Nine Fantasy Things We Learned: Darcy’s field day, Grundy lifts, Jelly holders rewarded & Macrae delivers

Things returned to relative normality this week without too many bullets flying around although Charlie Constable provided a nice twist for the weekend, forcing many people’s hand and then there was LDU.

Author: Ben Lamont

So what did we learn this week?

Macrae trade-out regrets

The Dogs found some bite to tame the Lions… Nah let’s not go down that path. Jack Macrae (111) did enough to make those who traded feel a little silly. As one who traded Bont (94), at half-time I was on the cliff, but a 20-point second half made things all the better. Ed Richards (103) is looking like a nice POD as his natural improvement continues, and Josh Dunkley (116) also continued to build nicely.

Nank goes under the radar

Nick Daicos (100) may not have had the huge ceiling game, but mark my words, one is coming. The kid is a genuine freak, already one of the best players in the comp and will be an absolute fantasy beast for years to come. Timmy Time Taranto (111) stepped up with the midfield to himself, and JDG (120) reminded us that he can score in the midfield with the best of them. In a strange twist Toby Nankervis (120) is proving to be the ruck pick of the season, who would have thought! Keep an eye on the Pies ruck situation now, as Oscar Steene ($200k Ruck) could get a little run at it with basically everyone else over 6 foot 5 injured.

Worpel back to frustrating ways

The Hawkies had a field day with the hapless Roos. Moore (132), Sic Dawg (132) and Will Day (128) are all proving to be great picks this year. The Sheez (104) is unbelievably the 3^rd highest scorer in the game at this point and if you did not start with him, well your year is already done. As mentioned, the LDU late out was a tough pill to swallow but coupled with Worps (57) going back to being a spud, there was definitely some pain in this game as well.

Holding Jelly paid off

The Jelly (126) holders were well rewarded in this game, and Doch (136) got back to doing Doch things. Popular pick Tom Green (110) had another great game and Crippa (111) did his thing with a lazy 42 touches. Of the cows, Lachie Cowan (46) is still just a heartbeat, Ollie Hollands (56) started like a house on fire and petered out and Finn Callaghan (48) scored just like a rookie even with his inflated price.

Setterfield saves face after sluggish start

Brad Crouch (122) did what many expected and took up the fantasy slack without Steele. Darcy Parish (120) seems to be building nicely and doing what his owners were hoping in the pre-season. Other premos did their thing with Merrett (103) and Marshall (100) getting the job done for their owners. The increasingly popular Will Setterfield (88) saved his game late, but will be on injury watch again. Anyone who jumped off Jordan Ridley (102) with BZT out were sorely bitten, and it will be a close watch on the popular Constable replacement Liam Stocker (55) this week as he limped to the end of the game.

Can we still trust Laird as VC/C?

Well this one hurt to watch as the Crows levelled the Showdown ledger, but at least my boy Rozee (113) did his part. Not much else to come out of this game from a fantasy perspective with Laird (83) underperforming again and many others just so so. Same Berry (52) had 5 touches before being subbed and has not popped like some thought he might and handy little cashy Luke Pedlar (67) will be missing for a week which will slow his generation going forward.

Suns’ Darcy maintains sneaky good season

Unbelievably the Cats lost again and this time to the Suns who have not exactly set the world on fire. Tom Stewart (120) made those who started with him just a little more furious as he barely missed a beat. The Jeremy Cameron (101) show just rolled on and some of the other old Cats scored respectfully. One I definitely did not see coming this year was Darcy Macpherson (96) who is just quietly putting together a reasonable season. With the Suns winning it will be hard to see Charlie Constable coming back – although he had a game-hgih 29 touches in the VFL – so those who held it may be a move unfortunately.

Grundy rewards in Gawn absence

Clarry (111) just did Clarry things once again and is looking more and more likely to be the top scoring player this year. Those that took the opportunity to jump on the Ruck Pig (106) with Gawn out were well rewarded, and with only 77% TOG could see further upside yet. Angus Brayshaw (74) and Errol Gulden (71) were well unders, but Kade Chandler (66) kept his good start going.

Rucks dominate Eagles, again

The late game saw the ruck trend continuing and as predicted last week, Sean Darcy (128) had a field day and even Luke Jackson (95) looked respectable. Sam Switkowski’s (104) switch to the midfield seems to be real and gave the Dockers a different dimension. Caleb Serong (127) looked the fantasy player we all hoped he would become and just maybe this is the beginning of the big break out? Lastly, Reuben Ginbey (82) is certainly putting his hand up as the no. 2 cash cow of the year and has totally locked our D5 position down.

Well that’s it for Round 3! I hope you had a bit of luck and didn’t cop too much carnage. Up from 2008 to 1043 for me which was a nice turn around after starting the year at 126. Go get that hat and those league wins and see you next week for all the new learnings.