In AFL history, two years stand out as shining examples of "anyone's flag". There was 1993, when the "Baby Bombers" delivered Essendon an amazing flag win after being fifth-last on the ladder one-third of the way through the season.

In 1997, Adelaide lost two of their last three home and away games and were considered finals also-rans before launching a stunning September campaign landing the Crows their first premiership.

It's been a while. But I think 2016 is venturing into very similar territory, a season when five months of jockeying for position in the top eight might all be rendered moot by a killer blow which comes late and perhaps unexpectedly.

The AFL will be loving the prospect of a season going so long with so many possibilities still on the table. But, really, it's as much a comment on the vulnerabilities about and question marks over the various contenders as their strengths.

There should be one obvious exception to that, the still undefeated North Melbourne. Perhaps curiously, though, even the Roos remain the subject of some scepticism, behind at least five rivals in most premiership betting markets.

There's two popular concerns. One is the Roos' failure to put sides away when they've had them down for the count, a misgiving you'd hope a commanding 67-point win over Carlton might have helped quell for now.

The other, more significant, is the "who have they played?" line, which has some validity, too. It won't after the next month, by when the Roos will have played, in succession, Sydney, Richmond, Geelong and Hawthorn. Win even three of that lot, and the doubters will have run out of excuses.

But North aside, in 2016 it seems any time a contender starts to gather some momentum and a bit of a popular bandwagon surrounding their chances, a setback is just around the corner.

Geelong were equal flag favourite alongside Sydney heading into round nine. But the Cats, as had the Swans the previous week, were gazumped by a rival which, regardless of how close they got on occasions, simply had greater hunger.

We wrote in these pages during the week about the enormous on-field ramifications of the absence of Jarryd Roughead for Hawthorn, not just on the scoreboard, but in the contest. Friday night's loss to Sydney only underscored their concerns.

No one doubts the Hawks' capacity to pull out a couple of big September performances. But getting in a position to be able to utilise that capacity may be their biggest issue.

West Coast are a grand finalist. But one which just won their first game on the road this season. It's going to take a few more productive plane trips yet before most factor the Eagles into premiership calculations again.

Adelaide's best this season has bordered on brilliant. But the Crows have nonetheless come out on the wrong side of the scoreboard against North Melbourne, Hawthorn, the Western Bulldogs and Geelong.

And for the Bulldogs, the doubts are not only about the calibre of opponent to whom they've lost – Hawthorn, North Melbourne and now Greater Western Sydney – but the increasing toll injuries and unavailability have taken.

For a side that generates the amount of run off half-back the Doggies do, the cumulative loss of Bob Murphy, Jason Johannisen, Matt Suckling, Marcus Adams and on Sunday Matthew Boyd has begun to tell. So has injury to Tom Boyd and Jack Redpath's suspension left Jake Stringer carrying too much of a burden.

All bar Murphy will be back at some stage. But will the Dogs, like Hawthorn, hang on long enough to be in a position to contend?

There's one team for whom all the doubts are a blessing, however. And it's the team which on Sunday added the Bulldogs to a list of scalps now comprising Geelong and Hawthorn besides.

There was nothing fluky about Sunday's GWS win, the Giants booting the second-largest score the Bulldogs have conceded all season, Leon Cameron's team now second only to Adelaide for points scored.

Their forward set-up is potent and beautifully balanced with talls Jeremy Cameron, Rory Lobb and Jonathon Patton complementing smaller, smart ground level goalkickers like Steve Johnson and Toby Greene. The midfield is even and bats deep, the backline rebounds with effect.

The one concern, normally, about the Giants, would be their lack of experience. Only Brisbane's list in 2016 has a lower games played average, the Giants before this season at about 57 per player, North Melbourne, for example, at 94.

But will that matter as much in 2016? It certainly didn't hurt those "Baby Bombers" of 1993, nor, for that matter, an Adelaide side in 1997 which had been part of only one previous finals series.

This might be a particularly good year to be taking your first steps into September. And maybe also one where just getting a ticket into the final eight could give you very real hopes of a lot bigger event a few weeks later.

AND WHILE I'M AT IT ...

The Melbourne football media lost interest in Fremantle this season the moment it became clear the Dockers weren't going to be part of the mix at the top of the ladder. At home, the mood has been one more of resignation than exasperation.

But while the focus has quickly turned to how Freo approach next year and the wisdom or otherwise of veterans like former skipper Matthew Pavlich playing on, the extent and speed of the Dockers' demise should really be the subject of more attention.

If Fremantle lose to St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, they will become a joint part of football history any club would want to avoid. In 120 seasons of league football, just one team – Footscray back in 1938 – has gone from a top-four team to winless in their first 10games of the following season. That's as dramatic a change in fortunes as we've ever seen. And in Fremantle's case, it almost beggars belief.

Dockers coach Ross Lyon need to get his playing group back on message. Photo: AFL Media/Getty Images

The 65-point thumping against the Western Bulldogs in the opening round remains by some margin the Dockers' heaviest defeat. But the losses have just kept coming. And the absence of the likes of Nat Fyfe and Aaron Sandilands can't account entirely for an implosion on this scale. Nor do a couple of tweaks to the rules.

A more fluid, attacking game was quickly ditched when Fremantle began leaking scores the likes of which no Ross Lyon-coached team had previously seen. The Dockers haven't scored more than 77 points in five games since, and are still ranked among the worst four for points conceded. They're getting belted in virtually every important statistical category. On the differentials, their ranking has fallen from fourth to 17th for disposals, second to 13th for contested ball and fourth to 17th for uncontested ball. The best clearance team in the AFL last season now ranks eighth. And they've gone from third for inside 50 differentials to 13th.

Now perhaps the most worrying statistic. For all Fremantle's injuries and the much-discussed introduction of new blood to the line-up, Saturday night's team which lost to Richmond nonetheless contained no fewer than 14 of the same faces who were part of last season's preliminary final loss to Hawthorn.

Two-thirds of a top-four line-up don't all just lose their ability overnight, which is, in effect, what their team seems to have done. After just two games this season, I wondered aloud whether Fremantle in 2016 was potentially going the way Lyon's St Kilda of 2011, not so much a victim of losses of personnel or form as sheer mental exhaustion, the product of climbing the mountain but just failing to reach the summit coupled with the realisation that opportunity had now passed. Everything which has happened since has only underscored in bold that opinion.

We never got to find out whether Lyon could have completely changed tack with the Saints, rebuilt and led another assault. With Lyon signing a contract extension until 2020, and after the most amazing collapse of a team in football history, we certainly will now.