Gosh, its been a long weekend, in a week that started with predictions of 2500s all round, crashed harshly as news of ol Frank "Grimey" Grimes going down early with a season ending foot injury. Gotta feel for the bloke though, surely hes got to get it together one year! It does raise the question though- reload next year and get him in, or are we officially burned?

Anyways, click over for the full review (including a special effort by Jason, reviewing the Adelaide v Hawthorn clash)- actually, before that, I just want to say, man- it feels good to have my laptop back! How Ive missed it this weekend! Its funny how absolutely dependent we can become on a single piece of equipment!

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Round 7 began at AAMI stadium on Friday evening, where three debutants fronted up amongst the 44 players for the Port Adelaide v Hawthorn clash. The match wasnt a great spectacle to be honest. Port started the better team but eventually Hawthorn got their act together. Scores were level at half time, Hawks nosed in front by a goal at 3/4 time and ran out comfortable winners to the tune of 5 goals by the end. Franklin, this time apparently smiled upon by the SuperCoach gods, scored 114 which probably flattered his actual impact on the contest. Everyone will take plenty of notice of Isaac Smiths 102 SuperCoach effort, and although he started slowly, he appeared to run out the game well. As for the other debutants, Paul Puopolo (57) probably did enough to arouse some interest but faded after a bright start in Q1, while Simon Phillips only had six touches for 26SC before being subbed off in the 3rd quarter in a fairly disappointing display. Roughead, Mitchell and Bateman all also scored SuperCoach tons for the Hawks, whilst K.Kornes and Chaplin were the only players for Port to ton-up. Hodge looked out-of-sorts for most of the night, but managed 91 SC. Savage came on as the sub in the last quarter and kicked two good goals, although his 20SC will disappoint his owners. Robbie Gray continues to fail to deliver much of substance and Boak looks to still be some distance away from having a breakout season. Hale (late withdrawal - back) and Rodan were the only reported injuries from the game.

Saturday saw the Swans destroy the Doggies, well- destroy is a little strong for an 8 point win, but the difference was the 8 behinds that the Swans kicked, they should have won a lot more comfortably. Leading the back was bulldog, Ryan Griffin whos 81% DE saw him amass 130SC, hes looking like a great pick for the coaches who jumped on him. OKeefe top scored for the Swans with a very nice 125SC while Boyds 33 touches helped him to a 124SC. Morris put in a solid game with only 19 touches for a 116SC, while Goodes 129DT couldnt translate well to SuperCoach and he scored a 110SC with a terrible 46% DE. From a rookie watch, anyone who jumped on Alex Johnson last week will be smiling as he reeled in a solid 89SC off 17 touches, however Markovics 46SC and Wallis 33SC probably bring about the end of their moo-ey dreams. Meanwhile, the less said about sub Skinner, the better...

Over to Skilled Stadium, and unsuprisingly, Geelong ran out 66 point winners. It was a bit of a case of the usual suspects with Geelong with Kelly top scoring with a 127SC, Selwoods 32 touches made for a 126SC while Podsiadly did what Pods does- dominate against "lesser" teams with a 125SC. Two Kangeroos rounded out the top5 with Wells (125SC) and Pratt (123SC) doing well. Rawlings has offered himself up as a Grimes replacement getting back in the winners list with a 118SC off 32 touches. Chapman was traded into a lot of teams this week and was a bit of a let down with only 85SC, as did Enright who only managed a 76. Joining those two cats in the poor list was Swallow- who could only get a 65SC. Not too many rookies of note, but it was great to see Pedersen roll onto the bubble with a fair 61SC.

Saturday night saw the emergence of the Tiges- though if I have to hear the term "awakening giant", or "juggernought" one more time, Im gunna have to snap! It was a good win, better than that, it was a *huge* last quarter- but the Tigers now face the challenge of keeping that up. As the ticker predicted, Sandilands dominated with 43 hitouts and a massive 162SC. Cotchin continued his mid-priced dream with a magnificent 130SC while Nahas pulled another mighty 125SC out of, well- where ever it is that people pull 125s out of!. Mundy continued his breakout-to-super-premium form, adding a 123SC to his tally, while Pav rounded out the top5 with a solid 122SC- though a DE of 45% could have been anything. No disappointments on the Tigers side with Batchelor fielding a massive 98SC while Grimes scored solid 83SC. Actually, Martin didnt live up to his recent form with only a 65SC, the breakout second yearer on the other team, Fyfe did much the same thing with a 71, though there was an injury in there so well have to wait on the results. Lower did very well with an 83SC but Broughtons 67SC, Duffields 47SC and Pitts 38 were all bad all the time.

