Round 9 was the round of many firsts.
We saw Brisbane notch their first victory of the season, the Bombers win their first third quarter of the year and Lance Franklin become the first player to join Tony Lockett with 300 goals at multiple clubs.
The Gold Coast and Port Adelaide clash in Shanghai marked the first time an AFL television audience had exceed 10 million viewers while Melbourne recorded their biggest winning margin this millennium when they thrashed Carlton at the MCG.
It was also a round for player firsts. Emerging Pie Jordan De Goey booted a career-best six goals, Jake Lloyd broke the 40-disposal barrier for the first time in his career and Luke Hodge scored his first win over his former Hawks.
The first top-of-the-table clash of season 2018 didn't disappoint, either.
HEROES
Betts in the wet: Friday night's wet-weather slog between Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs was attritional rather than attractive, with the torrential rain robbing almost every player of their skills at a sodden Adelaide Oval.
We say almost, because Eddie Betts shone like a beacon as the home side outmuscled the Dogs in a low-scoring scrap. He booted four goals -- double what the entire Bulldogs team managed -- to inspire the injury-hit Crows to a gutsy win.
It didn't take long for the gun small forward, playing his 100th game for Adelaide, to again get his home crowd out of their seats. Swooping on a loose ball on the Adelaide half-forward line in the opening minutes, he kicked a laser-like left-foot, boundary-line goal from about 50m. Then in the third quarter he marked about 25m out near the boundary line and split the middle with barely an inch of daylight between the goal posts. To cap off an exceptional game, he then nailed two final-term goals to put the result beyond doubt.
It's debatable whether Betts was best on ground -- the Brownlow votes will be interesting, considering Jack Macrae's 36-disposal, 13-tackle effort and the huge games from Betts' teammates Bryce Gibbs, Rory Laird and Hugh Greenwood -- but in torrid conditions, Betts' cleanliness was crucial as the Crows improved to 6-3 from nine matches.
Ben Brown's third quarter: Just when we were starting to wonder if Ben Brown -- who had kicked just three goals in two weeks -- might be swallowed up by the chasing pack in the race for the Coleman Medal, the 25-year-old star forward turned in another goal kicking masterclass.
After being held to just two kicks and no goals in the first half against GWS, Brown sparked North Melbourne with a five goal third term in front of his adoring Tasmanian fans at Blundstone Arena.
Brown's career-best quarter helped turn a five-point halftime deficit into a 33-point three-quarter time lead, one that proved insurmountable for the Giants as the Kangaroos went on to record their fifth win of the season.
Brown, 25, continues to lead the competition in goals, having booted 31 majors for the season at an average of 3.44 per game.
Tom McDonald: Ben Brown might be the in-vogue choice as far as accurate big men go, but Melbourne's key defender-turned-forward Tom McDonald has picked up in 2018 where he left off last year.
Since making his way back into the side in Round 6 after recovering from a foot injury, the 25-year old had kicked bags of two, two and five leading into Sunday's clash with Carlton. Against the Blues, he kicked another four goals and just one behind, taking his 2018 tally to an impressive 13 goals and two behinds from four games.
While Jake Melksham and Alex Neal-Bullen also hit the scoreboard in Melbourne's 109-point spanking of the Blues (kicking five and four majors respectively), it was McDonald who was the forward threat when the game was in the balance, kicking all four of his goals in the first half.
Not only does McDonald have a beautiful, conventional kicking action, his positioning and overall attacking nous is rapidly approaching an elite level. As all good forwards do, he wasn't too selfish in front of the big sticks, giving away two cheapies to teammates in among his nine overall score involvements.
Oh, and for anyone wondering about his contract situation, McDonald is a restricted free agent who is out of contract at the end of this season. Better get cracking on an extension, Dees!
VILLAINS
Geelong Football Club: The fulltime score at the MCG may have read 34 points but in truth it felt as though Geelong lost to Essendon by something closer to 10 goals.
The Cats managed just two goals to half time and were simply awful, allowing the Bombers to dictate play for four quarters before Geelong found a few consolation goals late in the piece.
Geelong were beaten in many key statistical areas including disposals (402-350), contested possessions (149-138), inside 50s (57-51) and marks inside 50 (13-4) but what will have Chris Scott pulling his hair out will be the tackle differential which again favoured the Bombers (91-68).
As poor as the Cats were, it's only fair to pump the Bombers up for their gutsy win and perhaps getting their season back on track.
The two goal Dogs : Yes, it was wet and yes, they were playing the Crows in Adelaide but to finish any game with a score of 2.14 (26) is dreadful no matter what the circumstances, particularly for a side that won the premiership less than two years ago.
The Western Bulldogs dominated the play for large periods of the game on Friday night but again failed to take their chances as the efficient Crows ran over the top to record a comfortable 37 point win.
Here are some of the crazy -- and unwanted -- stats to come out of the match for Luke Beveridge's side:
Only once before had the Bulldogs kicked less than three goals in a game (Round 12, 1965).
Eddie Betts kicked four goals from nine kicks (44.44 percent). The Bulldogs kicked two goals from 212 kicks (0.94 percent).
26 points is the lowest fulltime score recorded since Footscray became the Western Bulldogs.
Clarko and the Hawks: Was Sunday's stunning upset from the Lions over the Hawks a case of the apprentice getting one over his master?
That appeared to be the case as Chris Fagan masterminded an incredible, drought-breaking win for his Lions over the previously high-flying Hawks.
Mastercoach Alastair Clarkson went into the game with a smaller than usual backline and Fagan exploited that with his tall trifecta of Eric Hipwood (203cm), Oscar McInerney (204cm) and Dan McStay (195cm) working beautifully as the Lions romped away for a 56-point victory.
If they didn't mark the ball they regularly brought it to ground, allowing the speedy smaller Lions an opportunity to attack the goals at ground level.
The win was a massive result for the Lions but also a huge blow for the Hawks' finals chances, with Clarko's men now out of the eight having lost two on the trot.
And while Clarkson backed his side to rebound quickly during this "topsy-turvy year," Sunday's percentage-lowering loss could prove disastrous as the Hawks hunt a return to the finals.