Sometimes, I just get a bit of a feeling about a game of footy.
The way things work here, at The Mongrel Punt, is that I create the game roster and black out the ones I wish to cover that weekend – usually four over the course of the round. And whilst there were a couple of “big name” clashes scheduled for Round One, I found myself gravitating to the Dees versus the Saints.
Why?
Am I crazy?
A little bit, but I have also been keeping a pretty close eye on both teams through the preseason, and had a feeling that this one would be played for keeps.
I was not disappointed.
In a see-sawing contest, the Demons and Saints, with both teams fielding a plethora of new faces, crashed and bashed their way to a ripping game of footy.
There were stars, ensuing heroes, great moments, and most importantly, good hard footy on display, as Melbourne and St Kilda left it all out there in Round One.
And they gave us a ton of things to cover in our review.
Let’s jump into The Mongrel’s Good, Bad, and Ugly.
The remainder of this article is for our members. They support me, and I provide for them. It’s a good deal.
Oh… a Mongrel paywall… the worst of all paywalls. We’re all in on the 2026 AFL season. Player articles, stats, awards, game coverage. Dump the mainstream lip service and dive into articles like this – you will never look back. If you don’t want to, that’s fine. I consider it your loss as we get into the grind of the season, and you’re stuck with the stuff that’s frustrated you for years.
