Will Seabass Win Twice In A Row? Probably Not.

Jeez, that was a bit of a massacre. Other than predicting Kelly and John not winning, I couldn’t have guessed any worse. I don’t often get it that wrong, but when I do, it hurts. 

And I know everyone has been complaining about the judging, but at the end of the day Owen was the deserving champ, and if you disagree, think about it this way: If the WSL and Rip Curl can tell this incredible comeback story properly, it might save pro surfing by bringing in some good sponsorship dollars. But if the WSL can’t monetise Mick getting munched by a shark and Owen making the greatest comeback in sport’s history then they might need to fire their ad sales team.

Anyway, as well as losing all your respect (if I ever had any), I lost a bit of cash on Snapper too, and have decided to stay off the drink and make smarter choices. With that, here are my picks for Margs. And with a semi-decent forecast on the horizon, here’s who I’m hedging my bets on this time around.

Similar to last year, John John won’t be paddling out to Margs with the yellow jersey.

John John Florence.
He looked really good at Snapper, and hungry. I say hungry because anytime JJF presents us with his subtle no claim claim at the beginning of a heat (See his 9.50 against Wilko) I feel like he’s really in it for the win.

Another reason I think JJF could get the win out there is because of that flip from yesterday morning. If that was in a heat he could have probably jammed a few more moves. John is probably the best surfer in West Oz and its unpredictable conditions and I hope they run the event in some smaller marks with that predominant air wind so John can put on a show for us.

Gab’s backside attack takes kindly to Margs’ breezy walls.

Gabs Medina.
Medina looked amazing at Snapper. Everyone was bitching about the backhanders looking repetitive but what else are they meant to do out there? Snapper’s not that great of a performance wave in terms of variety like you’d see at Lowers, but Gabs was turning hard and laying some serious combos down. He’s got the most powerful surfing on tour and the only place I think he could get stopped is if it runs at The Box.

Will Jordy be able to replicate the surfing we saw in Just Now? Here’s to hoping.

Jordy Smith.*
Anyone watch Just Now? Dude’s pretty good. If you ever doubted him that film should put any uncertainties out of your mind. Jordy has some great boards from CI under his feet right now and he’s due for a good result at Margs. If he can just stick to the rights and give himself lots of opportunities by not drifting out of position then I think we’ll see some real power surfing.

*Yes, if you were wondering, I do manage him, get paid by him and South Africa. So what…

Joel Parkinson and an open right-hander? Always a safe bet. 

Joel Parkinson.
Damn Joel looked good at Snapper. He always looks good at Snapper but this year there was something different, he looked a bit quicker, his turns almost a bit tighter. He was pretty vocal about going for another title in a recent Stab article, and it looks like he might be serious. Like Jordy, Margs is made for Joel’s drawn out surfing. He just needs to have a little luck go his way. I think if Joel can get a win before the end of the Aus leg we’ll see a serious push from him.

Will Seabass win it all again? More than likely not.

Sebastian Zietz.
Will he win twice in a row? Probs not, but I think Bass will get a good result. He’s the type of guy that feeds off the energy he had last year and the big win. Usually when an event holds a special memory for someone they do really well there year in and year out. Seabass was surfing really well in his heats and if he can just stay on his board and not fall, game over. 

A little man with a lot of power.

Jeremy Flores.
Another guy everyone told me was tearing on the Goldy. Jeremy is a small guy and I think his surfing almost looks worse or not powerful enough against the other guys when the waves are smaller but when it’s big you really appreciate Jeremy surfing. He turns really hard and his technique is near perfect. His boards look amazing and I think Jeremy can get a big result here and set himself up for the rest of the year.

He took down Slater last year, what will Leo do this time around?

Rookie Prediction: Leo Fioravanti.
Swear to god I spelled his last name right when I just wrote it out, which is big feat for me. See: All the others spelling mistakes in this article. For my rookie pick I got the last event wrong but who would have guessed Connor O’Leary was going to make it to the quarters, not me and neither did he. The guy looks like a legend though and surfed better with each heat. I had about 5 people text me telling me he looks like the love child of Jordy and Owen, he does, right? Anyhow, Leo is really good in all conditions and beyond beating Slater and coming 5th out there last year as a wildcard all reports from the Goldy were that Leo was surfing right up there with the best.