Sometimes All-Australian teams are reflective of a team's performance, such as in 2007, when Geelong not only owned the season but the individual honours, too, Jimmy Bartel winning the Brownlow Medal and a record nine Cats finding a spot in the official team of the year.
Occasionally, they're not, most memorably back in 1991 when Hawthorn won the flag and didn't have a single player in the All-Australian team.
But with season 2016 turning into one of the most even in history, up to eight teams still all legitimate premiership chances, you'd expect a pretty wide spread of individual talent as well. And that's certainly what I found when picking my mid-season All-Australian team. 
I've selected players from across 14 of the 18 clubs. Sydney has the most representatives in my team, with four, but no-one else has any more than two, and there are eight teams with a single player represented.
Last year's grand finalists Hawthorn and West Coast had a total of six players in the official AFL team of the year. In this version, they share only three, with the reigning premiers having just one. But even the top teams of 2016 haven't necessarily stood out as much as usual.
My 2016 half-time team also underlines how quickly player fortunes and form lines can change.
I've been able to find room for only seven of last year's All-Australians, some, like Nat Fyfe and Bob Murphy, victims of injury, but many others simply squeezed out by the sheer glut of talent available.
There's no Sam Mitchell, nor his Hawthorn teammate Josh Gibson. There's no Matt Priddis, while a perennial All-Australian starter in Gary Ablett didn't even come close. Ablett was injured last year. This time he's played 10 of 11 games, but there's just too many in the queue ahead of him.
Let's start with the always contentious midfield selections, and apologies first to the likes of Mitchell, Priddis, new Magpie Adam Treloar, Luke Shuey, Jack Ziebell, Dustin Martin and Rory Sloane.
Treloar is probably the stiffest, with the fourth-highest disposal average and third-best scoreboard impact of the midfield contenders. I almost had him squeezed on to a half-forward flank, but in the end filled that spot with Sydney's Luke Parker, who has struggled a little in recent weeks, but whose first two months were Brownlow Medal-esque.
The first few midfield slots were easy enough, however. The curbing of Joel Selwood and to a lesser extent Patrick Dangerfield was a key in Geelong's two recent losses, but their star pairing has been a hit just about all season, both back on-song again last Saturday against GWS.
Fremantle have had the season from hell, but their one shining light has been bright indeed. Lachie Neale has been a star, the AFL's leading ball-winner by some margin, equal second for contested ball, top five for clearances and top 10 for uncontested possession.
Neale occupies one wing, Collingwood skipper Scott Pendlebury the other. Injury might have curbed his start to the season slightly, but even with his team struggling since, Pendlebury has been superb, picking up 30-plus disposals in five of his last seven games.
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 possessions 16.7   Clearances 6.9   Scoreboard impact 3.8    Centre     Joel Selwood      Disposals 27.0   Contested
 possessions 13.5   Clearances 7.1   Scoreboard impact 9.9    Wing     Scott Pendlebury      Disposals 29.3   Contested
 possessions 12.2   Clearances 3.6   Scoreboard impact 8.7
Another Swan, Dan Hannebery, is my rover, an incredibly consistent performer and now clearly the linchpin of the AFL's most reliable midfield combination. And on the interchange bench are three more mids who all thoroughly deserve a slot in the team - Melbourne's Jack Viney, the Western Bulldogs' Lachie Hunter and Carlton's Bryce Gibbs.
Viney, a future Melbourne captain, is top 10 for contested ball and clearances, and second only to Priddis in the AFL for average tackles. Hunter's late-season form last year promised plenty, and he has delivered, the competition's leading "outside" mid of the half-season. Gibbs, meanwhile, has bounced back brilliantly from an injury-afflicted 2015.
 Ruck     Todd Goldstein      Disposals 15.3   Hit
 outs 37.8   Clearances 3.8   Scoreboard impact 3.1    Ruck-rover     Paddy Dangerfield      Disposals 29.2   Contested
 possessions 15.2   Clearances 5.5   Scoreboard impact 10.1    Rover     Dan Hannebery      Disposals 31.5   Contested
 possessions 15.3   Clearances 5.7   Scoreboard impact 9.1
In defence, Hawthorn third man up champ Gibson is unlucky, and so might be North Melbourne's habitually underrated Scott Thompson, who can probably blame his key defensive partner Robbie Tarrant, for whom this season has been even better than his breakthrough 2015.
