MILESTONES
100 games:
| Toby Nankervis |  |
50 games:
| Jason Horne Francis |  |
| Will Hayward | |
GAME OF THE ROUND
We are kicking off our tenth season with a bang. No mucking about here. Straight to the big stuff. Grand Final rematch.
We all know the story, but a brief recap to set the scene. The Devils, long the league’s least successful club, were last season’s minor premier. But they were left disappointed after a shocker in the big one.
The Sparkles benefited, finally breaking through for a maiden flag after years of being around the mark.
Neither team has taken an obvious backstep since then. The Devils were already quite young, and have brought back some of their olds (Luke Parker, for example). The Sparkles still enjoy a bounty of gold in the midfield – they bat very deep in the most important part of the ground.
But the Devils are definitely starting the season a bit more bruised than the premiers. 3 clear best 22 players will be missing this weekend, with Butters the headline there. Those absences will make revenge that little bit harder.
Key Outs
Sparkles: Adams
Devils: Butters, Briggs, Worpel. Bolton under injury cloud
Last time these two met
Was last season’s Grand Final, where the Sparkles smacked the Devils by 369 points. It was over early, prompting the Devils coach to issue a public apology for crimes against entertainment. Very generous of him if you ask me.
DangerGawn votes
There weren’t any, given it’s a final. But we can still paint the picture.
| Nick Daicos |  | 157 |
| Pat Lipinski | | 139 |
| Noah Anderson | | 126 |
SNEAKY INTERESTING MATCHUP
The league has blessed us with several interesting matchups this week, but it’s hard to go past a mouthwatering battle between these two finals mainstays.
Both teams will once again be pressing for premiership glory in 2025. What better way to get the ball rolling towards that goal than a victory over a key rival.
Not to discount coach Zerna’s feelings (they are valid Paul, don’t let them silence you), I think this one probably looms larger mentally for the other coach here. Recent history has been pretty one-way between these two…
The Roughnecks will be keen to break the trend.
Key Outs
Roughnecks: Flanders
Defenestrators: Treloar, Hollands, Mannagh, Hogan
Last time these two met
Was the tail end of last season – round 21 in fact, which saw the Defenestrators emerge victorious by 79 points.
Both teams were quite even in terms of their spread of scores. The difference was the top end. Whitfield delivered a 137 for his team, and there were 4 more tonnes in the Roughnecks squad – but the next highest score was a 111 (Taranto)
The Defenestrators stars burned brighter. Newman ended the season scorching hot, dropping a 145 to snare all 3 DangerGawn votes. Recurring Roughnecks nightmare fuel Max Gawn dropped a 136. Sinclair missed out on votes despite a 132. As did Walsh with his 130, and Treloar with his 116.
There’s your game folks.
DangerGawn votes
| Nic Newman |  | 145 |
| Lachie Whitfield |  | 137 |
| Max Gawn | | 136 |
STRAY OBSERVATION
If I was doing this properly, then Roughnecks v Defenestrators would not be the “sneaky interesting” matchup because it isn’t particularly sneaky. It’s plainly interesting.
But there are two potentially sneaky interesting matchups on the agenda. The first is Vipers v Pukekos. What sort of Pukekos outfit are we going to see in 2025? The Keeper projections has the Vipers as a strong favourite, but Pukekos aren’t far off. They have a bunch of breakout candidates, anchored by some reliable stars like Heeney and English. A win here would be most intriguing!
And long overdue. Te Puke Pukekos haven’t won in round 1 since 2020, when they edged out MaherShalalHashBaz. And random fun fact, it’s the third consecutive year these two have faced each other in the opening round.
The other is the Chiefs v Midnight. The Chiefs finished 6th last season. Midnight 7th. TLM would like to do an old switcheroo on that this year. They probably should win – even with their outs. I think they’d be mildly concerned if they don’t.
One final observation – we’re about to kickoff year 10 of this league. That is incredible, and I’ve enjoyed every bit of it. Good luck to you all in season 2025!