We’ve circled all the way back to where we started. Round 10 is round 1 reincarnate. Everyone’s had a crack at everyone, and now we’re all coming back for a second helping.
GAME OF THE ROUND
Yeah I’m really feeling myself with this one. Two obvious games to pick from and I’m ignoring both and going the deep cut. This is the weekly preview equivalent of answering “what is your favourite band” with a long answer that boils down to “an artist you’ve never heard of who played one time only for just 27 minutes in the backroom of a suburban bakery in a Japanese suburb 45 minutes out of Tokyo”
There’s a 3-horse race for sixth place this season, and right here we have two of those horses. The Vipers have a two-win buffer on Pukekos (and Midnight), and a win here could make it difficult indeed for Te Puke to reel them in.
Put simply, I think the stakes here a bit higher than in the other banger matchups.
Key Outs
Vipers: Ugle-Hagan, O’Driscoll
Pukekos: Parish, Day
Last time these two met
Was round one (duh), where the Vipers won comfortably by 147 points. Caldwell started the season the way he finished the last one – red hot. Vipers will be hoping to get a fit and firing Caldwell to help power them in the second half of the season.
DangerGawn votes
| Jye Caldwell |  | 146 |
| Tom Powell |  | 121 |
| Tom Liberatore | | 108 |
SNEAKY INTERESTING MATCHUP
Apologies to Greg and Max. The Roughnecks are on a 5-game winning streak. The Defenestrators are on a 6-game winning streak. To force a reference with a deliberate and knowing misquote, come Monday one of these coaches is going to be all Denethor-ish, moaning that their streak has ended.
To continue to belabour this forced metaphor, which of these clubs will take the Fields of Pelennor? Will one of them be forced to call Rohan for aid? And which player will have the most GROND like impact on the outcome?
Something to keep an eye on – the Defenestrators should have a lead heading into the Sunday close. The Roughnecks could have more than 6 players playing in the final game of the round (Saints v Eagles). The Defenestrators will likely only have club legend Sinclair in that matchup.
Key Outs
Defenestrators: Kelly, Daniels, Coniglio, Treloar
Roughnecks: Viney, Curtis, Farrell
Last time these two met
Was round one (duh), which saw the Roughnecks put in a commanding display to trounce the team in pink by 361 points.
Despite the margin of victory that tall fella who always, always, does a number on the Roughnecks – Max Gawn, took out the 3 votes.
DangerGawn votes
| Max Gawn |  | 127 |
| Bailey Smith |  | 126 |
| Jordan Dawson | | 126 |
STRAY OBSERVATION
Sparkles v Devils is obviously the other interesting matchup on the agenda this weekend. Last year’s Grand Finalists are just ticking along, comfortably in the finals mix.The question before them is can they catch the Roughnecks and MaherShalalHashBaz and earn themselves a finals bye. The upcoming byes may offer opportunity to make up ground. And obviously a win this weekend would be a very helpful step…
Now that I’ve mentioned the game that could quite justifiably be the game of the round, I can now do a stray observation. It’s not quite halfway through the home and away season, but the All-Australian squads are starting to take shape. And they are dominated by the Roughnecks, MaherShalalHashBaz and the Devils. If the season ended today, only 6 members of the starting 22 would come from clubs other than those 3…