Fremantle coach Ross Lyon has no doubt what is going on in this topsy-turvy AFL season.
And he reckons it should alter one of the sport's oldest adages: a week is a long time in footy.
Now, Lyon says it's more like a half is a long time in footy.
"We talk about a week is a long time in footy, we are seeing it's within halves," he said after the Dockers were thrashed by 100 points by Adelaide on Saturday night.
"We are seeing teams dominate for halves and capitulating for a half."
The reason?
"We are seeing teams go from extraordinary to ordinary very quickly because they just haven't got that absolute out-and-out talent to sustain high level football for 22 weeks," Lyon said.
"There is no doubt that is what is going on."
Lyon said his Dockers were with the majority of clubs - needing their absolute best to be competitive.
"The season is telling us there is a lot of even lists out there," he said.
"Maybe there's a couple of really good teams but the rest of us that really need our leaders to stand up."
Lyon said the Dockers were "embarrassed" by the ladder-leading Crows.
"We got obliterated around the ball when we needed to stand up," he said,
The problem coincided with the absence of ruckman Aaron Sandilands, who is no certainty to return from a hamstring strain for next Sunday's home match against Collingwood.
"The mids and myself, we would walk away and go 'gee, we need to be better without Aaron there'," Lyon said.
"I'd like to think we just don't need silver service to compete and tackle and get the ball going our way. Maybe on the surface that was an issue."
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