Round 2 started sensationally with Carlton proving (at this stage) they are the ‘real deal’ by convincingly beating Western Bulldogs, Sydney causing Geelong to crash back to earth and Collingwood giving some hope to fans by beating Adelaide by a healthy margin.

All three teams have started the season 2-0 and while it is way too early to line up for finals tickets, Carlton fans will be enjoying the two wins over quality opponents in a row, a scenario that the Blues have not achieved in the two opening rounds for well over a decade.

Collingwood’s 2-0 start against more modest opposition was also their best start for almost a decade. Brisbane became the fourth team to achieve a 2-0 start with a four-goal victory over a much-improved Essendon.

The Collingwood-Adelaide game was good news for both coaches. Although Matthew Nicks was chasing a win, he knew that it was a big ask without his leading goal kicker/decoy, Tex Walker, and was looking for a spirited effort that provided the mantra of current day football: multiple scoring opportunities from various participants and we would have been rapt that all his single goal scorers with the exception of Brodie Smith and 22-year-old Lachlan Sholl were players recruited in the 2021 and 2022 season.

Craig McRae also would be chuffed that five of his goal scorers – with a total of 37 games for the Magpies in total – have now scored 38 goals.

Buddy’s effort in the Sydney game was magnificent, but the effort of Isaac Heeney should not be overlooked. His five goals (after three last week) in an impressive Swans victory and sees him as equal clubhouse leader for the Coleman Medal with Hawthorn’s Mitch Lewis after Saturday’s games.

Heeney’s total of 156 goals means that he has left behind 1970s player Stewart Gull and current teammate Josh Kennedy and joined the highly-decorated Ron Clegg on the Swans’ top 100 goal scorers list. Clegg won the Brownlow Medal in 1949, three Swans best and fairest and captained the team for six years.

By the end of the night, the three new club coaches in 2022 all had started 2-0, two favoured premiership contenders (Western Bulldogs and Port Adelaide) were 0-2, and Luke Breust had three goals and had joined Robert Walls, Alex Jesalenko, Malcolm Blight and Drew Petrie on 444 goals.

Fellow Hawthorn forward Jack Gunston had also kicked three goals and consolidated his position in the AFL top 100 goal kickers list.

Meanwhile, Melbourne became the sixth team (out of 12) to achieve a perfect start to the season, and Max Gawn got the one goal he needed to become a Melbourne top 100 goal kicker in the 126 years the club has been operating.

Two new players had debuted in Round 2, but Tex Wanganeen remained an unused medical sub for Essendon, while Josh Sinn earned 11 possessions in his first game for Port Adelaide.

Two players who had moved on after brief careers at their original clubs were Collingwood’s Nathan Kreuger and Port Adelaide’s Sam Skinner. Kreuger played two games at Geelong before his move to the Magpies and started well with two goals but unfortunately was injured late in the game.

Skinner was formerly a Brisbane player, having played three games there in 2021. In his debut at Port Adelaide he got ten possessions in a side soundly defeated.

Anyone who picked the two top teams on the ladder on Saturday night to be Hawthorn and Collingwood, and the bottom team to be Port Adelaide, must have a wonderful crystal ball

Another great footy season is underway!