but the six goals he kicked on the weekend, well, they were very real as well and will keep him there at least for the short term.
The West Coast Eagles’ Harley Reid, he redefines the notion of the real deal for he is really, really real.
And the Dockers’ shocker shouldn't disguise their real potential that needs to be unlocked.
Melbourne's best is real but so too are the scoring challenges they face, while Hawthorn and Richmond's rebuild realities are stark.
St Kilda’s lack of effort on the weekend was very real, but so too the notion that it was the exception that proves the rule.
But what else is absolutely real is their need for more talent in all areas of the game.
Port Adelaide's best, well, it's still well short of that of a top four team, particularly when they play two rucks on the ground.
And finally, the potential flag chances of both Carlton and the Gold Coast Suns, well, they're very real.
For one, it will be way off into the future.
For Carlton, this year's flag chance is a genuine reality, and for Blues supporters, that would be unreal!