Distractions over, it’s footy time!

The Australian open has been run and won — yawn! — and the pyjama cricket series has provided a blip of brightness on the Australian national cricket scene — yawn! The nation’s yearly flirtation with yachting is now a distant memory — zzzzzzz — and the hayburners have settled into their normal routine again after the colour and excitement of the Spring Carnival — ever so slightly more interested now that AussieRulesBlog’s progeny owns an eventer.

After the ‘drama’ of FFA’s fanciful bid for FIFA’s World Cup, the Socceroos extra time loss to Japan in the Asian Cup final has added an exclamation mark, despite, it seems, perennially overly-optimistic predictions for the national team.

So, the distractions are out of the way and it’s once again Aussie Rules’ turn to capture sporting hearts and minds — and a good thing too!

In eleven days the ‘phoney war’ of the pre-season competition commences. This year we have the added distraction of a mini-lightning premiership first round which will do little to provide any guides to early form, especially for those teams with the long breaks.

It will be a surprise if any of Adelaide, Carlton, WCE, Essendon, GWS or Geelong make any further appearance in the primary competition, but we don’t consider than as necessarily a negative. The secondary Challenge series still sees teams pitted against other AFL outfits — other than GWS and, perhaps, the Suns at this stage — but with more opportunity for coaches to experiment and find out about what their players can manage.

We think these four weeks will be crucial to coaches figuring out how they’ll manage the new interchange arrangements, so there’s more than just a chance for a good competitive hitout.

It can’t come quickly enough! We’re like a kid waiting at the Christmas tree for Mum and Dad to wake up so we can rip into our presents!