A WEEK ago, Crows coach Neil Craig would have been well into his planning on how to beat Carlton at the MCG. He would have quickly realised that the Blues' two most influential players were Chris Judd and Brendan Fevola.

Judd had hit form and picked up votes in Carlton's two wins against Collingwood and Melbourne, and "Fev" had kicked bags of eight, seven and seven in a three-week hot streak at the MCG. Stop them and the rest of the young Blues wouldn't be good enough to win.

That's exactly what Craig did. Because the Blues are conditioned to directing so much of the ball to their full-forward, Craig gave Fevola two opponents. One started two metres behind, the other two metres in front of the danger man. Fevola didn't like it, kicked only one goal for the game and then lost interest, realising the odds were stacked against him.

Judd copped the Crows' best and most disciplined tagger in Robert Shirley. Shirley wore Judd like a glove. The champion looked flat and lacked acceleration.

Judd was not in his team's best six, which was, and will be, a rare occurrence for him in the navy blue.

So, it got me thinking: if a team's most influential two players didn't perform near their best, does it severely affect its chances of winning?

Incredibly, the Eagles are 200-1 long shots for this year's flag. Last year, they lost their two best players in Judd and Ben Cousins. Now, Daniel Kerr and Dean Cox are the best two. Both are struggling with a combination of form, fitness and attitude.

Already, their coach has given up on the finals because he must believe the rest are not good enough.

Sydney's top two would be Barry Hall and Adam Goodes. They lost last week with Hall out suspended and Goodes playing so poorly that his coach publicly criticised him. On Sunday, with Goodes back to best-on-field, the Swans salvage a draw. It proves the importance of class.

On Saturday, Port Adelaide wins a dour struggle against St Kilda. The Cornes brothers are beauties. Chad rises to the occasion in the final quarter to lead his team home despite the pain of a broken bone, and younger brother Kane has a game-high 33 disposals while limiting one of St Kilda's best, Nick Dal Santo, to a disappointing 13 touches.

The Saints' No. 1 player Nick Riewoldt isn't in the best 10 on the field. No surprise Port wins, St Kilda loses.

On Friday night, the Cats scraped home by the barest of margins. Their prime pair, Matthew Scarlett and Gary Ablett, are well down on their normal output. But the Cats are fortunate to have class that runs deep. Joel Corey and Joel Selwood step up to pinch victory for Geelong. For the Dockers to win, they need captain Matthew Pavlich and ruck giant Aaron Sandilands to play blinders. They do, but it's just not good enough.

Collingwood's best, according to last year's best-and-fairest voting, are Travis Cloke and Scott Pendlebury.

They rise to the occasion on Anzac Day. Paul Medhurst wins the medal, but hard on his heels were the young guns. For the Bombers, it's hard to determine their best. Dustin Fletcher, who has been a grand full-back for 15 years, plays up forward with little impact, as does skipper Matthew Lloyd. No wonder they cop a flogging.

It all proves that if your best are not firing, your team will struggle. Along with Geelong, Hawthorn and the Bulldogs are undefeated. The Hawks' two most influential players are Luke Hodge and Lance Franklin. Both are having super seasons. For the Dogs, I rate Robert Murphy and last year's best-and-fairest winner, Brian Lake, as their keys. Lake is again having a fine season at full-back. Murphy is the creative playmaker up forward.

No wonder coaches cringe when one of their players goes down. If it's a star, they know the season could be shot. If it's a battler, they secretly breathe a sigh of relief because they know battlers can be replaced, stars can't.