At a glance
7 wins / 10 losses – 7th on ladder
Wins
| Round 2 | Love Sparkles |
| Round 6 | Taxmanian Devils |
| Round 11 | Love Sparkles |
| Round 15 | Lethal Vipers |
| Round 16 | MaherShalalHashBaz |
| Round 18 | Taxmanian Devils |
| Round 19 | Feelin Dusty |
Top 5 Scorers 2021
| Te Puke Pukekos | Tot. | Avg. | Last 5 Avg |
| Jarryd Lyons BL – C | 2576 | 117.1 | 132.8 |
| Ollie Wines PA – C | 2462 | 111.9 | 107.6 |
| Darcy Parish ES – C | 2320 | 105.5 | 84.4 |
| Jack Crisp CW – B,C | 2239 | 101.8 | 107.2 |
| Jacob Hopper GWS – C | 1866 | 88.9 | 80.3 |
All-Australians
2021 Pre-Season Draft
| Pick | Player | Team | Games | Avg | Still on List? |
| 4 | B. Campbell SY – C,F | Te Puke Pukekos | 5 | 58.6 | Y |
| 14 | J. Petruccelle WC – F | Te Puke Pukekos | 0 | 0 | Y |
| 34 | E. Smith BL – C,F | Te Puke Pukekos | 0 | 0 | Y |
| 38 | D. Grainger-Barras HW – B | Te Puke Pukekos | 0 | 0 | Y |
| 44 | T. Membrey SK – F | Te Puke Pukekos | 17 | 75.8 | Y |
| 74 | C. Poulter CW – C,F | Te Puke Pukekos | 5 | 57.8 | Y |
| 84 | L. Valente FR – C | Te Puke Pukekos | 0 | 0 | N |
| 94 | P. Hunter SK – R | Te Puke Pukekos | 2 | 49 | N |
| 104 | E. Hipwood BL – F | Te Puke Pukekos | 11 | 56.4 | Y |
| 114 | L. O’Brien CA – C | Te Puke Pukekos | 1 | 77 | Y |
| 124 | T. Highmore SK – B | Te Puke Pukekos | 5 | 65.2 | N |
| 129 | C. Coleman-Jones RI – R,F | Te Puke Pukekos | 2 | 29.5 | Y |
| 134 | L. Franklin SY – F | Te Puke Pukekos | 13 | 72.4 | Y |
| 144 | J. Wehr GWS – B | Te Puke Pukekos | 0 | 0 | N |
| 154 | R. Collier-Dawkins RI – C | Te Puke Pukekos | 0 | 0 | N |
| 164 | R. McInnes CW – C | Te Puke Pukekos | 0 | 0 | N |
| 174 | A. Davies GC – C | Te Puke Pukekos | 0 | 0 | N |
| 184 | C. Stephens GE – C | Te Puke Pukekos | 0 | 0 | Y |
| 194 | O. Henry CW – F | Te Puke Pukekos | 2 | 47 | Y |
Most inspired selection: Caleb Poulter – pick 74 (8th round)
The Pukekos went gold mining and they may have struck it with Poulter. An accumulator as a junior, playing a fantasy friendly role on a fantasy friendly team, the Pies will give him every opportunity (especially now that Mayne has gone) so he looks primed to put some big scores on the board in 2022.
Also in the mix though was club stalwart Lance Franklin (pick 134 – 14th round). 17 AFL games at an average of 70, including a 109 in what would have been the grand final game. Not too many players returning that value in the 13th round. And the romance of Buddy returning to his old club. You can’t make this stuff up. Only thing missing was not adding another Lance Franklin medal to the Pukekos collection (more on that later).
Rest of Draft
This was one of my favourite hauls coming out of the draft. Not specifically for results but consistency. They knew what they wanted and they went out and got it. Braeden Campbell was my favourite prospect going into the draft (and still is) so to get him at pick 4 was a steal. Tim Membrey was great averaging 77 across 21 games, to be the 12th highest scoring forward for the season. Not much else to see here apart from potential, and they have the whole pre-season to decide if any of that is worth investing in further.
