Zevon
Moderator
- Moderator
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Finally our first full round of games, and it was a round of some gargantuan blowouts with a few thrilling finishes sprinkled in. Let’s go wrapping…
Tigers v Blues, Thursday night: Pity the poor old Blues fans that saw their team was 7 goals up and figured it was safe enough to switch off and go grab dinner in Lygon street. Powered by Dusty 2.0 the Tigers were unstoppable from midway through the second quarter. So good to see a rebuilding team give 100% effort and get splendidly rewarded for it. But where to for the Blues from here? They now only have wins against North and West Coast from their last 10 games of footy dating back to mid last year. Ouch.
Hawks v Bombers, Friday night: The marauding Hawks left the Dons shellshocked early in the game, and despite the odd scare they were never really threatened after that. Thought Essendon stuck to their guns pretty well against a pretty hot footy side though; all is not lost for 2025 just yet.
Cats v Dockers, Saturday arvo: Lucky Freo played so vanilla in the Indigenous All Stars match and didn’t give their game plan away. It was really worth the wait. The Cats were warm favourites down at Unfair Advantage Stadium, but I don’t think anybody saw THAT kind of margin coming. Were they really really good or were Fremantle really really bad? Bit of both I reckon.
Swans v Lions, Saturday twilight: This was a funny old scrap played in Saharan conditions. The Swans pinched an early break but it felt like the Lions just had marginally better of the arm wrestle for the rest of the afternoon - no mean feat given they lost a few players during the game and Lachie Neale was well blanketed. 0-2 for Sydney and just quietly I reckon there’s worse to come yet.
Dogs v Roos, Saturday night: Looks like North are on the right track to bag a few wins this year, but the Doggies held them at arm’s length all night. No idea if Bevo’s men will be a contender in season 2025 or just another middle of the road side; guess we’ll find out when they get some players back from that hefty injury list. As usual they’ve got a lot of the key ingredients, but something you can’t quite put your finger on always seems to be missing.
Pies v Port, Saturday night: Port’s last 3 visits to the MCG to play Collingwood have resulted in a 71 point loss, a 42 point loss (after they led by 30), and now a 91 point loss. Time the AFL introduced a forfeit rule because there’s clearly no point showing up to this fixture. Remember this was a Collingwood side that got their pants comprehensively pulled down at the hands of an injury hit opponent last week, so it wasn’t like Port were playing world beaters. Long year ahead for them.
Crows v Saints, Sunday arvo: Another blowout, although this one was a little easier to see coming. The injury-riddled and underdone Saints were no match for an inspired Adelaide. Sure they didn’t beat much, but there are very different vibes around the Crows than there were this time last year. They had to win and win big and that’s exactly what they did. Might finally be going places.
Demons v Giants, Sunday arvo: The official AFL figures say there were 23,000 at this game. The MCG must be even bigger than I thought then, because it sure as heck didn’t look like that many. Still, it was played in Noah’s Ark conditions so maybe Dees supporters that had prepaid tickets opted for a hot chocolate in their lounge rooms instead of a trip in the Range Rover to watch the game live. Anyway, I digress… Reckon this loss will sting a bit for Melbourne because it felt like they were the better team for lengthy patches. Still, it was a plucky performance from a side that I thought looked fairly short on improvement this year. Their new kids looked great! For the Giants it’s another early season win with a few key personnel missing, and those are as valuable as your great Gran’s antique necklace.
Eagles v Suns, Sunday twilight: Loved this from the Suns. Loved it! Yes, it was ‘only’ the young Eagles. Yes it was a game they should be fully expected to win, but it was exactly the sort of game they would (and did) drop last year. A big away win was just what they needed to start the year and they delivered handsomely. Bravo.
Don’t forget to post your Liked, Learnt, Hated below… along with any other thoughts you had about Round 1!
Tigers v Blues, Thursday night: Pity the poor old Blues fans that saw their team was 7 goals up and figured it was safe enough to switch off and go grab dinner in Lygon street. Powered by Dusty 2.0 the Tigers were unstoppable from midway through the second quarter. So good to see a rebuilding team give 100% effort and get splendidly rewarded for it. But where to for the Blues from here? They now only have wins against North and West Coast from their last 10 games of footy dating back to mid last year. Ouch.
Hawks v Bombers, Friday night: The marauding Hawks left the Dons shellshocked early in the game, and despite the odd scare they were never really threatened after that. Thought Essendon stuck to their guns pretty well against a pretty hot footy side though; all is not lost for 2025 just yet.
Cats v Dockers, Saturday arvo: Lucky Freo played so vanilla in the Indigenous All Stars match and didn’t give their game plan away. It was really worth the wait. The Cats were warm favourites down at Unfair Advantage Stadium, but I don’t think anybody saw THAT kind of margin coming. Were they really really good or were Fremantle really really bad? Bit of both I reckon.
Swans v Lions, Saturday twilight: This was a funny old scrap played in Saharan conditions. The Swans pinched an early break but it felt like the Lions just had marginally better of the arm wrestle for the rest of the afternoon - no mean feat given they lost a few players during the game and Lachie Neale was well blanketed. 0-2 for Sydney and just quietly I reckon there’s worse to come yet.
Dogs v Roos, Saturday night: Looks like North are on the right track to bag a few wins this year, but the Doggies held them at arm’s length all night. No idea if Bevo’s men will be a contender in season 2025 or just another middle of the road side; guess we’ll find out when they get some players back from that hefty injury list. As usual they’ve got a lot of the key ingredients, but something you can’t quite put your finger on always seems to be missing.
Pies v Port, Saturday night: Port’s last 3 visits to the MCG to play Collingwood have resulted in a 71 point loss, a 42 point loss (after they led by 30), and now a 91 point loss. Time the AFL introduced a forfeit rule because there’s clearly no point showing up to this fixture. Remember this was a Collingwood side that got their pants comprehensively pulled down at the hands of an injury hit opponent last week, so it wasn’t like Port were playing world beaters. Long year ahead for them.
Crows v Saints, Sunday arvo: Another blowout, although this one was a little easier to see coming. The injury-riddled and underdone Saints were no match for an inspired Adelaide. Sure they didn’t beat much, but there are very different vibes around the Crows than there were this time last year. They had to win and win big and that’s exactly what they did. Might finally be going places.
Demons v Giants, Sunday arvo: The official AFL figures say there were 23,000 at this game. The MCG must be even bigger than I thought then, because it sure as heck didn’t look like that many. Still, it was played in Noah’s Ark conditions so maybe Dees supporters that had prepaid tickets opted for a hot chocolate in their lounge rooms instead of a trip in the Range Rover to watch the game live. Anyway, I digress… Reckon this loss will sting a bit for Melbourne because it felt like they were the better team for lengthy patches. Still, it was a plucky performance from a side that I thought looked fairly short on improvement this year. Their new kids looked great! For the Giants it’s another early season win with a few key personnel missing, and those are as valuable as your great Gran’s antique necklace.
Eagles v Suns, Sunday twilight: Loved this from the Suns. Loved it! Yes, it was ‘only’ the young Eagles. Yes it was a game they should be fully expected to win, but it was exactly the sort of game they would (and did) drop last year. A big away win was just what they needed to start the year and they delivered handsomely. Bravo.
Don’t forget to post your Liked, Learnt, Hated below… along with any other thoughts you had about Round 1!
