There are upset losses that are not that upsetting. They are the losses that mean more to the winner than they hurt the loser.

Sydney had one against Fremantle in round 16. They lost by a point, but did they lose much more than the four points in the grand scheme of things? Not really, not unless they followed it up with another loss to St Kilda. Which they did. Now their loss that wasn’t that upsetting has been followed by another upset that makes the whole last week very upsetting. The excusable one-off loss has become an inexcusable trend that challenges the growing belief that it was Sydney and daylight in the flag race.

Double trouble: Josh Battle consoles Sydney’s Logan McDonald after St Kilda’s upset win.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images

And for the Saints, even more than the Dockers, there can be no copping the idea of their victory on Sunday being a result of the Swans being due for a loss. This was a win conjured by St Kilda, not a loss fumbled by Sydney. The Saints have deserved criticism for how they have played in many games this year. There is no criticism for Sunday. The style of game they played all day was watchable, attacking and gritty, Liam Henry was tremendous.

Carlton losing to the Giants was an upset, but not overly upsetting. At the start of the year you wouldn’t have said that, but the Giants had lost six of their last eight games and then the Blues got 39 points up and were humming.

But, unlike the Swans, they were probably due for a loss after winning five in a row. They will not be as upset by this result as the Giants will be encouraged by it. There was more to take out of it in victory than to despair in defeat.

Carlton will know the Giants were, and are, a very good team that had endured a bad month or so but were always likely to find form again. That they did so after being 39 points down to Carlton speaks more to the Giants and Adam Kingsley challenging them at quarter-time than the Blues. Yes, it’s unsettling to witness a 75-point turnaround within a game, but until that becomes a trend it can be contained as a........

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