Australian Football

Gigs Ladder Comp Round 7 Update

Here we go folks, the greatest footy tipping contest in the history of the free world, as voted by an independent panel of experts, is now online via Australian Football and The Footy Almanac .

(Does one person - me - count as panel? I'm not sure but I have flown on a plane, and plane and panel are both made of the same letters, so that surely counts for something. And as for independent, well I wasn't actually referring to my ability to make an impartial assessment of this great competition, just the fact that I am able to take care of myself financially.)

And with seven rounds gone, it's Geelong that's broken away from the pack in the real ladder, and one of their greatest fans that's broken away from the pack in the 'ladder ladder'. Who is this great Cats' fan? It's the son of another great Cats' fan in fact. It's Theo Harms, son of head Footy Almanacker John. (Does that make Theo an Almanacker tacker? I say YES!)

Theo's ladder heads the table with a score of 46 points. (Remember folks, the lower your score the better your ladder is doing.) He's an amazing six points clear of the next cab - or in this case cabs - off the rank, who are Geordie C (who was leader after rounds 5 and 6. Geordie probably enjoyed that, given that his name's an anagram of "ego ride"), Daniel H (no, it's not Mr. Harford), Kerry P, who was leader after round 4 and Tim I, who was also leader after round 4 and just happens to be an anagram of "I'm it". Who knows, Tim may well be "it" before the year is out.

But there's a long way to go, 15 rounds plus finals, so anything could happen. Maybe our cellar-dwellars, dual Saints' fans Lou F and Yvette W, who are equal 178th on 150 points, could yet make a run at the ladder leadership. Or maybe not. In Yvette W's case one gets the feeling from the number of letters in her name that are at the back end of the alphabet, that she might prefer to stay the back end of the ladder ladder.

Lou and Yvette are doing so badly they're behind even Yrag Legov, the Siberian Husky breeder from Krasnoyarsk, who traditionally occupies the ladder's bottom rung.

Best of the "so called experts" is Geoff Slattery, head of Slattery Media and rabid Hawthorn supporter. (Just don't mention the last 10 Geelong games to him.) He's on 56 points, in equal 14th place, (just ahead of last year's winner Matthew W, who is poised to pounce in his efforts to go back-to-back).

Geoff is a long way ahead of some other so called experts, in particular Andy Maher, Scott Cummings and Robert Walls, all on 70 points and in equal 122nd spot, behind even Chance Fateman, who used a random number generator to put his ladder together.

Check out how your ladder is doing below. Spreadsheets will be emailed to entrants tonight!

• (S) denotes entrants who have earned the title "so-called expert". They might be journalists, ex-players (or both), four-legged creatures, or perhaps not even real. The good news is, no matter how well their ladder is doing, they are not eligible for prize-money.