On the Road to the Holy Grail

Gary Ablett gets a clearance against St Kilda

The return of footy season is now complete with the AFL having gotten through a full round after two weekends. There were a few big upsets and much like in the NRL, whilst we don’t want to read too much into one game, there are still certainly some takeaways and observations to make after a very interesting round of matches.

Starting with the matches that took place over a week ago now, Essendon surprised many by putting all their off season controversy behind them and beating a very good Crows team in Adelaide. Whilst they may have lost a star in Kurt Tippett, there was and is no reason to think that Adelaide will not continue to be a force in 2013, especially with the continued development of players like Dangerfield, Sloane and Talia.

I expect the Crows to turn it around going forward, but it will be interesting to see if Essendon are actually for real or if they simply had one super performance in them as they were galvanised by the emotion of all the scrutiny they are under.

Even further west, the season saw the first Derby of 2013 with Fremantle looking the good against the Eagles. Both teams should be solid in 2013, but watch for Freo to really take a step up into the elite of the competition. They have a legitimate home field advantage, a coach who brings a very strong culture and a list of real talent, even if people don’t pay enough attention to them. This could be one of those years where the top 8 is dominated by non-Victorian teams.

On Thursday night we saw Richmond finally win a close game and get one over Carlton in their traditional Round 1 match. All three matches to this point had seen a team kick at least three early goals only to go on to lose. I think both Carlton and Richmond will be in a similar position this season, both fighting to make the 8 and at the end of the season and that could be a very handy four points for the Tigers. 2013 might finally be the year they actually get to play in September, however I think that’s about the best they can hope for this year. But I rate Hardwick as a coach and they are headed in the right direction.

Carlton is a hard one to judge. They have the mighty Mick Malthouse at the helm now and with a great coach, a champion in Chris Judd and other stars, they should be a very good team. But there is just something lacking there. They drift in and out of games and they must be very frustrating to support. Malthouse being Malthouse will get them on the right path, but fans will be expecting that to happen sooner rather than later.

On Saturday we saw the Bulldogs annihilate the Lions in a game many thought would be Brisbane’s coming out party. If you ever needed yet another reminder of how irrelevant the NAB Cup is, look at the Lions performance in this game. Preseason form could not mean less in AFL and the Swans have known that for years.

This is the year the Lions need to show they are moving towards a spot in the 8 or else Michael Voss might be looking for a new job. They have some absolute gun young players, although they also don’t have a huge amount of depth across the squad, so they still have a long way to go. I love me some Jack Redden though.

On the other side of the field, what a great performance by the Bulldogs. Many predict they will be real strugglers in 2013 but they didn’t get the message, at least for one game. Brett Goodes debuted at age 28 and put on a show his brother would be proud of. I am also proud of him as I smartly played in in my fantasy team on debut. Keep it up Goodesy!

The Swans as expected beat the Giants in the Sydney derby. The Swans were completely underdone and were not impressive in victory, but I expected as much. They are clearly taking a slow build into the season and looking to find form at the right time, much like Hawthorn did last season after a slow start. If the Swans can have a decent record when Tippett comes into the side half way through the season, then watch out for the champs on the road to September.

The Giants continue to show development and whilst they likely won’t win many games this season, they will make teams work hard to beat them. Patton and Cameron will be a dynamic forward duo and their midfield kids like Toby Greene are studs in the making.

The Gold Coast Suns are one year more advanced than the Giants and they had a big win over St Kilda. I don’t know why but I actually saw this one coming. I think St Kilda is going to struggle this season and it is time Gold Coast were actually competitive. It is year three for them in the AFL and they have no excuses for not being at least decent. Plus they have Gary Ablett and it really isn’t close for who the best player in the AFL is. He’s basically LeBron or Messi at this point.

Collingwood won running away from the Kangas on Sunday and I think that went about as expected. North showed heart but the Pies are just too good. No news there.

Port Adelaide put a beat down on the Demons as well in a game that showed a lot about the direction of both clubs. Port look like they will be competitive at least under new coach Ken Hinkley, whilst Melbourne is an abomination. The only bright light for the Dees’ fans was the performance of their debutants Jack Viney and Mark Jones. Viney in particular looks to be an absolute gun, but it is pretty damning when your best player is an 18 year old kid playing his first game. Half that team should be dropped.

Finally we have the big game between Hawthorn and Geelong. The Hawks started favourites but some things are bigger than that and the Kennett Curse is one of those things. When Geelong started to come back in that game I genuinely think it got into the heads of the Hawks players and they folded like a cheap suit. I expect the Hawks will still be a better team than Geelong this season, but head to head I am tipping the Cats until the Hawks prove me wrong.

It’s so great to have the AFL back in full swing and between the AFL, NRL, Super Rugby, A-League, Premier League and the American sports (March Madness in particular) that was one hell of a sports long weekend. My Dad and I barely moved for four days and I regret nothing.