1. Will the Saints flood their back half again...against Richmond?

A lot of St Kilda supporters were dismayed when they saw the selected side for the season opener against Geelong. After hearing from Ross Lyon all summer that it was time to turn the team over a bit and inject some youth into the side, they were dismayed to see the same old faces. And then to add to their disappointment, the Saints again played that drab, men behind the ball footy of seasons past and this against a Geelong side missing Joel Selwood, Cameron Ling, Joel Selwood and of course, Gary Ablett.

So now the Saints prepare to face the might of, ahem, Richmond. Will Lyon release the shackles?

2. How will the Suns go?

Your columnist well remembers being at the MCG for the Brisbane Bears debut against North Melbourne in 1987. North were the raging favourites against a team comprising a fat Brad Hardie, an angry Mark Williams and a bunch of rejects. It was tight throughout and you could see that the longer the game went on and the Bears stayed in it, that North started to panic and fritter their opportunities. At the end of an incredible night, the Bears won by 23 points.

Will history repeat itself on Saturday night at the Gabba? Sadly no. It will be the Blues, comfortably and Gary Ablett, in his first game of any description in 2011, will be blowing hard before half-time. Karmichael Hunt, if you believe Wayne Carey, will also be just making up the numbers.

3. The best game of the round will be at the same time.

Fremantle at home to the Geelong is probably the match of the round. Fremantle's road win at the Gabba was super-impressive. Not sure Michael Walters will ever kick a better, or more important goal that that. Geelong's final spurt to beat St Kilda was great, but was the measly six-goal haul an aberration or a sign of things to come under Chris Scott? Six goals won't get anywhere near the Dockers.

4. Poor old North Melbourne.

The footy gods have dealt North no favours with the six-day break to follow a game in Perth played in near-century heat. Doubtless the Kangaroos would have recovered well, but they face a huge job against Collingwood. Anything closer than six goals will be a mighty performance.

5. The Hodge dilemma

Two half-paced VFL practice matches represent the sum total of new Hawk skipper Luke Hodge's output so far this footy season. Does he have enough in the tank to play against Melbourne on Sunday in a suddenly-critical clash with Melbourne. He was sorely missed last week, a point coach Alastair Clarkson was keen to make after the loss to Adelaide.