Just one week into the 1999 season and already we’ve seen a possible Mark of the Year, several contenders for Goal of the Year and a match that will almost certainly end up being rated one of the games of the year.

Two of the individual highlights – Matthew Lappin’s screamer and Mark Mercuri’s sublimely crafted goal from nothing - came in our match against Carlton that kicked off the ’99 season on Thursday. And while Lappin’s grab had no equal in round 1, Brisbane’s Chris Johnson, St Kilda’s Jason Heatley, Melbourne’s Jeff Farmer and Geelong’s Simon Arnott all claimed spectacular goals that should make an end-of-year highlights package.

We started off the round with a confidence-boosting win against Carlton, on the back of a nine-goal final term (dealt with in full elsewhere on this site). But the following night saw a match destined to become a classic.

Time and again Geelong looked gone in their match against the Kangaroos. North led five goals to zip in the first eight minutes, but the Cats fought back in a memorable 13-goal first term. The Roos then broke away to lead by 40 points at half-time and the game, even then, seemed over. But again the Cats clawed their way back, this time to within five points, before North steadied to stretch the lead back to 29 points at three-quarter time.

Again the match looked safe, but Geelong would have none of it. They stormed home in the final term, hit the front and were never headed, eventually winning by six points. It was a game of rare quality (22.9 to 21.9), with more twists and turns than a Hitchcock thriller. It is hard to believe we will see many better this season.

The Melbourne-Richmond match on the Saturday was also good value. The Dees always looked to have the Tigers’ measure, but even so the game remained in doubt until the mercurial Jeff Farmer sealed the win with his sixth goal a few minutes from the end. Farmer was simply brilliant, while Neitz, Grgic and Schwarz provided plenty of additional firepower up forward.

Saturday night saw Bomber old boy Tim Watson’s coaching debut, and it proved to be a night Tim would prefer to forget. His St Kilda team was mauled by 89 points by a resurgent Brisbane team at the Gabba. The Saints were woeful, while the Lions revelled in the return to form of perennially injured Brad Boyd and the wizardry of Darryl White.

In Adelaide the same night, Adelaide unfurled its Premiership flag, and the fact that it finished up flying from the flagpole upside down may have been a portent of things to come.

Ben Marsh, earmarked for a bigger role in the absence of Shaun Rehn, himself went down with a serious knee injury in the first term. His season appears to be over. The Bulldogs then added insult to that injury by leading most of the way for a 13-point victory.

Again it was a high quality match, with the skills, speed and running strength of both teams amply underlining their prominent ladder positions of the past two seasons.

Sunday produced the upset of the round (apologies to Geelong), with Port Adelaide rolling Sydney at the SCG by 29 points.

Port had six goals on the board before the Swans had even scored and the home team, normally close to invincible on their own dunghill, found the 39-point quarter time deficit too great to make up. Former Eagle Jarrad Schofield starred with five goals and a swag of possessions, while Plugger grabbed three for the Swans. Paul Kelly got through unscathed in his return from knee surgery.

The worst match of the round was undoubtedly at the MCG, where Hawthorn were poor and Collingwood even worse. The sides could manage only 18 goals between them in a game riddled with errors. The Hawks eventually won by 15 points without showing any of the form that had taken them to the Ansett Cup Premiership.

And West Coast finished off round 1 by finishing off Fremantle in the WA Derby. The Eagles got off to a flyer and looked headed for a big win, but a remarkable fightback by Fremantle in the final term got them to within four points. The Eagles couldn’t manage a goal in the last quarter, but managed to hold out the Dockers in a pulsating final minute of play to retain their unbeaten Derby status.