THIS was the round of the 6-6-6 special.

If you thought the opening week of the AFL season saw a deluge of goals from centre clearances, then you were spot on.

Champion Data shows that across the nine games, there was a total of 260 points scored from centre bounces (broken down to 38 goals and 32 behinds).

It was the highest total for a round in three-and-a-half-years since round 15, 2018, when there was 303 points from centre bounces across that set of games. 

In the fourth season of the 6-6-6 rule, where the AFL legislated that at centre bounces each team must have six players in their forward-50, six in their defensive-50 and the remaining six between the arcs, this was the highest scores out of the centre.

Gold Coast was most effective, with its strong win over West Coast on Saturday night seeing the Suns nab six goals from centre bounces. Collingwood and Greater Western Sydney were also dominant in that area in their respective games with five each, while Adelaide registered four against Fremantle's none in the Crows' one-point loss to Fremantle.

Sydney's one centre-bounce goal came via a cracker from Ollie Florent, who bolted out of congestion, tucked the ball under his arm and slotted the long goal.

The start of the season generally brings enthusiasm about the level of scoring in the game as fresh and fit teams play in fine weather and are getting used to each other's strengths and weaknesses, before a gradual drop as the winter months and conditions also affect scoring.

But instead, over round one, it was raining goals from the middle, with an average of 4.2 centre bounce goals for each game of the round. In 2021, there was an average of three a game, in 2020 an average of 2.2 (with shorter quarters) and in 2019 an average of 2.9 a game.

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It was a significant boost and points the spotlight on each club's midfield centre square starting midfielders and ruckmen.