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Let me start this by saying, no one cares who wins the NAB Challenge. But when your brain is set on “think about football” mode 24/7, eventually the question is going to come up. When it did, I just had to do the numbers and find out.
| Position | Team | Played | Won | Lost | For | Against | Percentage | Points |
| 1 | Fremantle | 2 | 2 | 0 | 159 | 97 | 163.92% | 8 |
| 2 | Melbourne | 2 | 2 | 0 | 167 | 136 | 122.79% | 8 |
| 3 | Collingwood | 2 | 2 | 0 | 216 | 200 | 108.00% | 8 |
| 4 | Adelaide | 2 | 1 | 1 | 215 | 117 | 183.76% | 4 |
| 5 | Geelong | 2 | 1 | 1 | 234 | 155 | 150.97% | 4 |
| 6 | North Melbourne | 2 | 1 | 1 | 194 | 158 | 122.78% | 4 |
| 7 | Gold Coast | 2 | 1 | 1 | 120 | 98 | 122.45% | 4 |
| 8 | Western Bulldogs | 2 | 1 | 1 | 164 | 145 | 113.10% | 4 |
| 9 | Richmond | 2 | 1 | 1 | 134 | 120 | 111.67% | 4 |
| 10 | GWS Giants | 2 | 1 | 1 | 167 | 164 | 101.83% | 4 |
| 11 | Sydney | 2 | 1 | 1 | 141 | 154 | 91.56% | 4 |
| 12 | Essendon | 2 | 1 | 1 | 119 | 146 | 81.51% | 4 |
| 13 | Hawthorn | 2 | 1 | 1 | 83 | 136 | 61.03% | 4 |
| 14 | West Coast | 2 | 1 | 1 | 103 | 200 | 51.50% | 4 |
| 15 | Brisbane | 1 | 0 | 1 | 43 | 68 | 63.24% | 2 |
| 16 | St Kilda | 1 | 0 | 1 | 73 | 117 | 62.39% | 2 |
| 17 | Port Adelaide | 2 | 0 | 2 | 136 | 176 | 77.27% | 0 |
| 18 | Carlton | 2 | 0 | 2 | 67 | 148 | 45.27% | 0 |
In a way it’s kind of remarkable how ‘even’ the NAB Challenge has been – across just two games for each team, we’ve had only three teams winning both matches, and only two who have lost more than one game.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that two of those three top teams – Collingwood and Fremantle – are both yet to travel more than a short distance from home.
Generally so far in the pre-season competition we’ve seen teams choosing to field strong sides close to home, and weaker sides on the road, as clubs look to limit the amount of travel time they put their most important players through before the season proper.
In fact only two games have been won by clubs outside of their home state – by Melbourne in South Australia, and by the Western Bulldogs in the ACT. Four, if you count Hawthorn winning in Tasmania or Collingwood in Wagga Wagga, but those are special cases with both teams playing ‘interstate’.
The away win by Melbourne is probably the biggest and almost the only ‘upset’ win of the NAB Challenge and it’s fair to say they have been one of the more impressive teams so far.
While it took them a four-goals-to-none last quarter to put away the Bulldogs this weekend past, the drive from their young guns has been impressive. First draft pick Clayton Oliver looks ready to make an AFL impact, and Jack Viney is ready for a breakout season. Max Gawn has been kicking ass and taking names. Even Jack Watts has been strangely competent.
Of course it wouldn’t be the first time a team has looked capable in the pre-season and then fizzled in the real thing (Brisbane 2013, anyone?) so let’s not get too carried away. But I think the nucleus of a very good side is there. In the year 2020, we may be looking at the centre square combination of Max Gawn, Jack Viney, Angus Brayshaw and Clayton Oliver as the hardest to play against in the competition.
Collingwood fans would be ecstatic with their pre-season campaign and rightly so. A great comeback win against the Cats, a solid victory over North Melbourne, and all with Adam Treloar still in the gun. There’s no doubt they’ll be pushing for a finals spot in 2016.
And Fremantle, well, they haven’t needed to set foot outside of Western Australia, but the signs have been promising. Nat Fyfe doesn’t seem to be feeling any adverse affects from his pre-season back injury which is the most important thing.
These three sides all play ‘home’ matches in the final week of the NAB Challenge so any one of them could prove the final winner – and if they all lose, it’s possible that one of the teams on a 1-1 record could jump up and take lead.
My tip will be Fremantle, who face the Cats at Domain Stadium. Geelong will probably send over a bit of a B-side given the long trip to Perth, which should give the Dockers a guaranteed win and allow them to maintain their excellent percentage.
One also has to pay a bit of credit to Greater Western Sydney who while they lost their first game have been a very impressive side, especially in their demolition of Sydney on Friday night. I was already tipping them to crack into finals this year, I’m very, very comfortably tipping that now.
(Oh yeah, and Carlton are stuck at the bottom. Typical.)
Pre-season Brownlow: Fyfe is comfortably in the lead here I feel. He only played a half against the Tigers in the first game but he has been in excellent form whenever sighted. Tipping a back-to-back Brownlow always seems like a boring prediction to me, but I can’t avoid it this year.
Pre-season Coleman: Currently a tie between Drew Petire and believe it or not Alex Fasolo, on seven goals apiece. Two others in close contention are Nathan Vardy and Corey Gault, both on six.
Pre-season Most Improved: Keep an eye on Jesse Lonergan for the Suns this year. Went down with an ankle injury against West Coast but should be right for Round 1. Looks like he could develop into a top flight contested ball midfielder.
Pre-season Rising Star: Callum Mills without a doubt, he looked like a seasoned player in his first match against the Power, and while he found the going a little tougher against the Giants, still impressed with his appetite for the contest. Also impressive: Clayton Oliver, Rhys Mathieson, Darcy Tucker.