While the AFL ladder is beginning to take shape – with many experts believing the top ten will remain the same until September – there's another ladder which paints a picture as to those teams who are dominating and those who are struggling.

As a general rule, it shows that the teams who have the most number of players to have played every game are the best performing teams.

The undefeated Kangaroos have had a remarkable 17 players who have played all seven games, the equal highest in the competition alongside Adelaide.

Sydney – third on the AFL ladder with six wins and one loss – are also third on this ladder, with 16 players who are yet to miss a game.

Six of the teams on the "played every game" ladder are also in the top eight of the proper ladder, with St Kilda and Fremantle the only exceptions to the rule.

Although they've only won two games, the Saints have been extremely competitive under Alan Richardson in 2016, as they proved on Sunday with a narrow loss to the all-conquering North Melbourne.

Fremantle and Ross Lyon, meantime, may be paying for lack of development in their youth, or perhaps simply a lack of talented youngsters.

Collingwood, Richmond and Port Adelaide, who are arguably the three most disappointing sides of 2016 thus far, sit in the bottom three for this category.

Port have only 10 players who have played every game, while the Pies and the Tigers have eight.

It must be said that both Collingwood and Richmond have struggled with injuries to key players early in the season, most notably Brett Deledio and Ivan Maric for the Tigers and Dane Swan and Jamie Elliott for the Pies.

Collingwood have used a staggering 36 players in the opening seven weeks of the season, three more than the next highest team (Gold Coast).

On top of Swan and Elliott, the Magpies have at least four other injured players who would be considered walk-up starts.

Taylor Adams is not far away with a sore knee and the same can be said for Marley Williams who is recovering with a foot injury.

Nathan Brown and Travis Varcoe both have short-term hamstring injuries – with the club saying Varcoe is a possibility to play this week – while Tyson Goldsack is still several weeks away with a broken thumb.

Tom Langdon (ankle), Ben Sinclair (concussion) and Jackson Ramsey (knee) are three players who would also be in the mix for selection if they were fully fit.

If you add in young gun Matt Scharenberg who ruptured his ACL in the pre-season, suddenly you have a lengthy injury list that can't be ignored.

The injuries have forced Collingwood to debut four players already this season.

In the entire 2010 premiership season, the Pies had only one player in his debut game (Jarryd Blair).

While the Magpies justifiably remain in the spotlight for consistent poor performances, a horror run with injuries hasn't helped.