Over the next week, kangaroos.com.au will be looking back at each month of the home and away season, recapping the biggest stories around Aegis Park throughout 2011 - (Click on the blue text to view the stories)

Coming off a win over Port Adelaide, all the talk was about Lachlan Hansen and his chances of playing against Geelong despite a head-on collision into Mazda signage behind the goals.

Ben McKinley was also doing his best to earn a spot in the side after a brilliant six-goal haul in the VFL.

While McKinley put on a show for Werribee, Cruize Garlett continued to impress with North Ballarat collecting 37 possessions and two goals.

Selection dilemmas aside, there was already plenty on Brad Scott’s mind ahead of coaching against his twin-brother and Geelong coach Chris.

The undefeated Cats were looking for 25 straight wins at Skilled Stadium with Scott calling the match a massive test for his players.

The brothers came face to face a few days out from the match at a unique media conference at AFL House.

Back at Aegis Park, vice-captain Drew Petrie took supporters closer to the action than ever before, wearing a special camera on his head during training.

In Geelong, Aaron Edwards played in a VFL curtain raiser for North Ballarat and booted ten goals to catapult him back into AFL contention. But hours later, his Kangaroos’ team mates were left red-faced going down to the Cats by 66-points.

Keen for a distraction, the players got revved up with a defensive driving day with Mazda at the Sandown Raceway.

On the field the players also put the pedal to the metal and annihilated Melbourne thanks largely to a six-goal haul from an on fire Aaron Edwards.

Lions’ skipper Jonathan Brown’s comeback against North was making headlines all over the country and the clash at the GABBA lived up to expectations.

Unfortunately for the Roos, some costly 50 metre penalties and bad decision making saw them go down by 14-points and the Lions won their first match of the year.

There was a positive to come out of the game though with rookie Luke Delaney holding his own against Brown on debut and the club’s new predominantly royal blue clash guernsey proving a hit among fans.

Meanwhile Cam Pedersen kicked eight straight goals for the Tigers in the VFL and Drew Petrie was nominated for Mark of the Year.

The Kangaroos had a tough fortnight with an agonising one-point loss to the Sydney Swans and an inability to finish off close contests highlighted by Brad Scott. Making matters worse, former Hawk champion Dermott Brereton publically criticised Brent Harvey for being selfish on the field - a remark strong refuted by the North captain and coach.