Collingwood’s ‘MMM’ forward line will cook with slick ball movement

Round 1 taught us plenty about the AFL.

With all 18 teams returning to play for the first time following Opening Round’s false start, fans finally got a real sense of what their club could offer in 2025.

From Richmond causing one of the biggest upsets in recent memory to a Grand Final rematch and a Collingwood demolition, here’s what we learned from the weekend’s results.

Richmond has an absolute gem in Sam Lalor

Richmond fans would have been salivating on Thursday night after watching their new No. 1 pick go about his work on debut.

In the remarkable upset win over Carlton, Lalor helped himself to two goals, 18 disposals and a team-high eight score involvements.

But it wasn’t on the stat sheet where he truly shone, with the 18-year-old instead showing all of the signs of a future superstar of the game.

Whether it was his high marking, explosiveness, willingness to take on tacklers or looking for contact to free up his teammates by hand, Lalor seems to be the exact package of what clubs are looking for in a modern-day midfielder.

SEN’s David King said what many were thinking with Lalor reminding him immediately of perhaps the club’s greatest player ever, Dustin Martin.

If he can even be half as good as Dusty, then Richmond fans will be in for a fun watch over the next decade and a bit with this kid.

Carlton’s depth could be a real worry

On the other side of Thursday’s shock result was Carlton, with the defeat easily one of the most shocking and disappointing in their recent memory.

While you don’t want to overreact too much to one result, one potential issue stood out immediately - the list depth.

Carlton’s best 23 on paper is probably one of the competition’s best, but when they have injuries - which they always seem to have recently - their talent falls away pretty significantly across the field.

The Blues let the likes of Jack Carroll, David Cuningham, Matt Kennedy, Jack Martin, Matt Owies and Caleb Marchbank all go this off-season and didn’t really replace them with any experienced names apart from Francis Evans and Nick Haynes.

While a lot of the players that they cut or traded away were injury-prone, it may have left a bit of a hole on the club’s list in terms of those bottom six players that will line up on a week-to-week basis.

Let’s see if some youngsters can emerge to help bolster this side as the season goes on.

Collingwood’s ‘Triple M’ forward line will cook if the Magpies move the ball like that

Collingwood responded to their critics in a big way on Saturday night, slaughtering a Port Adelaide side that finished last year’s home and away season second by a staggering 91 points at the MCG.

The Magpies certainly didn’t look too old and too slow on the wide expanses of the MCG as their class and experience rose to the surface with some seriously slick footy.

The biggest beneficiaries of their ball movement on Saturday was the Magpies’ new forward line trident of Dan McStay, Tim Membrey and Brody Mihocek who combined for 10 goals.

While none of that trio are absolute A-graders, they all have some serious quality about them and have a high floor with what they’ll offer on a week-to-week basis.

If a guy like Membrey is getting the opposition’s weakest defender and the Magpies keep moving the ball like that, the former Saint could really enjoy his first season in the black and white.

That is NOT what we expected from Fremantle

Fremantle certainly didn’t live up to their reputation as one of the competition’s best defences in Saturday’s 147-69 loss to Geelong at GMHBA Stadium.

The Cats pulled the Dockers’ back six apart and even kicked 10 goals in the last quarter after leading by just 21 points at three-quarter time.

If Fremantle are to contend this year, and many think they will, they’ll need their one wood down back setting the platform for the rest of the side to go about their work.

Can we chalk Saturday’s effort down to rust or a sign that they may not be as solid as they have been down back in recent campaigns?

It’s a bit of a watch for the next few weeks at least.

Adelaide's additions and internal growth surely sparks a rise

Adelaide's season got off to a brilliant start with their 63-point win over St Kilda at home.

While it was against some average opposition, Crows fans would have been thrilled by what they saw from their off-season additions Alex Neal-Bullen, Isaac Cumming and James Peatling, with all three kicking majors in their first game for the club.

Those three automatically make the Crows a better prospect than they were last campaign, but it's their internal growth that might help launch this side most with the likes of Jake Soligo, Izak Rankine, Josh Worrell, Riley Thilthorpe, Josh Rachele and Darcy Fogarty all showing glimpses that they may have gone to the next level this summer.

While we'll only truly know just where this Adelaide sits once they face some better opposition, it wouldn't shock many if they returned to finals in 2025 based on first looks. 

It’s a big week for Sydney

They haven’t had the easiest start to the season, but things would want to turn around pretty quickly for Sydney from a win-loss perspective.

While Dean Cox’s side have given good accounts of themselves in their losses to Hawthorn and Brisbane - both at the SCG - they wouldn’t want to go 0-3 if they’re to really challenge at the pointy end of the ladder again in 2025.

It won’t get much easier for them this week though, coming up against Fremantle away from home next Sunday.

They easily accounted for the Dockers last time they faced off at Optus Stadium as well, winning by 48 points.

A loss to them in Round 2 could really prove that the Swans may have dropped off a reasonable amount from last year’s top-of-the-ladder campaign.