At the end of the 2017 and 2018 home and away seasons the Chickens and Devils were separated by just one position on the ladder with the Chickens finishing sixth in both years, one place behind the fifth placed Devils in 2017 and one place ahead of the seventh placed Devils in 2018. The Devils made their first ever finals appearance in 2014 and were given a football lesson by the Chickens to the tune of 320 points in an elimination final. In four seasons from 2015 to 2018 only once has the team that won the head to head game between the Chickens and Devils finished higher on the ladder – 2016 and by a big margin with the Chickens finishing on top and the Devils without two of their best four players for the season in Hurley and Heppell finishing 11th. The results in Chickens vs Devils games from the 2014 EF until now are listed below. 2014 EF Chickens (2nd) 1,436 defeated Devils (6th) 1,116 by 320 points 2015 R4 Devils (11th) 1,347 defeated Chickens (1st) 1,241 by 106 points 2016 R5 Chickens (1st) 1,506 defeated Devils (11th) 1,211 by 295 points 2017 R13 Devils (5th) 1,414 defeated by Chickens (6th) 1,439 by 25 points 2018 R13 Devils (7th) 1,417 defeated Chickens (6th) 1,350 by 67 points 2019 R4 Chickens (?) 1,171 defeated by Devils (?) 1,321 by 150 points The most surprising result from 2015 onwards in games between the Devils and Chickens was Round 4 2015 when the Devils who had lost their first three games of the season defeated the Chickens by 106 points 1,347 to 1,241. That game proved to be the exception rather than the rule for the form of both clubs throughout the season with the Devils finishing 11th and the Chickens continuing to be a powerhouse and winning the minor premiership. In 2017 and 2018 the two clubs engaged in shoot-outs amassing match aggregates of 2,853 points in 2017 and 2,767 points in 2017 and both games were decided by less than 70 points with the Chickens taking the honours in 2017 and the Devils getting the victory in 2018. In last weekend’s encounter too much was left to too few by Foul Bay with seven Chickens scoring less than 70 points compared to only two Devils being in this category and a more consistent team performance resulted in the Devils winning by 150 points. I think it was just an off-week for the Chooks with the all-Geelong forward line misfiring with the exception of Tomahawk and expect that the Devils and Chickens will again be in close proximity to each other on the 2019 end of season ladder. In his 2019 pre-season premiership odds ChiefBet ranked the Devils fourth at $6 and the Chickens sixth at $8 and in his profile for the Devils he wrote “Astute drafting too, taking all the players Foul Bay had their eye on.” I will be tracking Foul Bay’s ladder position closely throughout 2019 and am interested to see if the team that lost the head to head battle between the Chickens and Devils finishes higher on the ladder by one position for the third season in a row. Given @ChiefRussell’s comment about the 2019 PSD he might not be too happy if this pattern continues this season.