It has begun!

As an obscure reference, I'd like to borrow a line from the Mortal Kombat film - It has begun!!!!!!

Yep, the NAB cup is finally here. Now I'm not a big fan of this competition, and as important as a pre-season warm up is in any sporting league, I just can't really get into it. It's a great way for coaches and fans to see some new talent demonstrated on the field, but nothing compares to the AFL season.

My prediction to take out the comp this year is Fremantle. Although I only watched the first quarter of yesterdays 'derby' match, I'd have to say that they looked in form and will probably bring their bigger guns in for the later matches. No other team apart from Geelong really looks like they are trying hard in the tournament. The Kangaroos were impressive on Friday night but Collingwood were....and are.....just stale.

The Saints and Lions game was low scoring but at least close enough. The Hawks and Demons game was predictably boring, something we've come to expect from those two sides in ANY match they play against any other side and especially against eachother.

Happy to see the Doggies wallop the Swans and the Blues should have put the Bombers away yet risked losing the match in the dying minutes. They just barely scraped through.

So at this point I'm going with the Dockers, even though I'm a West Coast fan. This is NAB cup remember and not really a precursor to the regular season (Carlton, 2005)

Some teams that I would like to see get up there for the season however are;

Geelong - They were impressive against a VERY accurate Tigers outfit who just couldn't match the pace of the Cats all day. Selwood looks like a future legend of the game (supposedly the 'best' out of the four brothers, two of whom are twins and have already made their mark in the league). The Ablett brothers played a good game....not a great game but a good one nonetheless.

I think the Cats will have a top four finish at the end of this year - I'll have to change my ladder predictions.

Kangaroos - They've missed out on the finals for a while now, however good draft picks and time to reflect have given them a chance....I hope. I just wanna see an end to the frustration and hurt, and I like Dean Laidley, so I'd like to see him have some success for once.

St Kilda - Not only do I wanna see an end to the frustration for another team, but also for a good mate of mine who is as big a Saints fan as I am an Eagles fan. It would be nice to see them eliminate a Sydney or an Adelaide in the finals.

Anyway that's all I have to say today. My cousin Fabrizio should be on here with one of his articles, until then, see you later in the week.

Simmo