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Opinion
Geelong, Carlton, Collingwood and Sydney underlined a season that will be a raffle for this year’s finals in a cracking 2022 AFL shoot-out that will be intense.
Geelong made a mockery of the experts with a spirited performance that reduced finals favourites Essendon to rubble.
If they continue in this vein, they are serious challengers to the top teams in the competition. Rated slow, ageing and not in contention, the Cats played four quarters of quality.
Their footy nullified any chance of an Essendon recovery as they romped to a 11-goal win in front of a stunned crowd at the MCG.
I guess I have to apologise for my preview, which failed to mention Geelong and the Gold Coast. After watching the Cats destroy Mick Malthouse’s flag favourites Essendon, it made me feel worse watching the Bombers reduced to pathetic bystanders in a lesson that will bite deep.
(Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
Adding injury to the insult was the hamstring strain suffered by Kyle Langford and hip soreness to Jayden Laverde.
And the Bombers will be sweating on the tribunal ruling of Sam Draper, whose indiscretion on Geelong’s Esava Ratugolea will definitely be under scrutiny.
At this stage with Round 1 complete, I will substitute Geelong for Essendon in the eight if the hapless Bombers cannot find a game plan that will show them how to be competitive.
It’s early days yet, and if I seem to throw the baby out with the bathwater, it will take a sterner effort from the Bombers to prove me wrong.
Yes, they sorely missed Jake Stringer and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, their main strike weapons in the forward line. But it would still have counted for nothing against the rampant Cats, merciless on their hunt.
It took a debutante in Nic Martin to save the Bombers more blushes with a memorable first outing where he booted five goals. He will prove to be a gun crumber in the club’s future.
The rest of Essendon were a sorry spectacle of a sub standard side and even though Zach Merrett racked up many possessions, it had little significance towards helping the Bombers stay competitive.
Sydney provided the next upset over GWS with a clinical display after an initially fierce local derby.
Port Adelaide did the usual by announcing they are serious challengers for the flag with a disciplined effort but Brisbane hung in there to overrun them in the final quarter in a fiercely contested game.
Ken Hinkley’s men will need to convince the competition that they are genuine contenders this time around.
What is heartening though is that season 2022 is shaping to be as unpredictable as I predicted after Carlton, Geelong, Sydney and Collingwood turned the tables on Richmond, Essendon, GWS and St Kilda.
It makes for a fascinating season of footy, which will keep fans engrossed and tipsters having nightmares.
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