Demon Jack

Looked a bit more settled in the last 10-15 minutes after an absolute debacle of an opening to that quarter. McDonald going back likely helped with that. With Salem out, that's five members of our GF defensive backline out. Need a lift from May after Naughton broke away convincingly that quarter. Petracca may just will us over the line though. He's in one of 'those' moods.

Premier: Melbourne (gotta be optimistic!) Runner-up: Brisbane Wooden spoon: Hawthorn Moving up: Fremantle/Carlton Set to fall: West Coast Brownlow Medal: Jack Steele Coleman Medal: Jeremy Cameron NAB AFL Rising Star: Nick Daicos Best new Demon: Blake Howes Demon All Australian: Petracca, Oliver, Gawn, Lever, Salem Demon B&F: Clayton Oliver Big call: Alistair Clarkson to be named Gold Coast coach at seasons end. Ladder prediction: 1. Melbourne 2. Brisbane 3. Western Bulldogs 4. GWS 5. Port Adelaide 6. Fremantle 7. Geelong 8. Carlton

Pitching this to be preserved in the Library of Congress for being 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.' What an incredible documentation of our 2021 Season.

Grand Final time!

Didn't end up kicking a big bag last year (think his best haul was four goals against Gold Coast) but often performed a selfless team role by taking the best opposition defender that allowed players like Fritsch to go absolutely ballistic. Had a superb finals series as well. Absolutely annihilated Harris Andrews and Mark Blicavs in our first two finals.

Meanwhile at Ikon Park...

Is Dunstan playing?

Our backline is missing five members from our Grand Final team (Rivers, May, Salem, Hibberd and Petty) so it'll be interesting to see we hold up defensively. Hopefully Turner gets a run at some point. He could be a ready made replacement for May a few years down the line. Also interested to see how Smith performs considering he and Tomlinson are likely both in the running for that third tall position.

Hopefully it's just the 3-4 weeks and we see him back by round 2-3. Seems likely that Hunt will get the nod to fill River's spot in the 22. Looking forward to seeing what Jayden can produce this year. Was back to his best last season and definitely would've featured in our GF squad had he not injured himself late in the year.

Bring back nine pointers!

Goals so far 3 - Brown 2 - TMac, Chandler, Harmes 1. Spargo, ANB, Brayshaw

Yikes, getting ugly for North now...

Chandler launches an absolute bomb from 70m and goals with a fortuitous bounce or two! His second of the day so far. EDIT: Scratch that, that looked far more than 70m! Might even be pushing close to 100m!

Liking Sparrow so far.

An awful turnover from Jared Polec leads to Maxy hitting up TMac in the goal square who kicks his second.

Clarry back on the field

Hard not to reminisce about the Grand Final after that. Dees go BANG BANG BANG through Spargo, Brown and Chandler!

BBB clunks one with his go-go gadget arms and goals

Save it for the season Charlie!

Pressure has been good early. Skills understandably rusty which is where North are pulling ahead. Umps questionable early.

Daisy's footy nous is as good as anyone in the business. Has a knack similar to Ricky Ponting in that she can she things unfold before they happen. Would love to see her on a coaching panel in the future.

Still on frequent replay

Shannon Byrnes also also hard done by with this criteria

I brought this up in another thread where this video was linked, but wow, is Fritsch a nightmare match up or what? He's too quick for a tall defender and too much of an aerial threat for a small/medium defender. One thing I noticed while watching his 'All The Goals' video is that very few of his goals seem to originate from free kicks. After a rough glance through the video, it looks like only three of his goals came from high contact/holding free kicks while another three came from 50 metre penalties. Bayley works hard for his goals, which is part of the reason he's so good to watch. Can't wait to see how the rest of his career unfolds.