History
Best Finish – Premiers 2019
One of three teams in the league (along with the Soldiers and Pukekos) to have won both a premiership and a wooden spoon, Jordan has gone all in with his quest to add to the trophy collection – sooner than I believe he was planning when he drafted his team over the last 3 years. The premiership in 2019 was a well-deserved reward for 4 sustained years of excellence from league inception to then (and 1 unlucky grand final result in 2016), however just like the 2011 Dallas Mavericks, one and done was the theme post that season, with multiple trades of seasoned veterans out, in a bid to rejuvenate the list. A few lean seasons followed, with a drafting strategy of draft the best 18-year-olds possible, then wait for them to develop.
This waiting time has finished, with players like Tom Green, Finn Callaghan, Jake Soligo and Chad Warner all starting to hit bigger scores with regularity, and so while the iron was hot, they parted with 1 superstar young player to bring in multiple guns for a 2024 run at the flag. A few tough losses early will keep them at fifth on the ladder, but considering they won their sole premiership from that position in 2019, that holds no fear.
Current Form/Injury Watch
Current form indicates this team can be beaten, but you have to hope for a couple of things to make the job easier. Jordan has his team tuned to score between 1850 and 1900 most weeks, so bring your A game, hope Brisbane don’t bring theirs, and he will be vulnerable. Dayne Zorko is in the form of his life which gives MaherShalalHashBaz the forward line boost others can only dream about, and with a midfield deep enough for Callum Mills to be on the bench (!!!!) there is a great feel around the new WA base.
A clean bill of health for Jordan at the moment means the team doctor has earned a raise, and so the fingers will be crossed this can last 4 more weeks.
Where a final will be won/lost
A win is easy to find for a team with this deep a roster – pick the right combination of players to go big together. A quick scan (albeit without looking at data) has no fewer than 6 players that can go 150+ on a good week. If even half of these guys hit it out of the park, you’re looking at a mountain to climb to get back into the match. Every line has a mix of players that are either reliable scores, or those who can go huge. With all the players traded in, coach Burgess jr. clearly believes this combination can win 3 finals, so now it’s up to those guys to deliver.
Outside of Zorko, the HashBazzers have key forward central in the forward line, which as we all know can lend itself to huge scores, or miniscule ones. While the tall timber here looks the goods (Curnow and Daniher particularly have been great assets this year), there can still be a concern there. The other risk is that not enough players go big – only 1 score above 1900 (1909) since the bye rounds means while this team has all the talent on paper, it hasn’t clicked on the same week for a while, so opportunity is there for a defeat early in the finals.
Predicted finish/finals match-up
Guaranteed to end 5th, the only question is which of Paul and Adam they will be playing in the elimination final. I’m not sure there’s a preference there, as both teams can go blow for blow with the HashBazzers, so Jordan will be watching and waiting during their round 21 match, with the loser in his sights.