As the first month of fixtures drew to a close last Sunday evening, a belief morphed into empirical truth - 2021 is already rivalling last year in terms of unpredictability.
If you don't believe me, just take a look at the current ladder.
With the second month of the marathon season set to commence tonight, another set of questions remain ahead of both the men in the hot seat and their disciples in studded boots.
Whether flying high or having to continually dig deep for no reward, here are the latest set of quandaries facing each of the AFL's 18 teams.
Richmond
Does the mood change if they fall to 2-3?
Should you wish to find the last time that Richmond lost three consecutive games, you would need to take your plutonium powered DeLorean back to June 30th of 2019.
Like the club's sides of the early twenties and the early seventies, winning has become a habit for these contemporary Tigers. However, should St. Kilda manage to topple them this weekend, would the previously buoyant mood at Punt Road take a turn for the worse?
"What we do know is when the whips start to crack that's when we play our best footy. We need to get moving."
๐ฐ - https://t.co/cxoRqakOr1
— Richmond FC ๐ฏ๐ (@Richmond_FC) April 13, 2021
Richmond's previous pair of losses to Sydney and Port Adelaide are nothing to get in a twist about if you take ladder positions into account. But for a team that has swept almost all before them in the past three years, if the eighth placed Tigers head into their clash with Melbourne on Anzac eve off the back of three defeats, there is no telling how tense โ and possibly terse โ things will be behind closed doors.
Of course, all of this speculation relies upon the fellow 2-2 Saints getting the chocolates on Thursday. However, if it is a bastardised blues theme that play over the tannoy at full-time, Damien Hardwick will have a tough job getting his team back on track, with clashes against Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs, Geelong and Brisbane to come before the bye.
