SAG 2021 — Week 1 Report
Never has the world been more upside down: more than 10 million people under lockdown in Australia, global workforces still working from home, schools closed and remote learning a normal thing, the Dees in a grand final that’s theirs to lose…
…but as things change the more things also stay the same: WA is weird, northern NSW even weirder, hurricanes in New Orleans, Florida doing Florida stuff, Olympics taking over your life for 2 weeks, and NFL season bring SAG to the forefront of the discerning gentleman’s mind.
The commissioner’s office was pleased with the outcome of SAG draft, but still didn’t get the desired draft day/night/day experience that it craved. It's an important part of the SAG history, the founding draft night was a large night out for the GMs with a 16-week fantasy competition bolted onto the back. Even so, it was good to see a few remote beers, shenanigans, and banter over the draft proceedings. But please, for the love of God, let this remote drafting be a novelty that we never ever have to revisit again.
Amid all this, SAG continues to regress move forward and it is with a doff of the cap and only a smidgen of jealousy that we say a temporary farewell to the Samsonite Steelers. Island life has got a bit more hectic for the Steeler’s C-Suite as a third grommet has arrived. Must be that good living putting a little extra lead in the pencil or the slow-moving life in the middle of the Pacific wasn’t sitting well with only 2 kids, needless to say the League is sad to see you go and wishes you all the best living you best COVID-free lives. And so, our little everyman’s league was down to 7 with an opening for a new GM.
Or should we say an old GM? What even is SAG if there isn’t a Bradlow within its ranks? Welcome back James ‘JLo’ Bradlow, the SAG has been a different place without your presence; not better or worse, simply different. I was well and truly surprised to see the application you brought to getting up to speed on the league changes since you were last involved and it's fair to say that you covered the spread and then some by not completely ballsing up the draft. With a new team name, big things are expected.
All GM’s seemed to have been alright with their respective drafting efforts, given the budgets and keepers that were on offer. Post draft rankings painted an interesting picture:
Keep these in mind as we turn to the round one results.
C4NT def Rubbers
Season kickoff on friday morning was a happy time for the News Team with Dak and Godwin have reasonable outings. Sunday came around and wasn’t fun for the Rubbers, injuries FitzMagic and Jeudy and subpar performances from nearly all positions left the lineup stuck in first gear. The Vegas boys gave a little bit of respectability to the score line in the final game, but the total came in under three figures and wasn’t close to the hot start from Channel4.
Gypsies def Co-cainers
2 lights out performances from aging WRs got the Gypsies home this week, with AB and Amari turning it back. Dig a little deeper and its not all roses down the Gypo HQ but he’ll be working the angles to make lemonade from lemons. Cainers on the other hand will be wondering if they lost this one more than the Gypsies won it. Only 3 double digit scores and the only player to beat their prediction was starting his first game. Granted he may be the most promising rookie QB since Andrew Luck but, hopefully it was just a case of everyone having an off week. Much to ponder.
TacoCorp def Django
This one was a doozy. The return of the JLo Juggernaught was a sight to behold, the word on the grapevine is that he has even gone a paid for a FantasyPros subscription. The number one seed got out to an early lead in the Sunday early games and the script seemed to be unfolding as intended. QB duo of Wilson and Murray seeming to be real gems in a diamond standard lineup. But the KC pairing of Pat and Tyreek provided TacoCorp with a very KC-like come back and then Stafford in a new jersey and Hockenson at Staffords old team really sealed the deal. Big time interest in both teams as to how they respond, the story of the week in SAG.
Patches def JABs
Patches might have been on Team Tom rather than Team Bill after Brady turned back the clock (or has he just managed to actually freeze time?) and looks like he’ll have another crack at a SuperBowl title this year if the Bucs can hold their form. JABs will be ruing that Brady didn’t share the love Mike Evan’s way as he had a of a stinker with only 24 yds off 6 targets. Patches was able to hold off the JABs through the rest of the weekend as Davis and Kupp were very very good, while most of the JABs team was a bit meh. Plenty of starts but not enough raised the bat to borrow some cricket parlance. This game was close on paper, but the result ended up being not so. JABs will look to bounce back as he looks to build an asterisk free title campaign.
Three of the bottom four draft ranked teams kicked off the season with wins. Will week 2 see a return to the ‘normality’ of the experts' predictions or will the underdog continue on their merry way?
1st and 10,
Commish Clue
