By my fading memory, I think there were a few threads about how the stand rule etc was making it harder for teams to defend, and good teams were racking up inflated scores, making games boring and one-sided.
Here's the state of play after Round 8:
As you can see, there's a lot of variation, but several rounds this year have been significantly higher than previous seasons. Note: In Round 3, four of the highest scoring sides (Gold Coast, Hawthorn, Sydney, Bulldogs) had byes, which reduced avg. scoring significantly. And Round 5 was played (for the most part) in wet and/or windy conditions.
Here's the same data, but grouped into four round bands, to reduce the noise:
The trend of higher scores is clearer here.
And for historic perspective from 2001 to present, across Rds 1-8 only, so we're comparing apples with oranges.
And here's the average margins per game, again, only for Rds 1-8:
(Note: I've adjusted 2020 scores for the reduced game lengths.)
Round 8 was the highest scoring for 2026 so far. There were a few stinkers (Lions v Dons, Cats v Roos after H/T, Blues v Saints after H/T) but also a draw, a last-minute thriller in the Showdown, a courageous fightback from the Dogs (moral victory), and an upset road win for the Tigers against utter bollocks.
Are we having fun yet? Or is this the final boss scene when Satan steps up and swallows Seth Rogen?