With six weeks of the marathon run, the line between contenders and pretenders is becoming much more opaque.

Although 94.4% of the competition's 18-teams have now put a win on the board, the gap between first and last is still chasmic.

As we edged toward the end of the season's second month, the question marks surrounding every side โ€“ whether they are leading the league or languishing โ€“ are still aplenty.

With Round 7 set to start this Friday night, we have cast an eye across each of the league's combatants and have sought to answer the key questions facing each and every one of them.

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Carlton

Is finals football still a possibility?

According to Stats Insider, the Blues' hopes of returning to the September action have strengthened since their 0-2 start to the season.

However, they are still slim.

At a bee's appendage aboveย a three in ten chance of making finals, David Teague's side will need to make the most of their next month of football to not only impress their 80,000 members, but also the statisticians.

With clashes against Essendon, the Western Bulldogs, Melbourne and Hawthorn ahead of them, Stats Insider has Carlton as favourites in the first and last of these consecutive contests.

Still, predictable results are what the Blues have dished up this season, with their pair of wins coming against sides they finished above last season and their four losses against those they sat below.

With more miserable rather than majestic memories arising in the past two decades at Princes Park, Carlton will need to start bucking the trend of predictable losses, as well as continue beating those they have done in the recent past if their chances of cracking the eight are to truly become realistic.

This starts on Sunday against Essendon - a match that Gerard Whateley and David King believe is the biggest of the Round.

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