Other than that, the NAB Cup and NAB Challenge should be disregarded as a form guide.
I am bemused by those who snipe at the February/March system.
Accept it for what it is, pre-season, and underline the 'pre'.
Ultimately we are in the sports entertainment industry and the marketing of the season is served magnificently by the NAB Cup and NAB Challenge.
Imagine how dull the season build-up would be if all we had to this point were intra-club practice matches.
But now to the premiership season.
The Ben Cousins comeback game will make the opening between Carlton and Richmond, already two middle-list teams with a bullet, even more compelling.
However it is the grand final rematch on Friday that attracts my greatest interest.
Geelong's record of 42 wins from their last 45 games is just phenomenal.
Yet the Cats are not the reigning premiers, because on grand final day the Hawks defence somehow – for somehow, read Luke Hodge – kept the Cats to an incredibly low 11 goals from an incredibly high 62 inside-50 entries.
No one player can win any game on his own, particularly a defender, but Hodge’s genius in controlling Geelong’s forward third was a joy to watch.
In the NAB Cup final Geelong had a similar 65 entries for 18 goals from 37 shots, with thankfully no deliberately conceded behinds to mess up the goals-from-shots percentages.
A goal for every three entries is a good return. The Cats' 2008 grand final disaster of one from six will undoubtedly be an enduring nightmare and one that must be improved markedly to beat anyone, let alone the high-scoring Hawks.
What the Cats do in their forward 50 on Friday will be the first thing I will look for. A defensive forward on Hodge with a don’t-leave-his-side intent would have to be high on the agenda.
While great sides like Geelong plan around maximising their strengths more than minimising their opposition's, even the Cats are prepared to learn from past failures.
In the NAB Cup decider Cameron Ling was prepared to change opponents to stay in the midfield.
In previous games against the Magpies, Ling would tag Dane Swan, who would immediately switch out of the midfield into the Collingwood forward line.
This was a tactic which had proven to be a winner for the Pies. Not in the pre-season final.
Ling was set for Scott Pendlebury, but switched opponents and stayed in the midfield when Pendlebury pulled the expected trick of pushing forward.
So even this dominant Geelong team, as all teams must, is prepared to learn, adapt and change where necessary.
This week they must find a way to blunt Hodge's enormous effectiveness as the Hawks' defensive general, which they failed to do in the 2008 grand final.
I will be expecting Max Rooke to be the player that the Cats train up and get set for this most vital defensive forward role.
It's a sub-plot within the game which will be intriguing to watch, not only for those at a packed MCG, but for every other coach in the competition who will eventually have to confront the same problem.
Now that the pre-season has ended, I see no reason why the ladder rankings from 2008 will change.
Last year there were quite stark and distinct groups.
At the top end, Geelong was by far the season's best-performed team, but Hawthorn had the best September and emerged as premiers.
The tailenders were clearly Melbourne and the West Coast Eagles.
In between were a dozen teams who on any given day would fancy themselves against each other.
There has been no Chris Judd-like recruiting coup to alter the balance of power; Tadhg Kennelly aside, no player any where near his prime has retired, and with apologies to Josh Hunt, there has been no season-ending injury to an irreplaceable.
So the status quo remains.
