With the Aussie leg of the ASP World Tour over and the pros heading toward Chopes the time is ripe for a quick heads-up on the early movements.

The way the tour is currently structured each stop – and especially the next three – is very different from the previous. Now that Fiji has gone the old 'left reef break' leg that favoured the goofs is also gone. The tour jumps from Chopes to Brazil to Jeffreys and it's only the versatile or in-form that would be worth backing across that range of breaks.

Word filtered around during the off-season about Parko's training regime and new competitive outlook. It sounded like he finally meant business.

Then he promptly came last in his first round heat at the Quiksilver Pro.

However he redeemed himself in the loser's round and went on to win the comp. Then the next comp too.Yet the irony is that if Quiksilver used Rip Curl's sudden-death format Parko would be in a vastly different position. Often it's the uncontrolled factors that steel one's resolve. And at this stage of the tour - with an ounce of luck and a tonne of form - Parko is looking decidedly dangerous.

Jordy is looking the goods too. At this stage last year he and Dane were expected to be schooling the rest of the 45, though neither transferred their phenomenal talent into impressive results. In fact Jordy only scraped back into the top tier because other surfers failed to overtake him. This year however the lessons are beginning.

Funnily enough, he has been both student and teacher. Learning how to surf a measured heat, and also showing competitors what moves they have to lay down if they wanna win.

His versatility across Chopes and Brazil will be interesting to observe. While at J-Bay there's no doubt he'll get a result. Jordy 2.0 is a vastly different competitor and he'll be Top 10 by years end.

His old classmate, Dane Reynolds, finds himself in a different scenario. On the wrong end of a  questionable heat at the Quikkie and a victim of the now-defunct sudden-death format at Bells have spoiled his start.

I've never met him, but hopefully reports of a fragile competitive temperament are off the mark. For thirty years professional surfing has been shaping and re-shaping the judging system to give surfers like Dane a platform. He's far too good to have off tour.

In a recent colum I questioned whether Kelly would ride his short board at Bells. He didn't. At least not in competition. In the comp he went down to Owen Wright in a close one. Then in the Expression Session he paddled out his 5'3” and rode the best wave of the whole two weeks. We're gonna see a lot more of that board this year.

As it stands Kelly finds himself in a position no-one would have predicted he'd be when he signed up for another spin. Doubtful even himself. The gaping hole that many punters thought would be left in pro-surfing when KS does retire is already being filled, with the competitive interest coming from other quarters.

What about Bobby Martinez, eh?

Bobby's been outspoken about Kelly's indifference to competition, and he's a fella I really want to do well. He's also spending a lot of time at Coolangatta as his wife is a local. Yet rather than thrive on semi-home turf he bombed first round. Then he made the quarters at Bells only to surf a heat where he gave the appearance of wishing to be home. He's floating mid-pack but is a past Chopes winner. Despite the haphazard start I'll bank that he finds his mojo and hooks in hard.

As for Chopes, the trials starts today and the forecast outlook is grim. For the past two years the trials have had waves coming from the third storey while the main event waves would barely swamp the pantry. Let's hope the reverse is true this year.// STUART NETTLE