Rico’s Roughnecks (1912) def. by Defenestrators (1941)
Paul has done enough – which is the definition of how to beat Adam at this point. In doing enough he did get his highest score of the season, but as that’s only 48 points higher than his lowest (model of consistency right here), this was no great shock. Sam Walsh is continuing his third year breakout slightly ahead of schedule, with another ton to bring his average past 100 – which is exactly what Paul’s struggling midfield needed this year. 10 hundreds all up show what a well rounded effort this was, so Paul will be content with the short break between rounds.
For Adam, at least this one wasn’t decided by a lack of goal in the final minute. Another loss under 30 points has him clinging to 6th spot with as much desperation as I cling to the last coke in a carton. Chad once again disappointed, but surely the blame this week must go to Stef Martin. 55 when your understudy scores 109 is never a good sign, so there may be an axing (both at Brisbane and the Roughnecks) in the coming weeks. 13 scores at 90 or above show that this isn’t a bad team, they just need some luck. New recruits Pendlebury, Simpson and Fantasia all showed their worth with scores above 90 all round, now the rest of the squad needs to take heed.
Next up Paul takes on Jordan in a top 4 shaping encounter. They are both coming off good wins against possible finals opponents, and both seeking to join Mark in the first round bye come finals, so this should be exciting. Considering the last 3 weeks, my suspicion is Adam picked up a black cat that crossed his path, while walking under a ladder and hit a glass panel that was being moved… Why do I believe this – because after 3 close losses scoring well, he comes up against the rampant Chiefs. We have never had an undefeated season, and I’m sure 9 coaches here don’t want to see one (unless they do an ’07 Patriots), so maybe Adam could scrape a win here, but we’re not holding our breath.
The Taxmanian Devils (1644) def. by The Love Sparkles (1947)
This week saw another success for Greg and his Sparkles, again fuelled by 3 tons in defence. This time there was also the novelty of a forward also getting in on the action and securing a Dangergawn vote. If Greg’s forwards cotton on to this idea that they too can get 100’s, we might be in a world of trouble here. Jeremy Howe forgot how to go high in defence, but knowing his heroics in the past he’ll be second best again in no time. A good all round display.
Max may not have won, but we can clearly see some light at the end of a long tunnel ahead. His highest score this season brought about by 5 centuries, including a third in a row to Dumont who loves being free from the oppressive weight of Mark’s other high scoring mids. There is still work to be done before we see this list competing with the top teams of the competition, but the beginnings of the rebuild are here.
In a quirk of the draw that I’m sure Greg appreciates, he moves on from this game against 10th placed Max into a game against 9th placed Chris. The tigers are on a 4 day break for this game, so there may be some lack of monster scores there, which should leave the Sparkles not a lot to do to get the 4 points. Max has a chance this week to look into the crystal ball and see a potential future of his team. Facing off against the rebuilt Soldiers shows him one of the possible 14,000,605 ways his own rebuild could end. What that means for the actual game remains to be seen however.
Puttanesca Chiefs (1986) Def. The Lethal Vipers (1708)
This game looked closer than the end result seemed to indicate all the way through to Sunday night, and then Easter Monday Mark decided to really put the foot down for another win over 200 points (yet his percentage dropped!!!). 9 hundreds is his second lowest output of the year, to go with 3 Michael Slater’s who got to the nervous 90’s but couldn’t get on with it. Adams will be nervous for what his coach will say to him after that effort, but with a score no team has reached yet, I don’t think there’s any panic here.
The Vipers have made their mid-season debut, and while it was a loss, at least they got their match with Mark out of the way for the next 11 weeks. Talking about nervous 90’s, this team saw 2 99’s and a 98! If they were named Shane they would have asked for a review on the score breakdown, but not to be. Matt Taberner has put up some scores I can’t say I was expecting, but he shows hope to the rest of this list that they can do better.
Mark will again be looking to exert his authority at the top of the table next week with a match with Adam. The form line of W-W-L-L-L could make you feel this will be one sided – but with a combined losing margin of 53 across all 3 losses, we know this game will be tight. The Vipers have a trip across the Tasman to play the Shire Scourers in what will be an engrossing encounter. Both teams could use the win here – Nelson to keep in touch with the finals pack, Nathan to avoid talk of a spoon, so expect a tight tussle that every day of the round who we think will win may change.
The Shire Scourers (1852) Def. The Redshins (1661)
Not since round one have the Scourers been able to sing the club song, so there was a certain amount of gusto in the rendition of “The Green Dragon” this week, and nearly as many spilt drinks. While some of Nelson’s mids haven’t reached the heights of last year (looking at you Yeo), Ollie Wines is repaying the faith after a water-skiing mishap, and young Ed Langdon is defying all of my expectations for him to be averaging a ton after the first 5 games. A good confidence building win right here when it was needed.
The Redshins entered on a wave of confidence, and left battered and bruised by a team that just wanted it more. Only 2 centuries, yet of the 20 players that missed, none hurt more than Boak missing the triple figures for the first time this year. Interesting fact about Boak – The Redshins are undefeated when he plays in the midfield, yet without a win when he tries to drag them over the line from the forward line. Now I’m not suggesting Chris must play him midfield, but numbers don’t lie… Not as many super low scores as we have seen from teams this year, but you don’t win many with only 2 centuries
Round 6 sees The Shire Scourers hosting the Vipers with a good chance to win 2 in a row and level their 2019 ledger at 3-3. This precedes a couple of tough weeks for Nelson, so a win here to enter the middle third of the season would be a great boost. The Redshins come up against a rampant Love Sparkles now, and don’t they know how tough this will be. There will be an early lead with Richmond playing first, then Chris will be watching and hoping Greg can’t claw it back too quickly.
MaherShalalHashBaz (1825) Def. Solomon’s Soldiers (1754)
Jordan has now stretched his unbeaten record against the Soldiers to 7 from 7. The one team that regardless of form Jordan doesn’t have to worry about came at a good time for his team. At 2-2 there was a good chance this season could start slipping away from him, but at 3-2 and a match against the 4-1 Paul to come, this season could be right back on track in 11 days of football. This win came about through solid midfield work from 2 Bomber stars that took until this week to find full flight, and a big revenge game for Mihocek who was cut after one week from the Soldiers, to turn around and ton up against his former coach. A couple of spuds in the forward line threatened to hurt, but this game was put to bed easily on Sunday, making the Easter Monday game a fun one for Burgess Jr to watch without fantasy fears.
The Soldiers have been left to rue what could have been. Any of their last 3 scores would have been more than enough, but the fear that coaching against Jordan brings was too much again. Jarrod Witts and Brad Crouch worked well in tandem in their game (much to the chagrin of their respective AFL coaches) but it was too little too late for the hot shot Barossa team. Lachie Neale’s leather poisoning caught up with him this week, and that set the tone for the weekend with recovery and lack of effort the theme of the team. Injuries in the backline will make some tough coaching decisions, but that’s why we’re paid the big bucks.
Next week Jordan takes on Paul in what is quite conceivably a match that will impact standings at the end of the season. Both teams looking for that first week bye, and needing every win they can muster for that one available spot. The Soldiers get an easier week this week against the Taxmanian Devils, though with the injury report growing weekly this wasn’t as much a sure thing as a fortnight ago.