Three credible game of the round nominees before us, and just about every matchup qualifies for sneaky-interesting designation.
GAME OF THE ROUND
In the absence of a clear front-runner, I found it hard to go past last year’s Grand Final replay.
The last two premiers do not come into this one on equal footing. MaherShalalHashBaz have started the season with just the single blemish, and they’re entitled to feel that was an outlier given the 2000-point barrier has been broken 4 times so far this season, and 3 of those have been courtesy of MaherShalalHashBaz.
The Sparkles have 3 wins and 3 losses. Over the last fortnight they’ve scored 1755 and a 1696. Those scores won’t do this weekend.
But this week’s squad threatens to be their strongest of the season to date. Xerri will be back from his madness-induced suspension. All signs point to Noah Anderson being back as well. They’ve lost Ridley, but truly how often does one even have Ridley in the first place, you know?
One thing is for sure – the Sparkles will be chasing hard on Sunday night. MaherShalalHashBaz have one player in the GWS v North game, a good one in Finn Callaghan. The Sparkles will likely field 6 players in that one, and nearly all of them I’d describe as key Sparkles.
The last time these two teams faced off, they gave us the greatest game in league history. Can they put on another show this weekend?
Key Outs
MSHB: Zorko, Darcy, Nakervis, Graham
Sparkles: Fiorini, Ridley
Last time these two met
The 2025 Grand Final saw MaherShalalHashBaz return to the summit by a single point over the 2024 premiers.
I’m not going to do the game justice here. It was bananas.
DangerGawn votes
| Tristan Xerri |  | 154 |
| Josh Dunkley |  | 136 |
| Hugh McCluggage | | 133 |
SNEAKY INTERESTING MATCHUP
The Devils toppled MaherShalalHashBaz a fortnight ago. Can they topple the league’s other pacesetter? Last weekend only 6 points separated these two, so that would suggest it’s well within the realm of possibility.
Another case of game start times making for interesting points of interest. With Taranto and Salem out, the Roughnecks stand to field nobody on Friday night. Whereas the Devils will likely field four players in the Richmond v Melbourne matchup.
By Saturday night, the Devils may have had 7 extra players take the field. The Roughnecks will be hoping for a high scoring Sunday, particularly in the St Kilda v West Coast game, which could feature up to 6 Roughnecks against just two Devils.
Perhaps the real question though is does Max have plans Saturday night? 9 of his Devils will be playing that evening alone, so he’ll have plenty to keep his eye on if it’s a night in.
Key Outs
Roughnecks: Sicily, Salem, Taranto, Macrae, Dawson?
Devils: Rozee, Viney, Hewett, Berry, Banks
Last time these two met
Was in round 16, when the Roughnecks won by 116 points.
DangerGawn votes
| Brodie Grundy |  | 137 |
| Jordan Clark |  | 122 |
| Connor Rozee | | 120 |
STRAY OBSERVATION
Apologies to Te Puke Pukekos and Threat Level Midnight, who would have a credible claim to both marquee games in any other round. Alas, the mounting outs at Pukekos make the narrative harder to construct. Still no English, and now no Heeney?
I still think they can win, but the depth is very much being tested.
Oh, and the Defenestrators are probably about to win their third in a row. How much of their ladder placement is fixture misfortune, and how much of it is them being just the 8th best team in it? I’m not sure I know the answer, but the scoreboard suggests they’re closer to the teams above them than the ones below them.