Jason Horne-Francis is harassed by Errol Gulden during the match between Port Adelaide and Sydney in R21, 2024. Picture: AFL Photos

FREMANTLE will miss out on September action, Carlton will sneak into the top eight and Sydney will have a horror match-up against Port Adelaide in the opening week of the finals, according to our reporters.

AFL.com.au's team of nine journalists have used our ladder predictor to tip the final make-up of the top eight, and they're predicting the Dockers to slide out of the finals spots having been in the top two just a fortnight ago.

>> SCROLL DOWN FOR THE FULL PREDICTED LADDER

Freo has lost two tight games in a row and faces a tricky run home, with games to come against Greater Western Sydney (away) and Port Adelaide (home).

The Dockers' expected slide would mean a reprieve for an under siege Carlton side that has relatively easy games against West Coast and St Kilda to come.

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The Giants are also expected to slide in the final two weeks and finish outside the top four, with games against the Dockers and Western Bulldogs (in Ballarat) to come.

Two of our nine reporters have tipped the Giants to finish second, meaning Port Adelaide would drop out of the top four, but the other seven are expecting GWS to drop to fifth.

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Sydney, Geelong and Brisbane received unanimous support to finish in the top four, while all nine of our reporters have backed Hawthorn to finish in the eight.

A qualifying final between the Swans and the Power, if it materialises, would come just a month after Port smashed Sydney by 112 points at Adelaide Oval.

The Swans have lost their past eight matches against the Power with their last win against them coming in 2016.

AFL.com.au's predicted final ladder*

1. Sydney
2. Geelong
3. Brisbane
4. Port Adelaide
5. Greater Western Sydney
6. Western Bulldogs
7. Hawthorn
8. Carlton

9. Fremantle
10. Gold Coast
11. Essendon
12. Collingwood
13. Melbourne
14. St Kilda
15. Adelaide
16. West Coast
17. North Melbourne
18. Richmond

* Our nine reporters completed our ladder predictor and picked their expected top eight. Their responses were then tallied and averaged out to get a combined predicted ladder