We've all been gorging on surf porn: the Superbank, Deadmans etc etc, for what feels like months now, so a scrappy, head-high day at Bells is always going to look unlovely by comparison. Even with the best of the best on it.

Two years off the schedule and despite the best efforts of the commentary team there just wasn't a great deal of enthusiasm for the proposition that, in the case of Bells, absence has made the heart grow fonder. A handful of crew on the beach could not generate any kind of sporting atmosphere and of eight heats s,urfed only one wave breeched the excellent mark.

A helluva lot of 4's and 5's, or in the case of wildcard Mick Fanning 2's and 3's. I do understand the dream of Mick Fanning doing what he does on the Bells Bowl, in a Final with one of the young lions, or even better facing off with Kelly Slater in a 2012 redux. I really do. It's an incredibly seductive idea. But as TS Eliot made clear in his famous poem, The Hollow Men: “Between the idea and the reality falls the shadow”. Which is where Fanning's wildcard performances have been.

Mick (Sloane/WSL)

He surfed three heats in last year's Narrabeen CT event. Added together with the waves from this heat that totals 22 waves. Only three of the 22 waves have been 5 or above, with his top scoring ride a 5.50. On any given day in 6 foot point surf Mick is still a top five surfer, but in scrappy stuff or beachbreaks he would not make a QS heat.

To put it in coldblooded business terms, Mick's performance today did not receive any mainstream media coverage, and for them to get a return on investment on Mick's wildcard he's going to need to really step up and not have another of what Bugs called, “one of those heats that didn't happen”.

Is it too early to identify any favourites based on today's heats? Italo looked very fine to my eye for a pair of 6's that in the context of the day were underdone. Italo's backside line is unique. He starts his bottom turn a fraction early, gets to the lip, or whatever passes for a lip at onshore Bells, with a fraction more speed and more options as far as turn angle goes. It's a similar philosophy to the John John Florence Margaret Mainbreak attack, which blew the doors down on a wave that has always flummoxed the best.

Italo (Sloane/WSL)

In the following heat it was obviously Owen Wright who had the most to lose. Owen was granted a wildcard for the tour this year after a string of mediocre performances last year, especially the four banger Aussie leg. That mediocrity has continued into this year, and with a cut looming weeks away, J'Bay, G'Land, and Tahiti would be taken away from him, to be replaced by Ballito and Huntington Beach. It's not a good trade for a man of Owen's stature, so there was reason to expect him to put a little more ooomph into his turns today. Which he did, for an easy victory against Kelly and Nat Young.

Kelly spiced up one lacklustre Bells Bowl for a 7, paid overs for a single big turn and a bunch of not much else. His appearance seemed a little downbeat and low key, somehow. If this really is his last Bells it felt like more fanfare was appropriate. Maybe there was a problem with the paperwork at the immigration counter and Kelly wanted to stay under the radar? We will not know because Kelly believes in medical privacy. No matter, he's here, and that's grand.

Like Mick, it's hard to see Kelly punching deep into the draw without a run of good days, preferably solid and clean. Unlike Mick, Kelly hasn't been relevant at Bells for a decade. Since his famous final with Fanning, in which Kelly did the huge air, got the 10 and still lost. I was on the beach and believe with all my heart that Kelly won that final. Which would have, if my calculations are correct, delivered him the 12th World Title that year.

All water under the bridge now, and it's unlikely - highly, highly unlikely - that old grievance will be relitigated this time around.

Kelly (Sloane/WSL)

John Florence scrapped around and surfed sharp, including the most progressive attack of the day. The most notable feature of John's heat was the opening exchange between he and Jacko Baker. Baker bested Florence by a full 2 points, an extraordinary spread for a rookie from Newcastle. Baker is our new crowd favourite and it's not hard to pin down why. Huge turns, charges, pink boards, straight shooter, who quite obviously loves to be there. There's an infectiousness to the enthusiasm, even on the webby.

Straight after Kanoa's first wave I wrote: “He has a World Title stench about him”. Stench is a terrible word, but perfume doesn't work either. You get the drift. Seconds later he punched portholes into one of the beefier sets of the day for a 9.07. Easily the best wave ridden on Day One of competition. Kanoa could easily be the World Champ after a day at Trestles. Easily. He would smoke Jack Robbo, for example, the only Aussie who seems a realistic chance to make the top five.

Kanoa (Sloane/WSL)

I won't stick my neck out on the Bells forecast; that Southern Ocean / Cape Otway / Bass Strait combo has always been pure juju to me, but it looks like scrappy days ahead. Possibly many of them. That will favour our Brazilian pals and anyone prepared to mix up big turns with an air game. Meanwhile, at the arse end of the rankings the scuffle to avoid the cut is going to bring some welcome pressure and drama to what now looks like a tired competition venue.

There's been a lot of change this year and it's working a treat: starting with Pipe and Sunset; the mid-year cut; a stacked second half of the tour with a slimmer field. That change is making Bells look a bit anachronistic - especially with no mobility and a full Mens and Womans field squeezed into the same window. Bells is more than a competition venue though, it's part of the Victorian sporting fixture firmanent. Up there with the Formula One race in Melbourne as far as government reco goes. While that lasts, Bells will remain.

As far as the good will of the people goes? The fans?

Harder to answer. A year of indifference will be wiped away by the next Southern Ocean storm.

It just might not be this year.

// STEVE SHEARER