Tonight, footy’s back. It might only be the NAB Cup, but it’s back nevertheless. No longer will we have to rely on training reports and dodgy rumours to see how our teams, and the opposition, are travelling.

Of course, the pre-season competition is something footy fans tend to have a love-hate relationship with.

Whenever a fan sitting in front of a keyboard comes up with an idea to re-vamp the fixture, it is usually the first thing sacrificed. (Oddly, the next thing sacrificed is the mid-season break, which is curious considering most of these ideas tend to involve longer seasons.)

The title of an article in The Age yesterday summed up the feelings of many when it comes to the competition by labelling it, “Who cares wins.”

The motivation behind the title can’t be denied, of course. Some clubs don’t take the comp all too seriously. Paul Roos currently has 0-7 record as coach during the pre-season.

But what should be remembered is that pre-season games are never going to generate the same “care factor” as regular season games.

Maybe we need to start treating these games for what they are. Sure, a pre-season game isn’t the be-all and end-all, but it’s a game of footy all the same.

Another chink in the armour of the pre-season is the deceptive nature of good form prior to the actual season beginning.

In 2000, Essendon won the pre-season title and the premiership. In 2009, Geelong did the same.

In the eight years in between, however, Carlton twice lifted silverware in March only to fall well below – try 16th and 15th on the ladder – in the season proper. Richmond made the final in 2002 and ended up finishing 14th that year.

Geelong famously went all the way in 2006 and would soon after become premiership favourites – only to embarrassingly fade to 10th place.

Having said all that, 13 of last decade’s 20 sides to make it to the pre-season grand final went on to finish at least either top four or preliminary finalists.

So whilst the likes of Carlton, Richmond and Geelong make for good cheap shots, not all pre-season form is deceptive.

Sometimes it’s an indicator of a switched-on team. Sometimes all it can be is false hope for success-deprived supporters.

You can never really tell. Geelong and Collingwood were supposedly “peaking too early” by facing off in the NAB Cup grand final last year, a suggestion which was ultimately refuted.

But this year you might be able to put forth that exact same notion and look like a genius come September.

The lesson is simple. Sure, pre-season games aren’t of the utmost importance. They are not a showcase of footy at its absolute best. They don’t provide the most reliable form guide, even if sometimes they can get it right.

But they are games of footy all the same.

And after nearly five months without seeing one of those, right now the negatives don’t seem like such a big deal.

Follow Michael on twitter @mdifabrizio

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