We’re only hours away from the first bounce of the 2019 home-and-away season, and excitement is certainly in the air, especially in the Zero Hanger office.
With the opening siren so close, we’ve decided to go ahead and make some predictions ahead of what is shaping up to be one of the tightest seasons in recent memory.
Everyone was asked for their top eight, and each member of the team had to pick their premiers, their Brownlow and Coleman Medallists, Rising star award winner, wooden spoon recipient, and also envisage what the papers will and won’t say in 2019.
So here they are, Zero Hanger’s predictions for the 2019 season!
Steve
1. West Coast
2. Richmond
3. Collingwood
4. Melbourne
5. Adelaide
6. GWS
7. Essendon
8. Geelong
Premiers: Richmond
Brownlow Medal: Nat Fyfe (Fremantle)
Coleman Medal: Josh Kennedy (West Coast)
Rising Star: Sam Walsh (Carlton)
Wooden spoon: Gold Coast
Headline you will see: Ratten takes over as Richardson departs St Kilda
Headline you won’t see: Let's go back to how it was, the 6-6-6 sucks!
Ben
1. Richmond
2. Collingwood
3. Melbourne
4. West Coast
5. Adelaide
6. Essendon
7. GWS
8. North Melbourne
Premiers: Collingwood
Brownlow Medal: Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong)
Coleman Medal: Josh Kennedy (West Coast)
Rising Star: Sam Walsh (Carlton)
Wooden spoon: Gold Coast
Headline you will see: Sam Walsh receives maximum votes as unanimous Rising Star winner
Headline you won’t see: Lions end 10-year finals drought
Chris
1. West Coast
2. Collingwood
3. Adelaide
4. Richmond
5. Melbourne
6. GWS
7. Geelong
8. Sydney
Premiers: Adelaide
Brownlow Medal: Josh Kelly
Coleman medal: Josh Kennedy (West Coast)
Rising Star: Bailey Smith (Western Bulldogs)
Wooden Spoon: Carlton
Headline you'll see: Bombers big name recruits fail to deliver
Headline you won't see: Andrew Gaff suspended
Ed
1. West Coast
2. Richmond
3. Collingwood
4. Melbourne
5. GWS
6. Adelaide
7. Geelong
8. Essendon
Premiers: Melbourne
Brownlow Medal: Patrick Cripps (Carlton)
Coleman Medal: Ben Brown (North Melbourne)
Rising Star: Sam Walsh (Carlton)
Wooden spoon: Gold Coast
Headline you will see: Luke Beveridge's position on the line after dramatic fall from grace
Headline you won’t see: The mid-season draft was a "snooze fest"
Hayden
1. Collingwood
2. Adelaide
3. West Coast
4. GWS
5. Richmond
6. Melbourne
7. Hawthorn
8. Geelong
Premiers: Adelaide
Brownlow Medal: Patrick Cripps (Carlton)
Coleman Medal: Ben Brown (North Melbourne)
Rising Star: Sam Walsh (Carlton)
Wooden Spoon: Gold Coast
Headline you will see: Brisbane make major improvement behind young guns Berry, Rainer
Headline you won’t see: Coniglio resists temptation to return home and re-signs with GWS
Daniel
1. Richmond
2. West Coast
3. Melbourne
4. Collingwood
5. Adelaide
6. Hawthorn
7. Essendon
8. North Melbourne
Premiers: West Coast
Brownlow Medal: Patrick Cripps (Carlton)
Coleman Medal: Ben Brown (North Melbourne)
Rising Star: Sam Walsh (Carlton)
Wooden Spoon: Gold Coast
Headline you will see: Kelly backflips on Giants and returns to Victoria as league’s highest paid player
Headline you won’t see: AFL announces that no rules will change for 2020 season
Michael
1. Richmond
2. Melbourne
3. West Coast
4. GWS
5. Adelaide
6. Collingwood
7. Essendon
8. North Melbourne
Premiers: Richmond
Brownlow Medal: Clayton Oliver (Melbourne)
Coleman Medal: Ben Brown (North Melbourne)
Rising Star: Zak Butters (Port Adelaide)
Wooden Spoon: Gold Coast
Headline you will see: Kangaroo Kelly - North finally gets its man
Headline you won't see: Lethlean says Brett Ratten wasn't hired to become senior coach
Philip
1. Richmond
2. West Coast
3. Collingwood
4. Melbourne
5. GWS
6. Adelaide
7. Geelong
8. Essendon
Premiers: Richmond
Brownlow Medal: Josh Kelly (GWS)
Coleman Medal: Ben Brown (North Melbourne)
Rising Star: Sam Walsh (Carlton)
Wooden spoon: Gold Coast
Headline we will see: New rules are a success
Headline we wont see: No AFL coach sacked this season
Kristian
1. Richmond
2. West Coast
3. Collingwood
4. Adelaide
5. Melbourne
6. GWS
7. Geelong
8. Essendon
Premiers: Richmond
Brownlow Medal: Lachie Neale (Brisbane)
Coleman Medal: Jeremy Cameron (GWS)
Rising Star: Sam Walsh (Carlton)
Wooden spoon: Gold Coast
Headline you will see: Coniglio to explore free agency with move back to Perth
Headline you won’t see: Carlton unable to break 100-point barrier for third consecutive season
Looking to sign up for newsletter