Aussie is only one game behind. All it takes is Guanzheng to beat Whitebeard, and he could make up the PD gap against hte weaker big 8 and potentially have HCA through the playoffs. And if he gets HCA, his team is good enough to win - from my quick skim, he pulls comparable or better ratings to all the great 8 teams.
Just saying, its far from a forgone conclusion that the title goes to the great 8 ;)