With the ‘hit and giggle' matches and the arduous pre-season training regimes now behind each team, fans, coaches, and players alike have set their sights on the real deal – Round 1.
For some clubs, the pre-season period could not have panned out better, whilst the unlucky remainder will be counting the cost of their campaigns.
Although there were a myriad of positives to be taken from the summer months, all teams will be striving to improve on their practice match form and learn from the lessons dealt out across them.
With the first bounce of the Sherrin just over a week away, we raise the big question that face each of the AFL's 18 clubs.
Port Adelaide
Is their back six big enough?
This may seem like a ridiculous query to pose after a 71-point win, but it is one that we will ask all the same.
Port Adelaide may have held a woeful Crows outfit to just 6 goals in over two hours of football, but is their defence tall enough to compete with the competition's best sides?
Of the 17 players at are listed as defenders by the club, only five surpass 192 centimetres on the measuring tape – Jake Pasini, Jarrod Lienert, Tyson Goldsack, Tom Clurey and Aliir Aliir.
Of this group, Pasini is yet to debut, Lienert has played just 18 games and Goldsack is injured.
Although the remaining pair are left to stand alone, both performed well on Saturday. Clurey was rested after half time, but Aliir dominated with a sharp display and an even sharper haircut.
Aliir Aliir by the numbers:
21 disposals (19 effective)
6 contested marks,
9 intercept marks
11 intercept possessions#SuperCoach #AFLFantasy #AAMISeries— Fantasy Freako (@FantasyFreako) March 7, 2021
It may appear close to moronic to highlight this statistic, but it could bite Hinkley come finals time, as key forwards Daniher, Hipwood, Cameron, Hawkins, Lynch and Riewoldt are all taller than the entirety of Port's defensive stocks.
