The Odd Couple: Michelangelo Rucci and Chris McDermott preview AFL 2018 Round 1

THE Odd Couple, Michelangelo Rucci and Chris McDermott, take a look at the first round of the 2018 AFL season.

Rory Sloane of the Crows gets caught by Tom Jonas of Power.

WELCOME BACK - new season, new expectations, new hope .. and what will be different at Adelaide and Port Adelaide this season?

BONE: NOT much ... and plenty. Thank goodness the wait is finally over.

Changes for the Crows will be minimal. A slight tweak in personnel and a slight tightening of their game plan, but if it ain’t broke - don’t fix it.

For all that, I am on Rory Sloane watch to see how he handles the season and the constant speculation on his free-agency decision.

As for the Power, none have done it better across the pre-season. But you don’t get four points for building a new squad. There still has to be a result on the scoreboard. Regardless of the 11 new faces at Alberton, Ken Hinkley’s team does need to execute his game plan much better.

Hopefully, the Power can rediscover its run and carry - and that speed through the midfield plus some composure at goal. Chad Wingard plays a big role on this agenda - and his place must be in attack.

Rory Sloane of the Crows gets caught by Tom Jonas of Power.

ROOCH: IT will be fascinating to watch both teams’ defences.

Adelaide has not replaced Jake Lever since his defection to Melbourne. It is not an overnight assignment to cover for one of the AFL’s best intercept defenders. There also is the challenge to be faced by All-Australian defender Rory Laird as opposition teams gain the luxury - by Brodie Smith’s absence with a knee injury - of containing one of the Crows’ important stop-and-create players from the back half.

Port Adelaide’s defence is raw and not blessed with an All-Australian, but it is tight knit - more so when the Power’s midfield eases the pressure with “team defence”. There is good reason to watch key defender Dougal Howard’s rise to being a critical part of the Power’s ambitions for the next decade.

With renewed midfield depth - Bryce Gibbs (Crows from Carlton) and Tom Rockliff (Power from Brisbane) are both significant gains - and noted attacking power at Adelaide and more attacking options at Port Adelaide, these questions marks in defence might not matter.

Malcolm Blight’s vision of attack being the best form of defence could become the winning mantra of both SA teams this season.

RUNNERS are free to run again. But the AFL should have stayed strong on limiting their time on the field.

ROOCH: COACHES win again “Bone” - and probably with good reason too. If the AFL wanted to crack down on runners - to address how some were clogging space as a 19th man on the field and “coaching” rather than delivering messages - the league needed to make the ruling in November to allow the 18 teams to spend the summer adjusting to a significant change.

To put the limitations on runners on “trial” in the JLT Community Series pre-season in February-March was too much, too late. And the coaches were ready to take on the AFL had the restrictions been extended to the premiership season.

But this November ....

BONE: YOU can’t be serious. I love the runners. Everyone loves the runners. There wouldn’t be a game without the runners.

I was lucky enough to have Mark Coombe in my early days and then the great Trevor Jaques. They were great fun, most of the time! The AFL needs to keep their eye on the ball not on the runners. What’s next the water boys?

IT is now “tradition” to open the AFL season with Richmond and Carlton. But why not the grand final rematch with Richmond and Adelaide?

ROOCH: WHICH would be the better game? Clearly, the grand final rematch. It would have a better script at the MCG with a second bout between the Tigers and Crows with more talking points than an inevitable rematch with Richmond and Carlton.

But if 95,000 file through the gates to watch the Tigers unfurl a premiership flag for the first time in 37 years, the AFL - and Richmond and Carlton - will have the answer to all those questioning why this is the ideal match-up to start a season.

BONE: BORING! A big yawn.

Thankfully, the Tigers finally won a premiership so Kevin Bartlett is not forced to sit on his own at this game.

No one owns game No. 1 in the opening round.

The premiers has earned the right to host the match to unfurl its flag. It should have the call on who is the opponent.

Who knows? It might be the Crows v Port Adelaide next year?

NO rule changes this year. There won’t be any of the confusion from last season, particularly with holding-the-ball will there?

BONE: NOW you are just taking the mickey out of me. The holding-the-ball rule was an absolute disaster last year. No hang on, the umpiring as a whole was a disaster last year. The worst ever IMO (that’s “in my opinion” Rooch).

Can we please get it right? Can we please have some consistency? Can we please have no in-season interpretation changes like we did last year to confuse us even more.

I’m confused already and the season has not started.

ROOCH: WE were repeatedly frustrated with the essence of the subjective holding-the-ball rule. Why the AFL would let this unfold again - with those grey zones of “prior opportunity” and “reasonable time to dispose of the ball when tackled” - is bewildering.