Western Derby 2015: A saucy way to pick a winner

So, if you're Kiwi who doesn't follow the AFL then how do you pick a side to barrack for on Sunday?

With a saucy taste test of course.

In the lead up to the Western Derby, Masterfoods have released both Eagles and Dockers themed tomato sauce bottles to take advantage of the hype surrounding the game.

The bottles having been causing endless debates inside Woollies supermarkets as punters disagree on which sauce tastes better.

One of these sauce bottles tastes like shame and humiliation while the other tastes like sweet, sweet victory.

In order to solve the debate once and for all and we asked our neutral reporter - the aforementioned Kiwi who thought a mark was something that happened once in a blue moon, and only on a rugby field.

A blind tasting was organised. To give both sauces a “fair shake” they were poured into bowls for initial tastings and placed on the sausage roll for a secondary hit.

Here are the odd, and somewhat specific, results.

Initial sample:

“This sauce tastes like it almost separated from something bigger. At first I thought it was pretty weak. There were hints of the usual western flavour and fervour you want from a sauce but something was missing initially. However the longer is stays on the palette the stronger it gets and now it starts to feel a little overpowering and intimidating.”

Sample on sausage roll:

“I’m not sure what happened here but as soon as I got the sauce where I wanted it, actually on the sausage roll, I just started choking uncontrollably. I didn’t even get a bite out of it. It was just too strong. It’s like we had done all the hard work getting it there to not even be able to enjoy the payoff. I think it has potential to be a great sauce, perhaps the greatest sauce, if only it can get over that gagging reflex."

Initial sample:

“Now this smells and tastes like a proper sauce. In fact it feels so amazing it feels like it has something added to it, something giving it an extra little kick, zest and get up and go. After eating it I felt strong enough to jump out of car and run through the streets before swimming up a river. Surely a sauce this good can’t be legal. I also felt like I had tasted this sauce before, ten years ago. I remember liking it then. I wonder if this is a ten year old bottle with a new label. Either way, its strangely good."  

Sample on sausage roll:

“This was another odd tasting for me. On the first bite of the sausage roll it tasted good, strong and punchy. I definitely had it picked as the better of the two sauces. But then on the second bite it tasted like all the punch had gone. All throughout the middle of the sausage roll there was no taste. Nothing at all. But on the last bite there it was again as strong as ever. It’s odd for a sauce to only have a taste at key parts of the sausage roll but there you have it."

After tasting both sauces my first conclusion was that if it came to a crunch I'd pick neither to have with my sausage roll.

I'd much prefer the traditional Masterfoods tomato sauce over either of these options, although both did have some good elements.

So what insight can I glean from this taste test to give me a sense of who's going to win the Western Derby on Sunday?

"Although the Eagles sauce was easier on the palette I think the extra bit of strength in the Dockers sauce is a sign I should back the Dockers will win this weekend's Western Derby. I'll take the strangely subdued taste of the Eagles sauce on the middle of my sausage roll as an indication that the Dockers will get on top in the middle of the game and I think they'll hold on to their advantage to win." 

However, there's one final twist.

"I think that choking sensation I got when trying the Fremantle sauce on a sausage roll is a sign that although they'll win this weekend, the Dockers set to lose to Hawthorn again in this year's AFL Grand Final like they did in 2013."

Have you conducted your own taste testing on the new sauce range yet?

Let us know what you think each bottle tastes like in the comments and vote in our poll below as to who you think will win Sunday's Western Derby.