Gibson misses out probably because of the superb all-round ability of Alex Rance, who not only negates the best key forwards but reads the play well enough to peel off and support or create besides.
Heath Shaw is a "monty" given his continued output off half-back, and Sydney's Dane Rampe just continues to get better, second only to Rance for intercept possessions and to Shaw for rebound 50s.
Carlton's Sam Docherty is also a great story, and another who has continued to improve by the season, ranked second for intercept marks, third for intercept possessions and third for rebound 50s.
 Back pocket     Dane Rampe      Disposals 18.0   Intercept
 possessions 8.4   Intercept marks 2.6   Rebound 50s 7.0    Full-back     Robbie Tarrant      Disposals 15.1   Intercept
 possessions 6.2   Intercept marks 2.1   Rebound 50s 3.5    Back pocket     Daniel Talia      Disposals 15.1   Intercept
 possessions 6.2   Intercept marks 2.1   Rebound 50s 3.5    Half back-flank     Heath Shaw      Disposals 26.1   Intercept
 possessions 7.9   Intercept marks 2.5   Rebound 50s 8.6    Centre half-back     Alex Rance      Disposals 18.2   Intercept
 possessions 9.3   Intercept marks 2.0   Rebound 50s 2.2    Half back-flank     Sam Docherty      Disposals 24.5   Intercept
 possessions 8.1   Intercept marks 3.1   Rebound 50s 5.0
The forward set-up I found easiest to pick, one tall, Lance Franklin, and one small, Eddie Betts, close to the first players selected. Josh Kennedy has done enough to earn the full-forward slot.
With the third tall, I've gone for Gold Coast's Tom Lynch only narrowly from Adelaide's Josh Jenkins. Their important numbers are virtually identical, aside from contested marks, of which Lynch has plenty more. He's also had to conjure his 35 goals in a far less successful team and despite far more opposition focus. Jack Gunston, meanwhile, is the only Hawk in this team, and the perfect balance to the talls and smalls.
Which leaves the ruck, Melbourne's Max Gawn is another who is very stiff to miss. His numbers stack up very well, Goldstein perhaps just a tiny bit more effective with his disposal and near goal.
But mobility in a team picked as if to play is essential, which means missing the No.1 berth, Gawn also misses out as No.2, where Nic Naitanui offers more flexibility and has certainly turned in a good enough season to earn his spot in my 22.
I'd be more than happy for this line-up to take on all comers. And in keeping with the way this season is going, there's at least another 22 besides who might do just as good a job.
 Half-forward flank     Luke Parker      Disposals 27.8   Marks 3.6   Tackles 5.5   Goals 9    Centre Half-forward     Lance Franklin      Disposals 17.9   Marks 5.1   Tackles 2.3   Goals 41    Half-forward flank     Jack Gunston      Disposals 16.1   Marks 6.6   Tackles 3.1   Goals 28    Forward pocket     Eddie Betts      Disposals 14.0   Marks 3.0   Tackles 3.9   Goals 28    Full-forward     Josh Kennedy      Disposals 14.7   Marks 7.2   Tackles 3.7   Goals 38    Forward pocket     Tom Lynch      Disposals 13.5   Marks 5.7   Tackles 1.8   Goals 35    Interchange     Jack Viney      Disposals 26.1   Contested
 possessions 13.5   Clearances 6.7   Scoreboard impact 7.4    Interchange     Lachie Hunter      Disposals 31.6   Contested
 possessions 9.2   Clearances 2.7   Scoreboard impact 5.3    Interchange     Bryce Gibbs      Disposals 26.1   Contested
 possessions 8.5   Clearances 4.5   Scoreboard impact 11.3    Interchange     Nic Naitanui      Disposals 31.1   Hit
 out 35.3   Clearances 4.0   Tackles 3.2