The smell of moth balls has been overtaken by linament, elastoplast,pig skin, sweat, well perspiration, and the smell of football.Yep footy is here again.The WAFL last week, the big boys, the AFL this week.Football is back.
Will we see some recruits from this seasons draft make names for themselves.The likes of McGrath,Taranto, McCluggage,Ainsworth, Setterfield, Petrevski_Seton,Scrimshaw, Logue,Pepper-Powell,etc.Will any of them stand up and become household names in their opening season.
How many recruits from last years draft make it this year.How many will fall by the way side.A lot of questions and maybe very few answers.
A lot of player movement during the off season,Mitchell, Mayne, Petrie,Lewis,Kersten,Hill,Hamling, to name a few.Hopefully all will ad some thing to the sides they have chosen.
Opener tomorrow night between Carlton and Richmond.Not sure this will provide many highlights, but we have to start some where.The Tigers had a pretty good JLT and only beaten once I think.Carlton were smashed early and ran close to Freo.But not sure they can win this one
Tigers for mine.
Friday night sees Pies V Doggies.I don’t think the Pies have come far enough to make the Doggies even sweat in this one.
Doggies
Saturday sees Sydney take on port power.Maybe coming from SA, the name should be power out.And that is how I see this one Sydney easily.
Sydney
Two of the big improvers from last season Saints and Dees clash at Etihad on Saturday.This should be an absolute clinker.I think the Saints will be just a bit too strong for the Dees.
Saints
Then the Q clash.Hard to decide just which one has improved over the summer.Both had horrendous injury runs last season,but I think the Suns looked better.I think they will be big improvers this year.Suns for me.
Suns
Essendon V Hawks.Bombers have many of their suspended payers returning this week.Will they add something, or will they be finding it hard to re adjust.Hawks will once again be hard to beat and will make the eight for sure.Hawks for me
Hawks.
Roos V Eagles.Could be a good game but I see the Eagles as being far too strong for the Roos.Eagles looked good in PS.
Eagles.
Then two of the main hopes for the premiership in what should be the game of the round.Crows V Giants.Crows are always hard to beat at AO, but Giants don’t worry about where they play.They just turn up and do what they have to do.I am tipping the Giants as premiers even this early in the season.so Giants for me.
Giants
Last but not least,Fremantle V Geelong.Fremantle have a long way to come back from a disastrous season in 2016.They have recruited well,but can the new look side gel well enough early to take this one out.Geelong love to play here in the West.There is history between the two sides.Both have superb mid fields.Thes clashes should be highlights of the game.Who wins…picking with my heart and going for Dockers.
Dockers
A season of great football ahead.May the best team win as long as it isn’t the other mob.
Good preview A/M. Agree with 8 of your tips, I only differ in that I think Adelaide might just get the points against GWS. Will be a great game between the Dockers and Cats on Sunday. Selwood’s absence may just tip it Freo’s way.
Agree wit all Anchor’s tips bar 2.
Crows at Home and Cats to Win a 50/50 game.Probably the hardest game to tip.
Yeah think Adelaide will beat GWS (they wont lose many this season)
Love to see Freo win, but they wont have settled the new players yet, so Geelong just.
Good post anchor. Agree with all but the last one. Cats I think.
When you look at the first few games, it’s hardly a riveting opening to a new season.
Thanks for the responses gents.I hope to do this every week,but don’t take much note of my tips.I had a shocking season last year.
But I do it on my FB page and thought I would try it here.I try to add a bit of humour on my FB page, but thought I would try to keep it serious here.
Any comments are welcome,well most.LOL
To keep this thread going Anchor,retitle it AFL Season Opener and Season Tips. 
Good God, if that’s a sample of what the Cats are going to dish this year, then all the other clubs need to very wary!!!
Totally agree 58shark, but how poor were the Dockers tonight? I really thought they would play better than that.
One game in against a pretty thinly talented dockers side 58. Dont rate Kersten, not sold on Hambling, and is Hill jnr a front runner?. Dockers game style looks to have gone back 3 years, where they won a lot of games. The cats did look tough toniht i thought, tackling was very strong.
Hmm no key defenders and no key forwards always gunna be hard to win
Dockers lacked any intensity and killed themselves with simple skill errors.
Geelong moved the ball with much more purpose. Ran harder offensively and defensively and were much better structured around the contest and behind the ball
After forgetting they were starting at 10.10 AM,must admit the Eagles looked very good tonight.
Don’t know what Malthouse said about their current status,but getting Mitchell was a Major Coup and today he showed why,with a Rolls Royce 38 disposal performance.
Honestly,what was Clarko and the Hawthorn Board thinking?I’d be shitty at them,if I was a Hawk’s Supporter.
It may only be one game Unk, but what a level to start at. Be interesting to see if they can raise the bar as the season progresses. I agree with the summation of the 3 players you mention. That too, will be interesting to see if they can lift themselves to expectations.
Just looked like 2016 all over again. fair to say you drafted well with 4 big ins, none of them A graders/elite, certainly no 38 touches on debut.
Was a very disappointing start by Freo. The skill errors were terrible. The only positive is that they had more forward entries than The Cats but the execution was really bad and the defensive errors were almost unbelievable. They have to be better than that. I know its a rebuild but they were a long way from being competitive and the score board flattered them somewhat. It’s early so hopefully they can get some sort of system going. You don’t mind losing games and we must expect that at this stage, but there is no excuse for what was dished up yesterday.
After starting like a catherine wheel my tips finished up like tom thumb or a damp sqib.
Docker were very very disappointing.Fat too many errors that cost us goals.Skill errors were amazingly bad.
Harsh to slam Hamling, Hill and Kersten just yet.But I have said before that I thought that Kersten would struggle to get games.His fumbling was very bad.HAmlings job was made hard by the way Geelong brought the ball into their forwards.Hill began very well but faded.Not sure he wasn’t injured.
A hard round to tip that was.
PFFFFT Same old dockers unfortunatley going to be a long year again… Dont worry Ross is on a four year plan have patience :ohmy:
I would implement a 4 year plan as well if I was on a million bucks a year …
4 million is better than 1 million..
Yes.