Three weeks out from the start of the new Australian Football League (AFL) season, the team captains are all talking about their team’s prospects for this year.

The teams that ended last year at the top will say that they are confident in repeating that success this year, and maybe they will go one step further and win the premiership. The teams that finished at the bottom hope to rise up the ladder and perhaps push for a place in the finals.

This pre-season hype helps to excite the fans for the coming season, as the teams hope to secure a few more members and attract fans to their first game of the year.

The reality is that only eight of the eighteen teams in the competition can be in the finals. Within the first six games, the trends are already showing. You can quickly pick the teams at the top and those that will fall to the bottom of the ladder. That then leaves a handful of teams in the middle to fight it out for the finals’ last few places.

The excitement is building, and I can’t wait for them to bounce the ball and get the season started.