Trades
| Date | Team 1 | Received | Team 2 | Received | Team 3 | Received |
| 1 March 2021 | Te Puke Pukekos | Solomon’s Soldiers Round 4 – Pick 38 Te Puke Pukekos Round 9 – Pick 84 | Roughnecks | Te Puke Pukekos Round 6 – Pick 54 Solomon’s Soldiers Round 12 – Pick 118 Solomon’s Soldiers Round 17 – Pick 168 | Solomon’s Soldiers | Te Puke Pukekos Round 7 – Pick 64 Roughnecks Round 7 – Pick 67 Roughnecks Round 10 – Pick 97 |
| 20 February 2021 | Te Puke Pukekos | John Noble | Solomon’s Soldiers | Te Puke Pukekos Round 9 pick | ||
| 13 February 2021 | Defenestrators | Te Puke Pukekos Round 3 pick | Te Puke Pukekos | Braydon Preuss Defenestrators Rd 13 Pick |
The 3 way trade in March was an amazing feat of wizardry, mostly for the fact that it was a surprisingly fair trade (although clearly engineered by the Soldiers in their pursuit of world domination all the 7th round picks).
Noble was a hit. With a 74 pt average across 22 games, in a team that ebbed and flowed all season, he was a stable rock. Preuss on the other hand failed to get on the park in 2021 and as such his glimpses of fantasy potential still remain just that.
List at end of 2021 season
| Te Puke Pukekos | Tot. | Avg. | Last 5 Avg |
| Jarryd Lyons BL – C | 2576 | 117.1 | 132.8 |
| Ollie Wines PA – C | 2462 | 111.9 | 107.6 |
| Darcy Parish ES – C | 2320 | 105.5 | 84.4 |
| Jack Crisp CW – B,C | 2239 | 101.8 | 107.2 |
| Jacob Hopper GWS – C | 1866 | 88.9 | 80.3 |
| Josh Kennedy SY – C | 1866 | 88.9 | 94.3 |
| Steele Sidebottom CW – C,F | 1857 | 88.4 | 91.6 |
| Sam Menegola GE – C | 1732 | 86.6 | 98 |
| Ed Langdon ME – C | 1787 | 85.1 | 66.2 |
| Elliot Yeo WC – C | 996 | 83 | 88.2 |
| Lachie Weller GC – C | 1038 | 79.8 | – |
| Brodie Smith AD – B,C | 1672 | 79.6 | 67 |
| Lachlan Ash GWS – B | 1479 | 77.8 | 66.6 |
| Rhys Stanley GE – R | 1241 | 77.6 | 86 |
| Tim Membrey SK – F | 1622 | 77.2 | 71.6 |
| Isaac Heeney SY – F | 1523 | 76.2 | 88.4 |
| John Noble CW – B | 1641 | 74.6 | 64.8 |
| Jacob Weitering CA – B | 1623 | 73.8 | 64.8 |
| Lance Franklin SY – F | 1196 | 70.4 | 67 |
| Will Day HW – B | 344 | 68.8 | – |
| Jack Riewoldt RI – F | 1415 | 64.3 | 52.4 |
| Jake Kelly AD – B | 1272 | 63.6 | 52.3 |
| Caleb Poulter CW – C,F | 698 | 63.5 | 70 |
| Lochie O’Brien CA – C | 315 | 63 | 65.8 |
| Tom Lynch RI – F | 1115 | 61.9 | 62.6 |
| Darcy Tucker FR – B,C | 980 | 61.3 | 48.8 |
| Jordan Roughead CW – B | 1274 | 60.7 | 55 |
| Bradley Close GE – F | 1102 | 58 | 50.4 |
| Callum Coleman-Jones RI – R,F | 462 | 57.8 | 63 |
| Eric Hipwood BL – F | 910 | 56.9 | – |
| Braeden Campbell SY – C,F | 420 | 52.5 | 39.5 |
| Alec Waterman ES – F | 674 | 51.8 | 54 |
| Jack Petruccelle WC – F | 819 | 48.2 | 33.5 |
| Oliver Henry CW – F | 462 | 46.2 | 54 |
| Esava Ratugolea GE – R,F | 594 | 45.7 | 39 |
| Denver Grainger-Barras HW – B | 191 | 38.2 | 34.5 |
| Dylan Stephens SY – C | 221 | 36.8 | 26 |
| Ely Smith BL – C,F | – | – | – |
| Cooper Stephens GE – C | – | – | – |
| Braydon Preuss GWS – R | – | – | – |
Player to watch in 2022
Lachlan Ash
The dashing half-back already broke out in 2021, with a 78 pt average across 19 games. The defender demonstrated his massive ceiling with a 146 in round 6. A 1st round pick, he has plenty of potential and looks to have another gear to go. How they feed all the mouths at GWS is the only limit on Ash. The other is Dylan Stephens – a ball winning first round pick, this is the type of player who should easily be averaging at least 70 ppg, but with Stephens I was surprised to see he had even played 14 games across his 2 seasons of AFL. It has not panned out the way it was expected to with Stephens. But with Jordan Dawson now gone, could there be a role for Stephens off half-back and on the wing? Surely the Swans have to give him a go.
