The four are locked: Western Suburbs Walkabout, Cheats, Pirates and Fitzroy, confirmed the moment Corio and Cazzu both went down in the same round. Which makes this the perfect time to exhume the preseason Scuttlebutt and mark its homework. It does not go well for the author. The Pirates - filed, by their own owner, under "bottom three," with the glum note that everything rested on Brodie Grundy - are playing finals, precisely because everything rested on Brodie Grundy and the big fella delivered every week. They have yeeted their way into late August. Western Suburbs Walkabout, meanwhile, generously pencilled in as a "possible top four," have gone and won the minor premiership. The other end aged worse. Bethnal Green Village, "one to watch" with a forward line the Scuttlebutt called "delicious," are now the proud owners of the wooden spoon. North Suburban Boner, for whom a premiership was "certainly not off the cards," limped in ninth. In fairness it nailed the Cheats and Fitzroy. And a note for the top seeds: finishing first guarantees nothing - the Eagles finished fourth in '92 after all- so the Pirates and Fitzroy will fancy their chances yet.