Yet the Blues and Magpies in particular need not look back far to recall swift turnarounds from slow starts.

Collingwood has been widely written off as a serious challenger for the premiership after being pulverised by Fremantle on Friday night at Etihad Stadium, kicking just five majors in a 70-point defeat. Just two years ago, though, the Magpies were able to recover from a round one loss to Hawthorn, which was followed a fortnight later with a ten-goal thrashing at the hands of Carlton.

Prior to Friday night, that had been Collingwood's last loss by such a large margin. Yet in the immediate aftermath, the Pies strung together a ten-game winning streak which catapulted them to top spot on the ladder. Ultimately they succumbed to eventual premiers Sydney in the preliminary final.

The example is an even more recent one for Carlton. The Blues began last year with three consecutive defeats, which led to mounting pressure on new coach Mick Malthouse. Yet having overcome that early turbulence, the Blues steadily worked their way into season 2013, making it all the way to the semi final (admittedly with some assistance from AFL-imposed sanctions) where they were also ousted by the Swans.

The Swans themselves overcame a sluggish start to their premiership defence in 2006, suffering a surprise defeat at the hands of Essendon before being stunned at home by a middling Port Adelaide outfit. Yet while that pair would go on to languish in the bottom half of the ladder, Sydney recovered sufficiently to come within a point of back-to-back premierships.

Indeed this time just last year, Hawthorn supporters would have been forgiven for believing that their team would never again defeat arch-nemesis Geelong after the Cats edged the Hawks for the umpteenth time since the 2008 grand final. That round one loss had Jeff Kennett calling for coach Alistair Clarkson's head, but Hawthorn finally turned the tables when it mattered, knocking off its tormentors in a preliminary final classic on the way to an eleventh premiership.