Preview brought to us by Alex
Now that everyone has played each other once, and bye rounds haven’t been a thing impacting scores thanks to Round 0 being able to be used, we’re starting to get a good feel for how this year is shaping up. With that said, here’s this week’s preview.
Game of the Round
Roughnecks Vs MaherShalalHashBaz
I really wanted to give game of the round to a different match up than we had in Round 1, but you just can’t look past this. 1st Vs 2nd. Since the round 1 encounter, each team has only lost one time (both to Max – we seem to have a giant killer in our midst). Last week only 1 point separated them, and every week this season it has been one of them being the league’s high scorer.
All signs point to a cracking match up. Jordan will be striking first with 4 players Vs 1 in the Thursday night game, and then a further 7 Vs 3 to follow on Friday night. Adam will just be hoping for some spuds out of Jordan’s 11 players to start, while his own 4 will need to do some heavy lifting to keep their coach’s spirit up*.
Saturday is all Adam, with 10 players Vs 3. Jordan will struggle to find joy in any game on this day and will just be hoping for some dour affairs to limit Adam’s chase down of the lead. Sunday late game will give Jordan plenty of reasons to watch. His beloved Eagles are a hard watch at the moment, and realistically they have no shot against the Giants, however rookie gun Willem Duursma will be leading the charge in the final game, where there will be a 3 on 3 game within a game.
*Bailey Smith seems to have taken this goal to heart with a big 157 to open the round up for Adam.
Key outs
Roughnecks: Wanganeen-Milera, Salem
MSHB: Darcy, Nankervis, Zorko, Gunston, Pendlebury
The biggest name out is Wanganeen-Milera, and I’m not just talking the number of letters in the name (or am I?). However upset Adam is at this out, it doesn’t compare to the aged care facility the Hash Bazzers have set up to rest their veterans. The fact that all of Zorko, Gunston and Pendles are resting the same week is a tough blow, but Jordan knows full well the risks of the old guys. If they play 18 games at their current averages for the year, it’s still a net positive for MSHB, however if it happens again in a crucial week, could it cost them dearly? Only time will tell.
Last time they met
Was round 1, where Jordan made a statement to the league that he wanted to be a back-to-back premier, knocking off the highly fancied Roughnecks by 243 points!
Bailey Smith led all comers with 130, while for MSHB it was the veteran Zorko who led their scoring with 121. Sicily with 120 for the Roughnecks rounded out the top 3 scorers.
There weren’t too many spuds on the field, however 11 centuries to Jordan was always going to make him hard to beat.
Prediction
Blessed to have seen the scores from Thursday night’s game before finishing this, I’m going bold and saying that Adam will win by 100+. Smith has set the tone, and the rest of the boys need to ride that wave and have the Roughnecks get to equal 1st on wins ahead of the bye rounds.
Sneaky Interesting Match-up
Puttanesca Chiefs Vs Te Puke Pukekos
The definition of an 8 point game here. 2 of the 3 teams on a 4-5 win loss record, and with the top 5 all looking secure in their bid to play the 2026 finals with the extra wins plus points scored, there can only be one of the 3 teams on this record joining them. Currently 6th Vs 8th, however that is only decided by 352 points, so one week’s spud score in it.
Injuries have rocked the Pukekos hard this year, and while it would be easy to say as the season goes on they’ll get better, sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. A win here and a bit more of that belief could come through, however a loss and the board might have to make a statement of confidence in their coach and the team’s direction.
Mark will be starting strong with Geelong playing Thursday night and the 6 Chiefs that match involves, with another 6 players to come on Friday night. At one stage it will be 12 Chiefs played to the Pukekos 4, so just like with Adam and Jordan, there will be some lopsided scores before the round balances out at the end.
Key outs
Chiefs: Lalor, Bergman
Pukekos: English, Powell, Day,
Not a lot of players on the list, but still some crucial ones. English is a hard figure to replace, as 110+ scores don’t grow on trees. Given his height it’s understandable the confusion mistaking him for a tree however, so anyone who thought that’s how those scores happen can be forgiven.
Will Day is right up there in most annoying fantasy players to own at this point. Such a dynamic scorer when he is healthy, but that when seems to be getting further and further apart.
Lalor has joined the Richmond injury team, which could give West Coast a challenge if all of those players got healthy and were a team of their own, such is the crisis at both clubs respectively.
Last time they met
Round 1 rematches are all in vogue, and in this instance we had the Chiefs 51 point winners. Not too much was read into it at the time, as the Pukekos had one of the worst injury hit offseasons we’ve seen in a long time, while for the Chiefs Nick Watson wanted everyone to know he could do more than be a pest (though that’s still his speciality).
Lachie Ash picked up where he left off last year with a 136, while Max Holmes was right there with a 132 of his own. Tim English rounded out the top 3 with a 121 of his own, making his loss feel harder to overcome for this edition of the match up.
Prediction
English is out, however with Curtin and Bowey healthy the Pukekos list looks better than it did in round 1. Combined with Mark’s Cat contingent not scoring a ton between them, I’m tipping a 75 point win to the Pukekos, to get their season moving the right direction and finally get back into finals.
Stray observation
Apologies to the Love Sparkles and Defenestrators game for not making it to sneaky interesting status. A win to Paul and he would draw level with Greg on wins, and maintain his place in hunt for 6th, while with a loss he will be a win behind the winner of Chiefs/Pukekos and facing the uphill battle to maintain his streak of finals every year.
Meanwhile from the Sparkles perspective, it’s the game they can’t afford to lose. A win and there is breathing room from 7th and 8th, a loss and it’s panic stations for a year that promised so much after the 2025 grand final.