The other game on Saturday night was the QLD derby, and wow- the GC bounced back from last week to record their second win and keep the Lions "never beat a new team in their inaugrial match" record in tact. The top scorer for the game was none other than Nathan Krakouer, whos 5 goals saw him manage a 158SC. Brennan continued his enigmatic form, this time saw him score a massive 155SC while Rischitelli scored a mighty 149SC. Rich top scored for the Lions with a 138SC which Ash McGrath and his 6 goals was only enough to see him score a 126SC- would have been huge had they won it. With such a high peak, youd expect a strong dropoff, however thats not the case just yet, a 114SC by Harris, 111SC by Smith, 100 by Patrick, 95 by Lynch, 94 by Matera and an 88 for Swallow. Patrick and Lynch are the two biggest points of interest as they come into the game bottom priced. After that though, theres a strong dropoff as 70s and less abode around the game, none worse than Drummond and his 51SC- itll be a gutsy coach to pick up him as a bargain!

Sunday started off with a might clash as the Bombers took on the might of the reborn Eagles, and dare I say it- the Eagles should have won the game- but poor kicking saw Essendon run out 16 point winners, 16.10 to 12.18. Watson might have moved to the top of the Brownlow count this week (Which youre reading this- open up the brownlow tab in another tab, then get your tips in!), whos 31 touches and 2 goals saw him top score with a 148SC. Kerr top scored for the Eagles and as a gutsy initial pick is looking pretty good with a 129SC. Naitanui (126SC) and Cox (125SC) put in great efforts dominating the ruck with 61 hitouts between them, while Hurley once again, with supreme DE managed a huge SCT Ratio with a 111SC off 73DT. Not too many disappointments this game, most people hit around about their salaries worth- Stantons 30 would have hurt his coaches as he got subbed off, while Darling after a massive first quarter only finished up with a 60SC- Not a bad score, but only a few points more than his first quarter score.

The other Sunday game saw Melbourne destroy the Crows at the MCG. While the scores were close at half time, 17 scoring shots to 8 told the story as the Dees ran out 96 point winners. A bit of a thumbs up to the sub rule as tragicly, Grimes did his foot in the first quarter and limped off leaving us all with a 14, well, technically I hear that 74% of the top5000 hold him- so not *all*, just most. Sylvia top scored with a mighty 159SC off 26 touches and 4 goals. Moloney bounced back to awesome with 31 touches for 123SC while Petterd (111SC), Frawley (110SC) and Trengove (110SC) rounded out the top5, the later of which copped a two week suspension. Really though, it was all Dees with 9 tons to 0, including Green (105) and Tapscott (104) who both had a welcome return to form. While Grimes was the disaster story, there was plenty of sad on the Crows front, S. Thompsons 65, L. Thompsons 54, Dangermouses 52, Smiths 33 and Knights disasterous 32 summing up the disaster.

The final game for the round, and while writing this review, based it all on the Grimes injury being the talking point of the round, but an early, and innocuous bumb on Curnow saw the golden boy subbed off with a shoulder, and at least our trade out targets lock in for the week. Still, it was an epic fricking game with the Blues just falling over the line against the rampant Saints. Carrazzo top scored with a 123SC off 29 touches, Fisher made for a nice backline upgrade this week with a tidy 120SC while a big final term saw Nicky D finish with a nice 117SC. Montagna (107SC) and Waite (103SC) rounded out the top5 with some solid performances. Duigan had a huge final term on his way to a magnificent 93SC, however the rest of the rookies struggled (and no,Im not going to go into Curnow- too much pain). Goddard somehow scored an 86, while Roo got even worse than last week with a terrible 63.

One final thing, you all noticed the debilitating speed issues from last week- Im currently putting in a few fixes that will hopefully make next week better- but I reckon theres gunna be a bit of trial and error until we get it right- rest assured though, well get there!

So, there we go, Im sure lockout will open quickly this week- but until then, let us know- how did you go this week?!