So with the first 3 rounds done, we all got a preview of the last 3 rounds of the year. Because those 3 teams you played you will play again to complete the home and away season. Everyone you play from now on you only play once.

And, once again, now that we’re back to an 18 team league, I’m not going to be previewing every match because that’d be too time consuming and tedious. And some of the matches simply aren’t worth covering. So instead I will choose some of the ones that interest me the most. Also Thursday night matches really screw me up when it comes to looking at who is actually available, so this is early and almost no team info whatsoever. Anyway, here goes.

Game 1: (1st) The Adams Family (Kaan) Vs (14th) Alwyn&TheChipMunks (Lachlan) H2H History: N/A, because the Dirt League is meaningless.

Kaan's draw so far has been utterly silly. He played Peter in the first round when he was missing half a team (and now Peter's gone some way to correct that), then he played Will whose team was utterly garbage. And then last week he played Nat who at the time was ranked 3rd worst for overall score. And now he plays Lachlan... who is once again ranked 3rd worst currently for overall score! It's absolute dream run, but considering he very nearly lost to Nat last week, a loss is surely coming. Will it be this week though? Lachlan will certainly be saying no.

Prediction: The Adam's Family by 100.

Game 2: (17th) Baby Brain (Nat) Vs (5th) Kick it to sCooper (Tom) H2H History: Nat 6, Tom 6, Draws 0.

Tom is going surprisingly well for someone who had a draw against Will last week. And Nat is going surprisingly poorly for someone who got the 3rd highest score last week. Nat is desperate for a win, and Tom will have a slight advantage if Nat suddenly goes into labour during the weekend which isn't entirely off the cards. What would Nat prefer, a healthy baby girl or a win against Tom in SC? I think we all know what the answer should be. Interestingly enough, the history between these two sits at 6 wins a piece, so whoever wins this will take the overall lead between them.

Prediction: Tom by a smallish margin, winning the naming rights of my child in the process.

Game 3:- (16th) Get to the Hopper (Rob) Vs (15th) Wardlaw & Order (Alan) H2H History: Alan 4, Rob 3, Draws 0.

It's a 16th vs 15th blockbuster! We were all rooting for Alan last week against Gav, but with that done with we can go back to hoping for the worst for Alan as he confronts what could be his worst season ever. With the new overall scoring system in place and more scoring options available than ever, Alan is staring down the barrel of a score of 0 for the year, a feat only given to a small number of teams. If he wants to keep his overall ascendancy, he'll need to start winning matches soon or Kris will pass him by default, without even needing to make the finals. Rob meanwhile drew the ire of the entire league when he traded away Hewett, with Alan himself calling on the commissioner to reverse the trade or do something about it. I'm not entirely sure why Alan cares as it just makes this match easier for him and it only really seems like an issue for the teams who are actually a chance of making the finals this year. Rob has a chance to get the final word though if he can beat Alan this week and even the ledger in their head to head rankings in the process (which is surprisingly close despite how bad Rob was in his final years in IJL before being demoted). So God speed Rob - definitely would have been more helpful to have a decent midfielder over a very average ruck/forward though, I have to say.

Prediction: Alan by an amount, and sadness for us all.

Game 4: The McStay Cup (11th) Hilltop Woods (Shay) Vs (8th) JingleAllTheMcStay (Gav) H2H History: Shay 10, Gav 8, Draws 0.

This should have been the Battle of the Bands, but Gavin cowardly changed his name to JingleAllTheMcStay instead. The benefit of that being that I can use Arnie photos for his match previews, which I will demonstrate by not doing so here. Instead, he has named his team after McStay but was then too cowardly (again) to pick McStay up in the draft. And now he must face him. And face him when McStay is about to go full Darcy Cameron.

What HAS Gavin done? Well one thing Gavin has done is capitalise of Rob's foolishness by basically getting another mid in Hewett for free after Rob decided he'd prefer a 27 scoring forward ruck over a premium mid for some reason. This is why the whole league wants to see Gavin fail to make the 8, because if he does it'll spell trouble for everyone come finals time.

And the league's only hope? Dan McStay.

Prediction: Dan McStay to lead Hilltop Woods to a stirring 2 point loss.