IN THE past six weeks, Sydney Swans forward Lance Franklin has slid from ninth to 17th in the Official AFL Player Ratings, brought to you by Gatorade.
But he has the chance to turn things around on Friday night at Etihad Stadium when he comes up against his favourite opponent, Essendon.
Franklin has averaged 20.6 points in his three matches for Hawthorn against the Bombers since the player ratings were introduced in 2010.
His career average against all other clubs is a more modest 14.7 points per game.
Another player coming up against a favoured opponent this weekend is Fremantle's Stephen Hill.
The dashing midfielder has averaged 15.5 points in his seven games against Geelong, which is 2.7 points more than his average against the other clubs.
Hill was the highest-scoring player in last year's qualifying final between the Cats and Dockers at Simonds Stadium.
He scored 22.9 points, edging out teammates Michael Barlow (20.6) and Lee Spurr (19.5) for best-on-ground honours.
In contrast, Collingwood forward Travis Cloke will do battle with one of his least favourite opponents when the Magpies take on Adelaide on Thursday night.
Since 2010, Cloke has averaged just 3.3 player ratings points in his four matches against the Crows compared to 11.6 points against all other clubs.
Cloke has had 24 shots at goal in his past four games against Adelaide, booting 3.11 and failing to score on 10 occasions – an accuracy of just 12.5 per cent.
He has been as high as 30th on the player ratings table, but he currently sits 175th.
Richmond forward Jack Riewoldt is also taking on an opponent against which he has enjoyed little success.
Riewoldt has averaged only 8.2 player ratings points in his seven games against Melbourne since 2010.
Against all other clubs, he has averaged 13.1 points.
