Each week of the 2026 AFL season, ESPN.com.au's Jake Michaels looks at six big talking points.
This week's Six Points feature the inexplainable stats behind the Jekyll and Hyde Blues, the reason Nick Daicos is in a class of one, why I wanted the Crows to lose Showdown 59, and a wild Tristan Xerri stat.
1. Laughably repetitive Carlton have made unwanted history
What's that famous, overreferenced Albert Einstein quote? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If those 17 words don't sum up the last 24 months of the Blues under Michael Voss then I'm really not sure what does!
It's rinse and repeat with this mob. Preach the contest game, jump the gates and show some promise, then die a fast, painful second-half death to leave supporters pulling what hair they have left out of their heads and cursing everyone associated with the club. The first half to second half Jekyll and Hyde nature of this club has been well documented of late, but know this: we've never seen this level of hot and cold from a team in footy history.
Carlton has led for a staggering 52.8% of game time in 2026. If you were to switch your television on and tune in at a random point of a random Blues game in 2026, you'd have a better than 50-50 shot of them leading said game. And yet they have amassed a laughable, simply inexplainable 1-7 record. That's the worst eight-week return in recorded history for a team that's led for longer than it's trailed.
Dating to the beginning of last year, the Blues have coughed up 11 halftime leads. The next worst in that period is the Eagles at seven such losses. No other team has done it more than five times. This year, they have conceded at least five goals in a row on eight occasions, the second-most of any side behind Essendon. They have conceded at least six goals in a row on six occasions, the equal-most alongside West Coast.
The main avenue to goal in 2026 should be from turnover. The Blues are both the worst in the competition at scoring from turnover and score the lowest percentage of points from turnover. They're also the only team that hasn't scored 90 points in a game this year. Yep, even the Tigers have managed it!
Call me crazy in hindsight, but I was reasonably bullish on Carlton at the beginning of the year. I felt confident that even with the losses of Charlie Curnow, Tom De Koning, and Jack Silvagni that a finals wildcard berth was in play. The year's still young, but that take will be hard to top for my biggest swing-and-a-miss of 2026.
2. Nick Daicos is truly in a class of his own
What stats equate to a great individual footy game? It's an impossible question to answer, really. What position do you play? What type of game was it? At what point of the game did you inflict your damage?
Just about everyone will have a different answer to the question, but what we should all be able to agree on when it comes to productivity on the footy field is that ball winning and the ability to hit the scoreboard are two of the most valuable attributes any player can possess.
So, a game where a player ranks 'elite' for both -- at least 27 disposals and one goal -- must be pretty damn good, right? Since the beginning of 2023, one man sits head and shoulders clear of the pack when it comes to such games.
Collingwood superstar Nick Daicos is on track to shatter the disposal record in 2026. The 23-year-old is averaging a staggering 36.6 disposals per game, 5.1 more than second-ranked Archie Roberts. He also sits atop the total disposal table for the year, despite playing one game fewer than everyone else who sits in the top 10.
3. The worst umpiring decision of the year!
I was as neutral as can be watching Showdown 59 last Friday evening, but in a weird sort of way I wish the Crows had lost. Nothing against Adelaide, it's just that Brayden Cook's late-game heroics overshadowed what would and probably should have been a major talking point to come out of the game: the horrendous late umpiring call which went against Matthew Nicks' side.
With 2:28 to play at Adelaide Oval, Wayne Milera looked to have put the Crows in front by two points when he slotted a beauty from the paint of the 50m arc. Expect it didn't count! The goal was overturned after it was deemed that Josh Rachele had made illegal contact with Logan Evans in the goal square.
Okay, to the letter of the law it is technically a free kick. The problem is we literally never see these paid, let alone in potentially result-altering situations such as this one. Commentators and footy fans alike have joked for years that you can and almost always get away with any forward-on-defender contact in the square and I could point to a dozen examples of more severe contact that went unpunished from this weekend's action alone.
All we ask for is consistent application of the rules. Surely that's not too much to ask.
4. My biggest takeaway from 'Whiteboardgate'
Am I outraged that a footy club jotted down some strengths and weaknesses of players at an opposition club in the week leading up to a game with said opposition? No, not in the slightest.
My esteemed colleague Rohan Connolly said it best in his column earlier in the week, teams scout their upcoming opponents for weeks in the lead-up to games, and then try and distil all of that information into easily digestible bites for their players. This would be happening at all 18 clubs, Essendon included. At least it should be...
READ: Brisbane's 'Whiteboardgate' wasn't outrageous, despite what media will tell you
What I can't understand is how on earth this whiteboard could be visible to a member of the public, even if through a window. Cover the window. Flip the whiteboard around. Scrub the writing off. The Lions have nobody but themselves to blame for this leaking.
"We've been doing it for nine years."
— AFL (@AFL) May 2, 2026
Chris Fagan has addressed the club's whiteboard listing strengths and weaknesses of Essendon players getting leaked.
Full post-match press conference: https://t.co/Tglg9F6i6X#AFLDonsLions pic.twitter.com/mZCA8g2edn
5. Something quirky I noticed
A few years ago I asked Champion Data which two teams produce the closest matchups. As in, which two sides, when they play each other, have the lowest average margin.
For the period we looked at, the answer was North Melbourne and Sydney. Shoutout to these two clubs facing each other this week. However, after a few blowouts in recent times, things have changed quite a bit. Looking at the last 10 contests between every two-team combination, here's which clubs have played the 'closest' games.
6. My favourite stat of the week
Has a player received more love from both the media and fans in the past decade than Max Gawn? Maybe Nick Daicos (I'm guilty, see above!). The Demons skipper continues to rewrite the record books and reshape what we expect from a modern day ruck.
But as great as Gawn's been, North Melbourne's Tristan Xerri just did something that he -- or any other ruck in league history for that matter -- has never managed. Against the Cats last Saturday afternoon, Xerri set a new ruck record for contested possessions in a game with 26. He also had 30 disposals, 14 clearances, and five inside 50s.
