Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson has a favourite saying: "When you lose one soldier, you replace him with another." But it can't apply in the case of a unique talent such as Cyril Rioli, who strained his right hamstring against North Melbourne. The All Australian small forward was brilliant on Sunday, single-handedly pulling the Hawks out of a flat spot in the third quarter with three quick goals, before adding a fourth in the last. The kicks, tackles and goals can be replaced, but the sheer terror of opponents when Rioli is in the vicinity cannot. – Mark Macgugan
2. The Pies lose big
Both of Collingwood's losses so far this year have been blow-outs. Theyled the Hawks by four goals only to lose by 55 points. They were withinthree goals of Essendon on Anzac Day with 10 minutes to go and lost by46 points. Collingwood's work rate dips alarmingly when they are downlate in games and midfielder Scott Pendlebury went as far as to say they"cheat" a bit. They'll be buoyed however by the return in the VFL on Friday night of Luke Ballaftera year on the sidelines. He needs more game time, but he'll be a hugeaddition in the second half of the year because of his love of thecontested ball. – Ashley Browne
3. Port's new-found endurance is made in Liverpool
Darren Burgess' return to Alberton at the end of last season couldwell be one of the most crucial additions to the Port Adelaide FootballClub in recent memory. Having spent five years with English PremierLeague giants Liverpool, Burgess has the Power fitter and morephysically capable than ever. After turning around a 31-point deficit inround three against Adelaide, the Power's supreme running ability wasagain on show on Saturday night when they turned a 41-point deficit into a five-point win.The side's never-say-die attitude relies on its ability to outrunopponents late in games, and for that, Burgess deserves greatcredit. - Harry Thring
4. Luke McPharlin is as important as Matthew Pavlich
Much has been made of Fremantle's form in the absence of Pavlich, but the value of McPharlin in the Dockers side washighlighted on Friday night. The 2012 All Australian defendereffectively missed the previous two games having been concussed fiveminutes into the clash against Essendon. Key forwards Stewart Crameriand Michael Hurley kicked five goals between them, out of 10, inEssendon's four-point win, while Hawthorn's Lance Franklin and JarrydRoughead kicked eight out of 18 in McPharlin's absence when the Hawksbeat the Dockers by 42 points in round four. McPharlin kept Colemanmedallist Jack Riewoldt to just one goal and two marks on Friday night in the Dockers one-point win.McPharlin missed three matches in 2012, and the Dockers lost two ofthem including a semi-final against Adelaide, which ended their season. - Alex Malcolm
5. Footy works well in Welly
Few of the local fans may have understood the rules, but the St Kilda-Sydney Swans clash at Wellington's Westpac Stadium can be counted a roaring success, with the AFL and clubs heartened by acrowd of 22,546 for footy's first home-and-away foray in aninternational market. The town had what Nick Dal Santodescribed as a "grand final week-type atmosphere", with local tradersthrilled with the injection of tourism that saw every hotel in the CBDbooked solid on Anzac Day. It was a heavily contested game on a slipperydeck but local fans didn't care, with many promising to come back next yearwhen the Saints return. - Jennifer Phelan
6. Taylor Walker's injury could put a line through the Crows
Adelaide doesn't yet know the severity of the knee injury suffered by key forward Taylor Walker, but it will be fearing anything too serious. If Walker does have a ligament strain that will keep him on the sidelines for a lengthy period, as suspected, you can all but rule out any hope Adelaide has to make the top four again. The Crows have had two unconvincing wins so far and aren't playing the type of exciting, attacking football they displayed last season. And already without Kurt Tippett, they can't afford to lose Walker for long. - Callum Twomey
7. The Giants look tired already
The helter-skelter way that footy is being played in 2013 seems to havedramatically reduced the number of stoppages and dramatically increasedthe number of players suffering from cramp. This change is also taking aheavy on the most inexperienced team in the competition. A week afterconceding 12 final-quarter goals to Melbourne, Greater Western Sydneyhit the wall again in the final term against Gold Coast in Canberra on Saturday.No. 2 draft pick Steve Coniglio was so tired that he could not evenhold onto a regulation chest mark late in the game. From here, there aretwo scary realities for the Giants: the season is only five rounds in,and they have to play the barnstorming Bombers this weekend. - Adam McNicol
8. There's life in the Leuenberger-Longer ruck combination
Modern footy dictates teams need two ruckmen and the Lions have their duo set with the two Ls. With Stefan Martin injured for six weeks with an ankle problem, coach Michael Voss put faith in second-year big man Billy Longer to partner the seasoned Leuenberger. While Longer, 19, battled manfully against Mark Jamar in the centre square, Leuenberger showed an adept hand in the forward line, kicking three goals and proving a good foil for skipper Jonathan Brown. "We see our future forward line consisting of having Billy Longer and Matthew Leuenberger in the same team and going in tandem with one another and creating some havoc," coach Michael Voss said in the post match press conference. - Michael Whiting
9. All is not lost for the Bulldogs
The Bulldogs lost to the Cats, but the performance they put up was noteworthy. Geelong was down to two rotations, after copping injuries to Jared Rivers and Josh Caddy, and the young Bulldogs could sniff an unlikely victory. Had Liam Jones kicked that open goal in the last quarter, the result may have been different. As Jason Johannisen said, the Dogs weren't "afraid" of the more mature Cats. If they can continue to play with the spirit shown on Saturday night, there is plenty to like about the Dogs and their development. - Jacqui Reed
