I think the Big 3 will still be there at the end of the season, but southern will push for that finals sport.
A team of young talent who seem to be gelling really well.
West are Gone

The double header triple is really going to set some teams up this year, perhaps giving them a chance they may not have had if the same games were played over 6 weeks.

Sturt have had a nice easy start to the season but may find it tough in the coming weeks against quality opposition without Marcus. If they are still top 3 after round 7 then the post season is locked up.

Southern would be pinching themselves atm. A 3-0 start with wins against two top 3 teams is massive and with the West-Cenral double next week would be looking to push ahead 5-0. Will their young stock lose the way and fall to a lesser opponent? Has been the story in the past.

North are over the first game wobbles and will push forward from here, the main concern being motivation as they look forward to the post season intensity that defines them whilst annihalating teams by 30-40+

Norwood would have been looking for the 3-0 start after taking care of North early.. still plenty of time for Cooper to gel and make a real impact and with webber still to land, the loss to Southern bites but will not hurt the inevitable top 3 finish.

Forestville - see above. Pero = webber and some more gel time and this teams cream will rise to the top.

Woodville, South & Centrals will fight all year but simply havn't got the horses and the depth to challenge this year, a 6th place finish a good result. If they can take down some lofty opponents in the process they may define others seasons, just not their own.

Eastern and West are done. Victims of injury when 1/3 of the seasons games will be decided.

Does this all make the competition closer than expected?

Its certainly early days but its refreshing to see some upsets this early... A review after round 7 will be interesting.. who makes the most of the early advantage and who fights back to become a contender?

Good luck to all.

Southern in and West out of the five from last year. Southern with 3 wins already, tradionally 10 wins is good enough to make the finals...sometimes 9. They still have to play centrals, eastern, woodville twice each. They really should get them...that makes 9 wins. Also still to play south again, and a depleated West this week. Should get those two that makes 11 wins!

Even if the loose one or two of these they still can get wins in games against west( 2nd time they play), two games against Sturt, and have showed they can beat the top sides so any games they drop that they shouldn't they should be able to make up by beating top sides as they already have.

A definate finals team in my opinion, just a matter of where they will finish.

#181239 could be on the money, with the only change from last year being Southern replacing West in the five.

It's sad that after three games (two for some) including a couple of upsets, the final five could be set. The order will change, but it's hard to see a strong challenge from any of the bottom five unless one of the top five stumbles.

That's more like it "tigers are in" but don't stop at them just making the 5, what about going undefeated for the season including the Championship!!!
Let's not get too far ahead of yourself though, even though they did have two big wins on the weekend, they did only win a total of 6 games last season!!!

Geez Panther you hungry for a bite or what?

Got the bait out in two threads.. any takers yet?

i dont see why ya having a dig at the Tiger boys..pretty sure any team that can knock off Forestville and/or Norwood on a weekend has got to be stoked about their performances and efforts. Especially defensively as the stats say both teams were kept under 30pts for the 2nd half.

Are you sure the Tigers carried on?? they haven't had too many wins in the last few years, so to get one decent team, let alone two..give them some credit at least. No one from Tigers has come on here and bragged or been pig headed and rubbed it into anyone, nor has there been much talk about the two MASSIVE upsets.

Let the young team enjoy it's moment while they have it.

Well they do not start the playoffs after 3 games. That's why we play the games over a season. And when you start planning who you can win against to make the playoffs, that is when things usually go south (or in this case southern).

Good job to Heath and the boys for putting a competetive team together that is capable of pushing for a finals spot. Perhaps the loss of Clarke, Gerlach, Bowley and to an extent Hodges has inspired the young group to excel.

I wouldn't write West off just yet, A lot of players to come in still.

Don't write off Centrals men's team just yet- I have heard a little birdy say something about a possible new player. Watch this space as they say!

Eastern lost two close games against quality opposition on the weekend and they were without Watson.

stick around,

you are on the money, Lions signed Andrew Puddifoot at lunch time today.

looks like Scott wasnt the only one not happy with the two losses on the weekend.

aricle is on the central aba website

http://www.centralabl.com.au/ (news)

Perhaps Centrals can only pay him for 15 games