MaherShalalHashBaz won the premiership. Many did not see this coming. I did not see this coming. However, looking back, here are the 10 key not-so-obvious moments that won the premiership for the orange and blue.
MOMENT 1: BEAMS ME OUT, SCOTTY
Late 2018
The seeds for the 2019 premiership were sown in 2018, when list management saw fit to send off Dayne Beams. Fresh of a 110 average, it wasn’t his scoring that prompted the trade talks. Rather, Beams told teammates he was committed and then searched for trades himself. So MaherShalalHashBaz hierarchy decided to send him off for Shave Savage and Ed Curnow. Dayne Beams then turned in a rotten, injury affected year in 2019. Savage was solid as a defender averaging 78 and Ed Curnow actually became a very useful forward, averaging 89 for the season and 108 over the finals. This trade is one of the very few that has worked out splendidly for MSHB and was a big reason for the rise from fifth in 2019.
MOMENT 2: THANKS MR DARCY
Draft Night
Draft night is always difficult, and my team has made more mistakes than most. Passing Rozee in the first round was a blow that stung for a long time (right up until the premiership really). However, drafting Darcy MacPherson in Round 16 turned out to be a fantastic move. MacPherson averaged 87 as a forward and was a regular, playing every single game. Given my best draftee last year was Jarrad Waite, this was a big tick.
MOMENT 3: ZACH’S BACK
Round 4
Zach Merrett started the season poorly. He started the season with a 50 and didn’t crack the ton in Round 2 or 3 either. Things were looking bleak for the team also. Three successive scores in the 1700s and the premiership question wasn’t on anyone’s mind. It was, can we crack 1800? Then came Round 4. Zach Merrett scored 128 against Brisbane and the team scored 1863. Even though the team lost, this was a major turning point for the team as things started to come together. Zach Merrett scored 8 successive tons from Round 8.
MOMENT 4: I WONDER IF THIS WILL WORK
Round 7
Who knows what prompted Luke Beveridge to play Josh Dunkley as a midfielder? During the first six rounds, playing as a forward, Dunkley averaged 78 points per game. Then, for some unknown reason, Beveridge played him in the guts. He truly is a genius coach. Dunkley responded by scoring at an average of 123 for the rest of the season. Needless to say, Dunkley’s surge was paramount in getting his team enough wins to qualify for the finals. Dunkley also scored three consecutive hundreds during the three finals wins for MSHB and top-scored for the team during this time.
MOMENT 5: ANOTHER LESSON FOR GIBBS
Round 16
Bryce Gibbs was dropped three times in season 2019 after scoring only two tons in the front half of the season. After round 15, enough was enough and a message had to be sent. So Gibbs was dropped. This last dropping was significant. It actually managed to get the message across to Bryce that he has to score well. When Bryce returned on the eve of finals, he scored 111. He then followed this up with a 102 in the tighter-than-comfortable win over Paul in the semi-final. The key to these scores is quite clearly the fourth dropping. (The other three droppings were just meaningless).
MOMENT 6: ROUGH BREAK FOR NELSON
Round 19
It’s hardly a secret that MaherShalalHashBaz fear Coach Schonfeldt more than any other coach. Given Nelson is 3-0 against me in finals, this is no shock. In perhaps the clearest sign that this was the year of MSHB, Nelson was effectively eliminated from finals in a 1783-1943 loss to Adam in Round 19. With Nelson, out of the picture, my team had never lost to any of the finalists – a statistic we managed to maintain with our three finals wins on the trot.
MOMENT 7: JACK BACK ATTACK
Semi-Final
Jack Steven sat out most of the season. In fact, he sat out the entirety of the 17 rounds of the home and away season. This was crafty coaching by me (if I do say so myself). I wanted Steven cherry ripe for the finals His season debut was in the semi-final against Paul. I played Steven and was rewarded with a score of 105. Given that I only won the semi-final against a depleted Defenestrators by 67 points, the return of Steven (and Gibbs, see above) was integral, and highly underrated. Steven, the club’s first ever player, is now a premiership player.
MOMENT 8: AN OUNCE OF LUCK
Preliminary Final
To get past Mark, you need luck. To get past Mark when you’ve only scored 2000 once all season (and that was a score of exactly 2000), you need a fair dose. Lucky I got. Mark only scored 1719. Allen Christen got injured, scoring only 12. He played 30% game time, so the score counted. Other of Mark’s big guns failed to fire. Rory Laird scored 74. Bailey Fritsch scored 36 and Brodie Grundy scored 90, which was probably the biggest low-score surprise. With Mark having his worst score of the year (by far) and the top three scorers of the game belonging to me (Dunkley, Merrett and Smith), I walked away with a track record of 1-2 against Mark on the season
MOMENT 9: THE GUNS FIRE
The Finals
Even though there are some real work-horses on this team, the star-power is also impressive. Zach Merrett. Max Gawn. Josh Dunkley. Dayne Zorko. All fantastic players. All stood tall during the finals. See below.
| Player | Average in Finals | High Score |
| Zach Merrett | 119 | 141 in Semi-Final |
| Max Gawn | 118 | 154 in Grand Final |
| Josh Dunkley | 126 | 150 in Prelim Final |
| Dayne Zorko | 120 | 135 in Grand Final |
With the pressure on, the clock ticking and the fans screaming, these men starred for their team at the pointy end of the season. They are all now, deservedly so, premiership players.
MOMENT 10: JUSTIN TIME
Grand Final
The grand final was an intense affair with plenty of drama. After 9 centuries to Adam and 6 to me, Adam was in pole position heading into the final encounter. Whilst the AFL world didn’t care about the game between non-finalists Port and Freo, the Keeper League watched attentively. The main headline from this game was Connor Blakely’s choke, as he crawled to a score of 35. However, inaugural clubman Justin Westhoff was playing the hero role at the other end. After an indifferent season, the Hoff stood tall when it mattered most. He gathered 23 possessions, 6 marks, 5 tackles and 2 goals en route to 110 in what can fairly be called a grand-final winning performance. His average score of 77 would have resulted in a loss for the team. But his immense 110, under the greatest of pressure, brought home the bacon for the club.