Round 11 was the first of the bye Rounds, giving a third of the teams a chance to catch their breath before launching into the second half of the season.

The bye Rounds also provide an opportunity to showcase Thursday night footy, which has been a resounding success for the AFL.

GWS further cemented themselves as flag favorites, holding off a gallant Essendon outfit by 16 points. The win sees the Giants claim top place on the ladder for the first time in their history, incredible considering their huge toll of injuries.

Geelong capped off a hat-trick of wins at their trusty Simonds Stadium home base, defeating fellow contender Adelaide by 22 points.

Richmond roared back into the top four, claiming a 35-point win over North Melbourne, their best for the season. The Tigers stalked and pressured the in-form Kangaroos to completely throw them off their running game.

Bruised but not beaten, Collingwood limped to a gritty win over Fremantle in Perth despite suffering a host of injuries. And with their third successive win, the Pies have steered their turbulent season back on track.

THE GOOD

Toughest of all-time?

Joel Selwood dived backwards into a marking contest against Adelaide’s Andy Otten, copping a stray elbow which caused him to bleed profusely.

The courageous act led to an overflow of praise on social media as many experts dubbed the Cats skipper the toughest in the AFL today, even of all-time.

Richmond legend Matthew Richardson summed it up perfectly, saying: "He has no regard for his own welfare."

Wright on point  

‘Two metre’ Peter Wright kicked Gold Coast’s most important goal of the season. With two minutes remaining and the Suns trailing the Eagles by four points, Wright took a strong contested mark over Elliot Yeo just inside the 50-metre arc, before kicking confidently through the big sticks.

Gold Coast never surrendered back the lead from that point. West Coast desperately need the week off, having lost their last three games.

Dusty’s ‘don’t argue’

Evasive moves are important for elite decision makers in contented situations. We’ve seen the pirouette, the ‘candy sell’ and the side-step, now it’s the ‘don’t argue’.

Never before have we seen a player embrace the tackler, instead of avoiding them - and Dustin Martin may be the only player capable of consistently pulling it off. His ‘don’t argue’ was on show time and time again against the Kangaroos.

The Kangaroos rank fifth in the AFL for tackles, but even the Jack Ziebells and Ben Cunningtons of the world couldn’t bring down Martin, the Brownlow Medal favourite.

THE BAD

Some things never change

Frustrated with his side’s half-time deficit, Brendan Goddard, threw half a bowl of pretzels on the ground in the Essendon change rooms.

Playing his 300th game, the former Saint has always been renowned for displaying passion and emotion. This was one of his all-time great dummy spits.

Pies’ whiskers

Viewers at home may have noticed some of the Collingwood boys rocking more facial hair than usual. That’s because of a bet they’ve made with their coaches.

The wager relates to a goal kicking training drill, pitting the players against their coaches. So long as the coaches continue to kick more accurately than the players, they are not allowed to shave.

If the weekend is anything to go by, the Pies may need to employ beard grooming advice from Max Gawn. They scored 15.15 and currently rank 17th in the competition for goal kicking accuracy.

Tomahawk in trouble

Geelong’s Tom Hawkins has landed himself in hot water following jumper punches laid on Matt Crouch.

Just weeks ago, the match review panel made it clear they want to see jumper punching, stomach jabs and any sort of cheap shots phased out of the game.

The MRP must now practice what they preach and suspend Tom Hawkins for at least one week.

THE UGLY

Worst half ever

Hawthorn’s season has gone from bad to worse, culminating in them recording the lowest scoring half in the club’s 92-year history.

The Hawks scored just three points in the first half of Thursday night’s clash against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.

Hawthorn were anything but mighty of fighting as they failed to register a single score in the first quarter.