Well, it’s the beginning of a new season and hopes are up as the Crows have been decimated by the exodus of the Expo guys and the rumour was that the Hangzhou boys from the Dockers weren’t coming, leaving both sides struggling to field full-strength sides.

The Eagles were in a better position with several of their players still available, the Gaelic boys and the return of the Superboot. So, this was going to be the Eagles' best opportunity to get off to a winning start; as both the Crows and Dockers are going to see full-strength sides for round two.

However, as usual, game day saw the number of new players, both international and local, increase. With this influx, that advantage suddenly took a dramatic decrease.

Once these new players were distributed among the three teams; the Eagles had a great line up with the addition of Sam Scott (who has the unfortunate title of being most traded player, in fact he has been traded to every team in the league), new Aussie recruit Adam Radley, Irish boys Steve, Patrick and Cal and the Chinese boys Dong and Sun.

The Eagles were up first against the odds on favourites for this season’s premiership the Dockers. The Eagles got out to a flying start with Jason Grant kicking the first two goals of the season. Things were moving forward strongly, but as the first half continued the Dockers started to show why they are the favourites with Swadda and a dry Asher start to dominate in the middle. The No.1 recruit, Shannon Watt, also started to show why he has this title. By the end of the first half the Eagles were a goal up.

The second half saw a much more determined Dockers team come out with their full forward Kiwi kicking three goals for the game. Unfortunately, the Eagles just ran out of legs but in a more positive sign saw a couple of new superstars in the making with Patty in the mid field running riot (fantastic considering he’s never played before) and Steve in the back line making it difficult for the opposition.

While we didn’t win the game, there were a lot of positives to take out of it; Sammy doing his best getting the ball to a hard running Will and the always reliable kicking boot of Jason. In the back line, No.1 draft pick Radz proved to be a great choice down the back with Kaz and Steve.

As stated previously, there was a lot of positives to take out of the last game and we only had 10 minutes to get our focus back as we had to go against the reigning premiers the Crows. This year the Crows might be the team that would struggle with the loss of several star players, however, you can never count them out as they had also recruited some talented players who could be game breakers.

This statement would become reality with their No.1 draft pick Youngy proving his selection choice by taking some of the strongest marks for the round. With the first bounce of the ball it looked promising with new star Patty gathering the ball and bursting through the middle looking to score his first goal; only one problem he was running the wrong way. From this moment on the first half would be dominated by a committed Crow’s outfit. The first half also saw the local Chinese boys play their first game of Aussie Rules and there were a lot of good signs that after a few matches they are going to be real super stars. Unfortunately, the Crows were just too strong in the first half, taking a two-goal lead.

The second half would actually be a stronger showing with Jason getting our first and a fantastic goal for Sammy and equally impressive handstand to follow. Even though the final score didn’t reflect this, there were a lot of positives.

Summing up, it wasn’t the start that the Eagles wanted but round two is only a week a way and a lot can happen in a week.

Shanghai Eagles would like to acknowledge new sponsor Brian Burke Homes.

FINAL SCORES

Match 1: West Shanghai Dockers v Shanghai Eagles
 
Dockers: 1.3.9 6.4.40
Eagles: 2.2.14 3.3.21
 
Goals: Dockers - A Smith 3, S Watt 2, Kel 1. Eagles - J Grant 3

Match 2: Shanghai Eagles v North Shanghai Crows
 
Eagles: 0.1.1 2.3.15
Crows: 2.6.18 5.8.38
 
Goals: Eagles - J Grant, S Scott. Crows - D Young, Kennen, Rock, LL Xing