Footy is back! And isn't it a good feeling?! I know that I, an Essendon supporter, will be walking into the office next week, standing that little bit taller. It's a funny game football. Makes you feel part of something bigger. Part of a community. And an extention of that, is our fantasy squads. Whether it's our all-out SuperCoach teams, or perhaps one of the draft competitions that have cropped up this year, maybe an office one, maybe one with online friends, or even a pack of online randoms scrubs that you're planning on destroying over 23 rounds- the feeling is the same. Footy is back, and it's as awesome as ever.




So, on that note, let's take a closer look at the two games this weekend, at both upsets, and see who has done what on the fantasy front.




Adelaide vs Essendon




Result: Essendon by 35.




What I find quite amazing from this game, is that Adelaide kicked the first 22 points of the game. Meaning that in three and a half quarters of football, the Crows were outplayed to the tune of 117 to 60. Quite the pasting.




Ben HOWLETT was amazing for the Bombers, playing through the middle and pushing forward had himself 25 disposals, pushed the ball inside 50 six times and also kick 4 goals 1 for an absolutely massive 164SC points.




Courtenay Dempsey was as smooth as silk all evening. Just 20 disposals for the night, but he was hitting long targets with a ruthless efficiency, setting himself up for a 124SC. Then Jobe Watson did what Jobe does. He ran all night long, got a truck load of touches and a big Supercoach score. Tonight, it was 34 disposals and 121SC. He was massive around the stoppages with 7 clearances along with 13 contested possession. Surely 2 or 3 brownlow votes here and he's now firmly the favourite for the Brownlow early.



Brent Stanton cracked his season with a hard earned ton, 117SC to be exact, while Michael HIBBERD opened the season as I'd expected with a 90SC. Good value if you're on him!




Brendon Goddard went alright. Was used pretty much everywhere around the ground, which was a little worrying, but he'll surely find his best in the squad and be pumping out regular 100's in no time.




Patrick Ryder will have a lot of coaches worried right now. Just 4 disposals and 11 hitouts he just doesn't score as well when he's not playing the #1 rucking role- something that Tom Bellchambers is all over right now winning 26 hitouts for himself.




For the Crows, only one player cracked the ton which was none other than Matthew WRIGHT who managed 24 disposals and picked up a suprising amount of ball in the backline. Very astute pickup thus far in the season.




The biggest player though, is the failure of Patrick Dangerfield. Funnily enough, he started the night on Dyson HEPPELL, who actually picked up 10 touches in the first quarter, then only 13 more for the rest of the night. While Heppell was on Dangerfield, he was punishing hard the otherway, getting roughly half of his total score in the first quarter. After that though, Heath Hocking was moved onto him, and really shut him down hard. I was a very worrying sign for someone who was just so dominant through the second half of last year. Should just be a case of working through it though.




Luke Brown was in a fair few teams, being a rookie priced defender, he was doing a fantastic performance. 7 touches and 44SC would have been what I'd expect from a full game. Seeing him stretchered off in the third with a potential broken foot though was shattering. Fantastic to hear that there was no structual damage and he should be back in the mix in two weeks. Showed a lot of good this kid did.




Heroes: Ben HOWLETT, Courtenay Dempsey, Jobe Watson

Villains: Patrick Dangerfield, Patrick Ryder



West Coast vs Fremantle




Result: Fremantle by 28.




It was a scoreline that tracked similarly to the previous game, with West Coast kicking the first 20 points of the game, before Fremantle woke up and proceeded to put on 108 points to 60. That siad, despite Fremantle kicking 6 goals to 1 in the 3rd quarter, it never actually felt out of reach for the Eagles until the final 5 minutes when Freo put on the final two goals of the game.




Michael BARLOW burst onto the scene in his rookie year as one of the greatest fantasy scoring rookies of all time. After a shocking leg break he's since been working himself back up to that pace, and I gotta say, in the opening night, he delivered on that form. 27 disposals, 9 tackles, 6 clearances, he was simply everywhere- and was rewarded for it with 144SC points.




Recent arrival, Danyle Pearce has wasted no time in the Freo lineup. Drifting back, but predominantly pushing up forward where he managed 23 disposals, 5 tackles, 6 clearances and kicked 2 goals 1 for a 130SC. A very fantasy friendly role, and with other bigger names in the midfield, shouldn't find himself too troubled with the tagger. I can see him coming into a lot of teams over the next few weeks.




David Mundy looked back to his best, with 126SC points of 27 disposals while Stephen Hill, Chris Mayne and Nick Suban all managed 120SC for themselves.




Ruckman, Jonathon Griffin collected 20 hitouts and 12 disposals for a fantastic 116SC, and in a pretty big piece of news for Griffin owners, it was revealed this week that a worse case scenario for Sandilands could have him on the sidelines for 16 weeks. Hoping it doesn't come to that, but it certainly goes to show how calculated risks can seriously work in ones favour.
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<div>Matthew Pavlich was a bit of a worry though, had his number taken and just couldn't get himself into the game. Shouldn't miss any weeks, but I bet he's going to want to get back out there, improve on that 60SC that he managed



Over on West Coast's side, Beau Waters top scored with a great performance off the backline. 26 disposals and 117SC points. The other Eagle to crack the ton was none other than mid-priced bargain Josh J. Kennedy, who had 19 disposals, 2 goals and 109SC points. A fantastic performance that will see him come into a lot of squads after lockout. Scarily, he actually leading the game on 80SC points at half time, which just shows the potential of what this guy can do.





LeCras was the story of the night though, after a horror 2012 season, he was dominating this game, with 14 disposals, 2 goals 2 and 91SC points before being subbed off in the 3rd quarter with what's feared to be a broken arm. My heart goes out to the bloke, and I wish him all the best in getting back to fitness and back onto the field- but in the meantime, I'm thinking that if you do have him, that it's a trade down.



Scott Selwood was uninspiring for all the pre-season hype, with just 16 disposals and 81SC points after being given a role on Fyfe, while cheap forward option, Scott LYCETT was near unsighted with just 3 disposals and 27SC points.
Heroes: Michael BARLOW, David Mundy, Danyle Pearce, Jonathon Griffin, Beau Waters

Villains: Matthew Pavlich



All in all, it was a short week, made a little more painful with no free to air Saturday night footy (And no Sunday footy at all!), but it is better to have some footy than no footy right?




And it's also nice to have our fantasy squads back. I know that I'll be tweaking the rest of my squad throughout the week, just a little bit, as we move closer to that final lockout.




So how did you go? Drop into the comments your wins/loses for the week. Thinking about any trades for when lockout ends? Or you gunna keep the powder dry and wait for trends to emerge before chasing last weeks points? It's always a fine line to tread.