Okay, so the talk is over and the season has begun, as the AFL's 18 teams finally got their campaigns up and running for 2018.

Where do we start? There was a bit of brouhaha over the 10m exclusion zone on opening night, but that quickly died down.

Not surprisingly, no-one won the flag in the opening round (see Richmond, Geelong, GWS, Essendon and Sydney), and no-one lost it either (see Adelaide, Melbourne) but a few teams showed enough to warn of a potential long year ahead (Collingwood, Western Bulldogs, Fremantle).

Let's have a look at what we learned from the first nine games of 2018.

Gazza went well, but just wait for Geelong's Terrific Trio

So, Geelong needed a bit of luck — or to be more specific, a shank from 20m out from Max Gawn — to secure the points in round one against the Demons.

Not everything went perfectly for Chris Scott's men, and we wouldn't want to get ahead of ourselves, but … did you see Geelong's midfield?

Gary Ablett, back in Cats colours, joined captain Joel Selwood and picked up a lazy 39 disposals, five marks, seven inside-50s and a goal.

If nothing else, it was nice to see the Little Master looking a lot happier than he did in his last couple of seasons on the Gold Coast (sorry, Suns fans).

There was a second-half scare when everyone thought Selwood had done his knee, but it turned out to be a false alarm, and he finished the game on 39 touches, four marks, five tackles and eight clearances. Not bad.

Add in first-gamer Tim Kelly racking up 27 disposals, four clearances, four stoppages and six inside-50s, and you kind of shudder to think what kind of damage the Cats midfield could do once Danger comes back — maybe as soon as next week against the Hawks.

Plenty of thrills but goals down in round one

It was a solid opening round for the AFL, with crowds good without being spectacular, and the same could be said for the scoring.

Last year, there were 277 goals scored in the opening round of football, an average of 30.77 a game.

This time around, there were 232 goals scored across the nine matches, an average of 25.77 goals a game.

Now, it has to be said that one of the nine games should really have an asterisk, as the Suns and Kangaroos kicked a combined 12 goals at Cazalys Stadium in Cairns, and that was an achievement amid the absolute deluge that made a mess of the ground before a ball had been bounced.

It wasn't as if every game was a lockdown affair either — the opening night outing between Richmond and Carlton saw 32 goals kicked, with Charlie Curnow and Matthew Wright bagging five each for the Blues, and four for Jack Riewoldt for the Tigers.

Maybe the frenetic defences upped their intensity if they sensed a particular player was getting away from them — although that didn't seem to matter with Lance Franklin playing a lone hand against West Coast after Sam Reid was ruled out before the game.

One suspects that we aren't seeing anything too serious, and this will sort itself out — last year's round-two average was 27.4 goals a game, so maybe the 2017 opener was the aberration — but it is worth keeping an eye on.

The Giants are scary already

I know we've been saying this for a while, but the side from Greater Western Sydney really is a scary prospect in 2018.

When the orange and black went down by a kick in the 2016 prelim final to the Bulldogs, many were predicting the fired-up Giants would trample everyone in their path on the way to the flag last year.

Some even said they would go undefeated! That didn't work out — but just ask the Bulldogs what they think of GWS now after they were smashed all over Manuka Oval by the Orange Tsunami.

The forward line looks tasty, with Jeremy Cameron and Toby Greene set for a big year.

But the midfield is insane — whatever the Giants paid to keep Josh Kelly was a bargain, while Stephen Coniglio was also brilliant along with Dylan Shiel and Tim Taranto — and Lachie Whitfield's star turn in defence made up for the injured Zac Williams and traded Nathan Wilson.

The Giants won contested possessions by 20, and still won the tackles by five. The Bulldogs were awful, but 69 inside-50s and 22 marks inside the arc suggests they will not be the only team GWS embarrasses this season.

Watch this space.

Old-timers return, some new starts and big debuts

The mere presence of Nic Naitanui seemed to lift the Eagles against the Swans at home, but the big man also delivered a strong first-up performance after nearly two years out.

When his crunching tackle on Nick Smith was rewarded with a free, the resulting goal from Nic Nat would have deafened the suburbs nearest Perth Stadium, such was the roar.

West Coast fans were also pumped about the debut of Liam Ryan, the livewire forward who kicked a goal and showed good signs.

The Crows had two goals out of new number 32 Darcy Fogarty, and defender Tom Doedee recovered from a nervy start to earn 21 disposals against Essendon.

On the theme of old faces in new surrounds, Bryce Gibbs kicked two goals in three minutes for the Crows in their loss, but the Bombers had the last laugh, with Jake Stringer, Adam Saad and Devon Smith all playing their part in Essendon getting the points first up.

Jack Watts (three goals), Steven Motlop (two goals) and Tom Rockliff (two goals) also added zest to an already solid attack in Port Adelaide's win over Fremantle.

As far as other debuts went, Zac Langdon impressed for GWS, Billy Gowers and Aaron Naughton showed glimpses on a poor day for the Bulldogs, Sam Murray and Jaidyn Stephenson were far from the worst in Collingwood's loss to Hawthorn, and Bailey Banfield and Andrew Brayshaw both contributed for the Dockers.

Mitchell/O'Meara duo finally firing for Hawks

Hawthorn sold most of the furniture in the 2016 trade period to get hold of Sydney ball magnet Tom Mitchell and Gold Coast's injury-prone midfielder Jaeger O'Meara.

The Mitchell side of the equation was never really in question, as the Hawks' number three flourished as the main man in the middle, polling top three in the Brownlow, including six best-on-grounds.

For O'Meara, however, the whispers were in evidence early as his troublesome knees kept him off the field, limiting him to six games.

This season, however, has started off brilliantly for the Hawks where the dynamic duo is concerned.

Mitchell broke Greg Williams and Gary Ablett jnr's single-game disposals record with 54 against the Magpies, but the Hawks would have been even happier that O'Meara looked fit and fresh, racking up 27 touches, four marks, six clearances and five tackles in the 34-point win.

At last, the Hawks get a chance to see the two recruits together, and the future looks good if they can stay on the park and gain a growing understanding together.

Did we mention the Hawks play Geelong on Easter Monday? That midfield battle is going to be juicy.