Well, what a seismic week for the league this ended up being. Lets take stock.
- Coach Bridge, perhaps finally getting round to watching pandemic sensation The Last Dance, thought ‘I wouldn’t have approached this situation this way’ and promptly imploded his attempt at a three-peat.
- Three teams – the Roughnecks, MaherShalalHashBaz, and Threat Level Midnight, appeared to be fighting for two finals spot. That’s been neatly resolved for them.
- With the finals teams likely set (assuming an almighty tank job from the Soldiers from this point on, which seems likely), the question is now one of jostling. Who is doing the jostling? How aggressive is the jostling they are doing? And so on.
- Thankfully we have some preliminary answers to the question of jostling. Two of the aforementioned teams have strengthened significantly at the expense of the Soldiers. The Sparkles got one taste of defeat and went “Hugh McCluggage thanks”. The Devils scooped up a Worpel.
- Basically, there was a quasi-arms race post last weekend’s lockout, and the result is 6 teams who would be disappointed to not win at least one final.
- Which is to say there may be more disappointed coaches than usual at the end of the year.
MILESTONES
150 Games
- Zach Merrett (MaherShalalHashBaz)
100 Games
- Matt Crouch (Love Sparkles)
- Tom Stewart (Love Sparkles)
50 Games
- Tom Green (MaherShalalHashbaz)
- Matt Rowell (Threat Level Midnight)
- Jayden Hunt (Threat Level Midnight)
- Taylor Duryea (Threat Level Midnight)
Both the MSHB big guns on milestones this weekend!
GAME OF THE ROUND
MaherShalalHashBaz are coming in hot. They dethroned the previously league leading Sparkles last week with a mammoth score. And then they went and added Josh Dunkley. And Dan Houston. And Dayne Zorko. And Jeremy Cameron.
Standing in their way are the Defenestrators who are, let me just check, ah yes, top of the ladder. Numero-uno.
So all eyes on this matchup this weekend. A Defenestrators victory would calm the raging seas. But another commanding performance from MSHB, with their new shiny toys, may herald an upending of expectations for the rest of the home & away season.
SNEAKY INTERESTING MATCHUP
Bit of a stretch calling this sneaky interesting – it’s just flat interesting and there’s little that’s sneaky about it. But we don’t do multiple games of the week here in these weekly previews. Arbitrary rule I just decided upon.
This is a heck of a game.
The Devils are the highest scoring team in the league through 7 weeks. They scored 1969 in their only loss in the last 5 weeks.
The Roughnecks have also won their last 3 – though not as convincingly as their opponents.
It’s fitting these two clubs face-off during a round with a Showdown, as it’s Adelaide v Port Adelaide in the midfield of these two clubs. Laird and Dawson on one side take on Butters, Horne-Francis, and Rozee (editor’s note: Rozee? Really? Hope that hamstring is all fine and dandy).
Carlton play Friday night too, so we’ll have a fair idea how the Devils midfield has performed before breakfast Saturday morning.
A win for the Roughnecks would give them heart they’re right in the mix. A loss might have them looking in the rear view mirror and wondering if they’re team 6 in a 6 team rodeo. A win for the Devils would keep them red hot on the heals of the top two.
STRAY OBSERVATION
Vipers v Chiefs, now that’s a sneaky interesting matchup – is it not?
ELIMINATOR
The Roughnecks fall short. Only 3 remain – and look at that, it’s the three best performers so far this season.
Still in it:
- Defenestrators
Lethal Vipers (Round 5)- Love Sparkles
MaherShalalHashBaz (Round 3)Puttanesca Chiefs (Round 4)Roughnecks (Round 7)Solomon’s Soldiers (Round 6)- Taxmanian Devils
Te Puke Pukekos (Round 1)Threat Level Midnight (Round 2)