At a glance: The irrepressible favourites. Seven coaches think they will make the grand final, and all seven think they’ll win it. Only one other team has been nominated for the flag, such is their position of dominance. Is 2018 a foregone conclusion?
Coaches prediction:
1st: 6 coaches
2nd: 2 coaches
Projected best 22:
| Pos | Player | Proj. |
| B | Michael Hibberd ME – B | 93.4 |
| B | Michael Hurley ES – B | 90.2 |
| B | Kade Kolodjashnij GC – B | 86.2 |
| B | Shane Savage SK – B | 82.5 |
| B | Jason Johannisen WB – B | 82.3 |
| B | Hamish Hartlett PA – B | 72.3 |
| C | Tom Mitchell HW – C | 126.3 |
| C | Josh Kelly GWS – C | 114.8 |
| C | Matt Crouch AD – C | 108.6 |
| C | Aaron Hall GC – C | 103.7 |
| C | Stephen Coniglio GWS – C | 102.3 |
| C | Luke Shuey WC – C | 99.8 |
| C | Andrew Gaff WC – C | 99.6 |
| C | Dylan Shiel GWS – C | 97.2 |
| R | Matthew Kreuzer CA – R | 101.4 |
| F | Tom Lynch AD – F | 90.5 |
| F | Luke Dahlhaus WB – C,F | 89.6 |
| F | James Sicily HW – B,F | 83.2 |
| F | Josh Kennedy WC – F | 82.7 |
| F | Ben Brown NM – F | 75.6 |
| F | Mark LeCras WC – F | 75.2 |
| UTL | Dion Prestia RI – C | 90.3 |
| 2047.7 |
The MVP: Tom Mitchell. Last year’s Dangergawn medallist was the highest scoring player in the comp. Speaks for itself.
The Breakout Candidate: James Sicily. The tempestuous forward-turned-defender cost coach Zerna in last year’s Preliminary Final, scoring a terrible 24. But around those scores were 5 over 100, and another over 90. The man just scores, you know, when he isn’t having a meltdown.
The Bottom Line: They’ve not made the grand final, despite being the highest scoring team in both seasons. That seems insane, and ripe for change. Toby Nankervis and Ed Curnow can’t even make the assumptive best 22, such is their strength and depth. Failure to make the grand final yet again would be shocking. The clear leaders of the pack.
**
Other observations from the pre-season survey
- A series of nominees for highest single round score. The Defenestrators have 3 nominations, and the Love Sparkles have 2. The Chiefs, Roughnecks and MaherShalalHashBaz make up the other nominees.
- Tom Mitchell has been backed by 3 coaches to go back-to-back in the Dangergawn. Perenially backed Tom Rockliff has 2 nominations, while Dangerfield, Cripps and Neale round out the selections.
- Josh Kelly and Gary Ablett each scored a nomination for highest per game average. Rockliff and Mitchell also featured prominately.
- Rory Laird leads the defensive scorer nomination, with four. Yeo has two selections, while Kade Simpson and Jake Lloyd have also been backed.
- The ruck is an area of contention. Max Gawn leads the way with three selections, Brodie Grundy has two, while last year’s leader Kreuzer only scored the 1. Sam Jacobs and Patrick Ryder are outside selections.
- But the rucks are surpassed by the forwards, with 6 different players getting a nod – 3 of them from the Scourers! Chief Jack Billings and Scourer Sam Menegola are the only players to score multiple selections, with Lance Franklin, Isaac Heeney, Toby Greene and Michael Barlow also being backed.