There's no cup, no final, heck there’s not even a tournament.

The AFL does it’s preseason a little different than most, shifting from what was once a fairly popular, mid-week knock-out event, to its present two-match ‘Race Around Australia’ format.

The truncated aspect of the current AFL pre-season makes genuine analysis and assessment difficult, but by no means impossible.

And so while we didn’t determine an actual pre-season champ, the abbreviated pre-season did result in heightened competition, as fringe players desperately tried to push themselves into the shop window ahead of Round One.

Let’s take a look and some of the major themes from our albeit preciously small sample-size of matches.

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FLIPPING THE LADDER ON IT’S HEAD

Last year, Gold Coast, St Kilda, Melbourne and Fremantle occupied four of the league’s bottom six spots and combined for a 26-62 record. 

For St Kilda and Fremantle, their underwhelming seasons led to coaching changes, while for the Demons, the spotlight is now very much on Simon Goodwin after Melbourne’s disastrous 2019. As for the Gold Coast Suns, their 18-game losing streakto close out the season resulted in significant soul searching in both SE Queensland and at league HQ. 

Thankfully, the pre-season response by all four teams was spectacular, with each going undefeated and combining to win 24 of the 32 quarters they contested.

The Suns were perhaps the pre-season’s biggest surprise, smashing Geelong by 68 points before travelling to Noarlunga Downs in suburban Adelaide to beat the Crows by 7 points.

Most encouraging for the Suns was their pronounced hardness at the ball, winning the contested possession count by 55 over their two games which was quite easily the competition’s best.

For Melbourne, they easily dispatched Adelaide and Hawthorn, winning each game by five goals. Christian Petracca looked menacing in both matches, averaging more than 30 touches and teasing Dees’ fans that 2020 may indeed be the year he launches into super stardom. Equally promising for Melbourne was their spread of goalscoring options. Last year the Demons housed the league’s second worst attack, yet boasted no less than six individual players in the pre-season who contributed at least three goals.

St Kilda perhaps claimed the pre-season’s biggest scalps, first taking down the Hawks at Moorabbin, before following up with an 11-point win over Collingwood in Morwell. The latter would have been particularly pleasing for the Saints’ faithful with so much of Brett Ratten’s game-plan falling into place. Taking 14 marks to 4 inside 50 was incredibly promising, as too was the continued excellent form of Jack Steele, along with new recruit Brad Hill who averaged 23 touches over the two games.

While Fremantle might have got a little lucky over the weekend in their win over the Eagles, their undefeated pre-season was nothing to sniff at. They positively trounced Carlton in their first hit-out, with the Dockers appearing to be a lot more free-flowing under new coach Justin Longmuir, generating an extra 44 uncontested possessions, while taking a massive 17 marks inside 50. The Docker’s averaged just 10.7 marks inside 50 per game last season which was the league’s fifth worst return, so they would have been very pleased with the likes of Rory Lobb who continually provided the Dockers an avenue to goal, stepping up with 13 marks to boot.

RELATED: AFL 2020: 18 Clubs, 18 Reasons for Optimism

WHO HAS THE MOST TO BE WORRIED ABOUT?

Probably Carlton. 

The Blues have endured so much anguish and change over the last couple of decades, however their fans saw unquestioned progression after Brendon Bolton was replaced with David Teague mid-season. 

Under Teague, the Blues not only looked more potent, but their talented list actually started winning games, with an understandable current of optimism flowing through Princess Park over the pre-season. 

Unfortunately, Carlton looked a long way off the mark in their two hit-outs, first smashed by Fremantle, before capitulating against the Lions at their historic home ground. 

While both losses were cause for concern, it was the nature of the Brisbane loss which would have been most alarming for fans. The Blues had a half-time lead, however conceded 13 goals to three in the second half as they were completely overran by a much more focused, organised unit. 

In Carlton’s loss to the Dockers, the Blues failed to spread out wide or close space, getting trounced by 44 where uncontested possession was concerned. In the Lion’s loss, the Blues were plagued by a seeming disinterest in winning the hard ball, with Brisbane winning the contested passion count by 19 which helped generate an extra 9 clearances. To further illustrate Carlton’s lack off appetite, they lost the tackle count by a massive 16 as well.

Losing both pre-season games was bad enough for Carlton. Losing in two vastly different ways was an even harder pill to swallow. 

Sydney, like Carlton, lost both of their pre-season encounters, with their 50.2 percentage the worst by any club in the pre-season.

While the Swans were without Lance Franklin, and will be for the foreseeable future, a big issue for the Swans remains alternate avenues to goal. Tom Papley, who recently represented Victoria in the State of Origin, was the only Swans player to kick multiple goals in a game, with the Swans cobbling together just 106 points over their two matches.

Of course, a two-game sample size isn't cause to re-assess your deepest thoughts regarding what will happen in season 2020. After all, Richmond, West Coast and Geelong just went winless over the pre-season, with those three representing the competition vanguard over the last three seasons where premierships and total wins are concerned.  

The preseason was however instructive at looking at form and game-plan fluctuations, particularly among the league's downtrodden. Whether the likes of St Kilda and Melbourne can carry their positivity into season 2020 remains to be seen, but at least these teams can approach Round One in a more positive frame of mind. 

As for Carlton and Sydney, the clock is very much ticking insofar as learning from their pre-season stumbles, and organising themselves ahead of Round One and the 2020 season.

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