The test of endurance that is the second week of the opening round of the 2011 NAB Cup (try saying that underwater with a mouthful of marbles as Lou Richards used to say) gets underway at Etihad Stadium on Friday night between Essendon, the Brisbane Lions and St Kilda.

They should be playing for something special on Friday night, perhaps the ‘We're Just Happy To Be Back Playing Footy Trophy' or something similar.

Footy makes headlines right through the summer, but these clubs seemed to dominate the screaming type and the talkback lines all through the warmer months. The Bombers with the murkiness and general dishonesty surrounding the appointment of James Hird as coach and Mark Thompson as his assistant, St Kilda for the respective ‘nude photo' and ‘New Zealand training camp' scandals and the Lions because of the review of Michael Voss, the travails of Brendan Fevola and Albert Proud, and the floods.

The Bombers have picked a strong squad and seem keen to make an early statement, the Saints and Lions not so much. You'd imagine that if the Bombers win through, the feel good story of 2011 will be underway and the Essendon faithful will be feting Hird will rose petals all the way up Mount Alexander Road for the rest of the week.

Saturday night's fare is also intriguing. It's our first look at Sydney sans Paul Roos in the coaches box, but the main interest sits with the Giants and the Suns. How will Kevin Sheedy's mainly teenage side handle the big bodies of the Suns and the even bigger bodies of the Swans?

Those who believe in conspiracy theories will look at this group and the strong likelihood that two teams will go through to next week's quarter-finals, and that the AFL will be rubbing its hands with glee.

You would expect the Swans to beat the Suns and beat up on the Giants. The Suns should also have a big win over GWS meaning they should go through on percentage. Currently, Hawthorn is the second-placed lucky loser with a percentage of 122.

The Suns, provided they don't get spanked by the Swans, should get there, and the way the AFL has set-up the draw for the NAB Cup quarter-finals, could find themselves playing Collingwood on a Friday night.

What a ratings blockbuster that will be, possibly even getting televised back into Queensland in prime-time because of the Karmichael Hunt factor.

Then there's Sunday at Geelong, where the Cats host both the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne. It looks quite even on paper but the interest here is how the Cats set up under new coach Chris Scott. The promise from the Cattery is that they'll be sticking to 90 per cent of the gameplan that largely worked under Mark Thompson, but when Scott indicates that nearly everyone on the list will play, even that protected species Brad Ottens, then you know that a new mentality has engulfed Geelong, where the tail no longer wags the dog, or Cat, in this particular instance.

And thankfully, the Scott v Scott coaching battle has barely been touched upon. It really should wait until Geelong and North Melbourne meet properly in the home and away season, but then again, it is only Thursday. The Herald Sun has three whole days to go.