Back by (as much as can be with an audience of 10) popular demand for 2019, we present the Round Rewound.
Rico’s Roughnecks (1926) Def. Taxmanian Devils (1633)
In this modern day telling of David Vs Goliath, it turns out David doesn’t always win. Adam Treloar set the tone early with a monster 152 in the opening game (coincidently, this made him captain of the team of the week), and so right away we knew Max was going to have a long weekend. 5 hundreds through the midfield shows us that Adam after 2 games is already looking to go one better than 2018. This makes back to back weeks with this sort of midfield outing, so look out completion.
Fox Max’s Devils it’s all about watching the youth, and seeing who to fear moving forward. A couple of hundreds prevented him getting the lowest score of the round, but it will still be a long season for the newest coach to our ranks. Some shuffling with team selections may put a few more points on the board, but time will tell how effective this will be.
MaherShalalHashBaz (1777) Def. The Redshins (1600)
While Adam’s domination of Max at least showed us that the Roughnecks are to be feared, I feel we learnt far less from this game. While Jordan does open his account with a comfortable win, there are still questions, like “who is your best midfielder?” Could Chris Mayne really be the best, earning the 2 Dangergawn votes off the bench? Or will the likes of Merrett, Zorko, and Steven get back to their previous high scoring ways? An inspired captain choice of Dom Sheed (forever praise his name) is currently the only back to back 100+ score for MSHB, a trend which he will be hoping ends soon.
Chris had another rough week. Fantasy team losing combined with actual AFL team losing a star player to injury while losing the match always makes a rough time. Some consolation thoughts include Travis Boak being relinquished of captaincy has increased his scoring immensely – twice in a row the league’s highest scoring forward. Libba and Duursma also provided a couple of rays of sunshine on an otherwise forgettable weekend.
The Love Sparkles (1983) Def. Such is Fyfe (1803)
A statement game from Coach Burgess Snr has me re-evaluating my preseason prediction of not rating this list. Suddenly there are hundreds flowing freely (8 this week including 3 in defence) and aside from Mark this list put up a score to scare the league. A solid midfield outing with Scott Lycett showing the Eagles what they lost give Greg hope for some silverware to match that which his Eagles won last year. Only 1 score below 50, with only 3 below 70 shows that a well-rounded team can beat a team of limited stars, though this was not what he was up against here.
Nathan tried, but the might of the Love Sparkles was too much. I reckon anyone who loses to Greg this season needs to make a Facebook status stating this fact “I lost to the Love Sparkles”. If that isn’t motivation to play your best footy, I don’t know what is. 5 hundreds to Nathan meant his score wasn’t bad by any stretch (he would have beaten 4 other teams if the draw worked out that way), however 3 scores below 50 (8 below 70) will not be good enough against this team from NZ this year. Brad Hill racked up the 3 votes showing the good form he is currently in, and my favourite fact from the weekend was the 3 scores in a row of 108 – that just looks nice when reviewing the matchup.
Defenestrators (1893) Def. by Puttanesca Chiefs (2173)
I mentioned Greg making a statement game this week, but that still pails to what Mark did this week. In what many people think could be a grand final preview early on; Mark showed why he’s the Hawthorn of the competition with a clinical display. 11 (that is not a typo) hundreds across the board show that there is no contentment with 2 premierships – he’s out for 3. The names we expect to do well are indeed doing well, but then winning culture breeds winners, so even Daniel Rich is in on this with back to back hundreds to open the 2019 campaign. The question has to be asked “how do you beat him?” To paraphrase a Knight’s Tale “With a stick, while he sleeps. But on the field, with his 22, that man is unbeatable”
Paul – what can you say about this performance? Only trailed Mark, Greg and Adam in points scored for the round, but was still on the end of the second biggest loss of the round. Should percentage matter come the end of the season we may look back at this game as a matter of significance. Outside of the injured Steven May there weren’t any terrible performances, and indeed with 7 hundreds there are still many positives to take away. It just wasn’t his week.
Solomon’s Soldiers (1874) Def. Shire Scourers (1731)
After being belted by Mark last week, the Soldiers wanted blood. Their opponent was coming off a close battle in their derby, and having to travel the time was right. After the first game I was a little worried. Jack Crisp contracted leather poisoning and I feared what was to come, but all was rectified Sunday with Lachie Neale coming down with this same disease. This was the coming out party the Soldiers midfield was waiting for. With 6 tons, and 1 90 the mids carried this one through the whole way. A few less than inspired team selections will have me back at the drawing board before Thursday night’s partial lockout; however enough players have proven their value already and are set for the Soldiers best season to date.
For the Scourers, the matchup started perfectly, but went downhill fast from there. Only 2 hundreds for the weekend (and both of those former Soldiers looking to show me what I discarded) while plenty of players went below last week’s numbers. This team is hard to get a read on this early with some up and down performances, however this week against the emotionally drained Defenestrators will be an interesting measure of the resilience of this group.