2021 In Review
The Te Puke Pukekos changed their team name at the start of the season from the Shire Scourers – and by half way through the season you might have concluded they’d indeed given up looking for the ring, with 2 wins in the first 10 games. The Te Puke Pukekos and coach Nelson however are etched in ultimate footy league folk law as the quintessential underdogs, time and again pulling out inspirational victories when it matters most, and they almost did it again in 2021. By the end of round 10, they had 7 weeks left to finals and were 4 games clear of 6th placed MaherShalalHashBaz. But a dramatic turn of events was just around the corner for this fabled team. MaherShalalHashBaz would go on to win only one more match while the Pukekos won 5 of the last 7 games to storm home, a period which contained some pivotal matches, such as defeating their direct competition for a finals spot in Round 16 and pummeling the Devils 2 weeks later to lift their percentage right into finals contention. Pukekos fans began to believe. The final week of the regular season required the Pukekos to beat the finals contending Roughnecks, while MaherShalalHashBaz had to lose to cellar dwellers The Love Sparkles. And true to the legend, the Love Sparkles won. Not only won, they punished the MaherShalalHashBaz to the tune of 176 pts. The Pukekos just had to lose by less than 85 pts. The scene was set for the legend to grow. Then something happened. Something went wrong. The magic shifted. They lost by 106 pts. And the heart was ripped out of the Pukekos fans. The dream ended there for another year as they fell one win short. If they hadn’t, you feel like that type of momentum would have swept them all the way to their 2nd trophy. But alas, it was too little too late. You can’t say they didn’t deliver entertainment though, as indicated by the comparative season trajectory our resident accountant/Excel specialist drew up:
Surprisingly tanking reared its ugly head for the first time in league history, to arguably disallow the most in form team from making the finals (although a win against the Roughnecks would’ve done it too, just saying). How it had taken this long for this to be considered is anyone’s guess, but a new consolation finals competition, may make this a memorable season for change in the league.
The positives were that their talent still shone through, with 4 All Australian nominations, including Jarrad Lyons claiming the 2nd most total points of any player in 2021 (further solidifying coach Nelson as the winner of the trade for Patty Cripps). However there were too many passengers on this team (literally the whole bench didn’t score for most of the year) so too much was left to too few. This was never more personified than in the pivotal round 10 class with the Puttenesca Chiefs, which saw two 1950+ scores between the two teams, culminating in a gut-wrenching 50 pt loss, made worse by coach Nelson not having a ruckman to put on the field. With talented youth in tow, this is another team asking the hard questions of if they push all their chips in for a flag, if the regenerate their list on the fly or go full rebuild. Only history will tell if the path they choose was right, but that run home in 2021 is written in the history book and adds another chapter to this team’s legendary status.
Season Grade: C