The West Australian’s Jackson Barrett takes a look at the big stories of each round in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Good - Longmuir’s stand

Coach press conferences — particularly post-game ones — have a tendency to descend into the mundane.

That’s why it’s such a good thing Fremantle boss Justin Longmuir made a statement in his, pushing back on the inequities of Opening Round.

Longmuir wasn’t the first, but he was the strongest, to point out the glaring disadvantage for teams playing first-up against a side having their second run.

The numbers are now stark.

And it has sparked a tsunami of calls for the concept to be scrapped.

Their will be difficulties centering around next year’s 150th anniversary Test match between Australia and England at the MCG.

Andrew Demetriou once claimed the whole AFL season would have to be cancelled if Australia won hosting rights for a FIFA World Cup and lost access to its biggest ground. But we learnt in COVID just how rubbish that is and there are far better ways to manage an inconvenience like losing the ‘G for a weekend.

There’s an inevitability that comes with a coach making a statement post-match. Fans will tell you you’re either on your high-horse after winning or reaching into the barrel of excuses after losing.

It was great to see Longmuir use that platform to make that stand.

Remember, neither of our West Australian clubs have played a single Opening Round game in the three years it’s been running.

Bad - Port Adelaide

The cliff comes quick in footy.

And as North Melbourne fans revelled in what they hope is the turning of a corner that was a seriously long time coming, Port Adelaide fans were brought back down to Earth pretty quickly.

After missing the finals under Ken Hinkley last year, this was always going to be a decent sized project for former Docker Josh Carr.

But there might be even less in the cupboard than he thought when he took over.

They got walloped on Sunday. They had 82 less disposals than the Kangaroos, three less inside-50s and 10 less clearances, despite young Dante Visentini jumping all over Tristan Xerri.

Connor Rozee was just fine, Zak Butters was below his usual standard and Willem Drew was the only other player to record more than 20 touches.

Mitch Georgiades also fought hard.

So who is their next best player? It should be Jason Horne-Francis, but he flopped against his old side. There are very few candidates outside of that.

Port haven’t finished any lower than last year’s 13th since 2012. That looks like it will change this season.

Ugly - Where was Nasiah?

You can overthink footy sometimes.

That appears to be what St Kilda did when they left Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera on the bench for six minutes in the final quarter as his teammates attempted to storm home against the Demons on Sunday afternoon.

Remember the last time they met on a Sunday afternoon? Wanganeen-Milera delivered one of the all-time great quarters to single-handedly run-down a seven-goal margin.

He already had 3.1 to his name and was their most dangerous option forward when he was hooked from the ground.

Nothing would have haunted Demon defenders and fans more than the Saints star sitting down there. They got that one wrong.