In Round 4 we couldn’t hit a captain if they were strapped to the side of their boat. Alex Lee-Arney goes through game by game to assess the good and bad performers, plus a little more.
Brisbane v Collingwood
Freak: Daicos (126)
Flop: Dunkley (81)
Rookie Roulette: Ashcroft (76), Wilmot (36), McInnes (12)
Collingwood learned a startling lesson: they probably need a ruckman. McStay (56) didn’t benefit, although Big O (95) is famously restrictive.
Josh Dunkley knows a week is a long time in fantasy. McInerney was so dominant he took all the clearances himself or simply thumped it out of Dunks’ reach. Worryingly he had a solitary tackle. It would take a bold move to ditch him given his 73% ownership.
McKenna (81) is proving a shrewd pick. Very disappointing from Titch (63) and, sorry to say, the writing is on the wall. Nicky D was unbelievable again. I hope you VC’d him because not much else worked.
North v Carlton
Freak: Sheezel (119)
Flop: Docherty (74)
Rookie Roulette: Sheezel, Phillips (66), Hollands (54), Cowan (42), Comben (19)
It’s lucky Sheez exists because this was a stinker. Contenders for the Flop in my team were asked to form an orderly queue. It hurts to give it to the legend, but Doch takes it because of the VC/C problems it caused.
Honourable Flop mentions to LDU (91) who only had one tackle, Ollie Hollie who keeps threatening without quite delivering and late withdrawal Bergman.
Cowan wasn’t able to rescue D6 and it’ll be good to swing Ziebell (100) back there soon. Oh wait, I don’t have him.
Adelaide v Freo
Freak: Dawson (122)
Flop: Laird (84)
Rookie Roulette: Michalanney (66), Johnson (16)
Pre-game I seriously considered going Laird to Serong (106). Rory, Rory, Rory. The concerns are now properly real. Aish sat on him for a half but the inability to shake the tag isn’t even my biggest concern. His lowest 2022 score was 90. He’s only managed that once this year and speedsters Rankine (92) and Rachele (86) are having an effect. Call it stubbornness or stupidity but I can’t face the cash loss of letting him go now.
Andy Bray was solid and it was a tale of two defenders with Dawson racking up and Young (78) saving an atrocious Q1.
Richmond v Bulldogs
Freak: English (145)
Flop: Smith (89)
Rookie Roulette: Ryan (35), Jones (35), Young (33)
CBA watch: Bont (82%), Treloar (68%), Libba (64%), Macrae (54%), Smith (32%)
Tim served up a full English breakfast. He even had a couple of snags. He was sublime. Why in the name of sweet merciful cr*p didn’t I trust him with the captaincy?
Fair to say we’ve been sleeping on Libba (114). He was actually the only correct Bulldog mid choice. Spin the wheel, this week Bont (108) was solid while Macrae (89) and Smith (83) disappointed. You might as well hold Smith with DPP around the corner, although I can’t forgive a 9 point Q1, unless your name is Tim Taranto (114).
Nank (105) did a syndesmosis so Samson Ryan might answer our rookie problems, although Soldo is nearly fit.
St Kilda v Gold Coast
Freak: Anderson (156)
Flop: Ross Lyon
Rookie Roulette: Moyle (75), Phillipou (66), Humphrey (50), Caminiti (46), Oea (38)
Have I made it clear that I captained Laird? No? Ok let’s talk about Marshall (107). Had I known about Witts earlier, the C would’ve gone to RoMar who got inexplicably subbed off.
If you went Xerri-Gawn-DC-Witts please advise who you’re targeting so we know who to avoid. Moyle acquitted himself very well if you handcuffed him to Wittsy. Anderson finally got going with an absolutely ridiculous score. Miller (120) and Crouch (125) are top 8 mids, although Crouch got off to a very slow start. People running with Stocker (88) would take that.
We’ve got a bit of a rookie problem this week. Humphrey and Moyle mightn’t be the answers. Humphrey is pricey and Wittsy probably comes straight back.
Sydney v Port Adelaide
Freak: Florent (122)
Flop: Rozee (69)
Rookie Roulette: Williams (49)
Crazy game but disgusting for Fantasy. What the heck was going on with Connor?! 91% TOG. 90% CBAs. I guess Rowbottom (85) went with him? At the SCG? Oh my god I’ve just seen he scored the same as JHF (69).
Florent gets a consolation Freak award. That, and nobody relevant fired. Gulden (95) saved what was shaping up to be a shocker. Millsy was awful (75) but should be on our watchlists. Williams probably isn’t the rookie answer either, with shaky JS and forward-only status.
Here’s hoping 2022 hero Paddy McCartin (4) is ok.
Essendon v GWS
Freak: Green (111)
Flop: McGrath (65)
Rookie Roulette: Menzie (57), Davey (39), Rowston (27)
An error-riddled slap dash game where Essendon deployed the tactic of kicking only behinds to eventually win. There was a floptastic performance from Cogs (79), who can count himself lucky that Mcgrath was so woeful. Redman (122) racked this week but McGrath has never done it. If you can ditch him, I’d be doing that.
Jelly (106) was on for a huge one but faded late, while Setterfield (99) disproved injury rumours. Callaghan (88) impressed, but traders will know his role is conducive to variable scores. Mr Consistent Merrett (109) has floor-ceiling variance of only 9 points this season.
Davey (39) struggled with injury and might be due for a rest. This and Weideman’s concussion could pave the way for Patrick Voss ($200k), whilst Josh Fahey ($200k) must be close for GWS.
West Coast v Melbourne
Freak: Kelly (142)
Flop: Angus Brayshaw (66)
Rookie Roulette: Chandler (64), McVee (58), Long (48), JVR (48), Ginbey (48), Hewett (17)
It was nice to see the Eagles WAFL colts have a run but this was only going one way. What the heck is a throat fracture? Hopefully you robbed a bank and traded Sheed to easily the best fantasy player this year, Oliver (129). Grundy (119) was always going big, as was Petracca (124), whilst Pickett’s (87) cash gen is on an upward trejectory.
But even the timekeeper’s cruel decision to fall asleep and prolong the shellacking while the clock counted upwards didn’t help Brayshaw. He’s proved a bad starting pick and you can trade. His big 2022 scores came from mid time which just isn’t happening.
Chandler was the right rookie to field as usual. All the others scored 48 for some reason. As did Yeo, who showed glimpses but didn’t have the role, and was cotton wooled. He’ll be a juicy price soon.
Geelong v Hawthorn
Freak: Cameron (137)
Flop: Sicily (49)
Rookie Roulette: Mackenzie (54), Greene (39).
A third quarter capitulation saw a couple of our Hawks crash back to mediocrity. The wet conditions didn’t suit Sicily (49). They should’ve suited Worpel (71), but he can go. I can’t ignore Jeremy Cameron (137) any more. You couldn’t do it but he’s averaging 115.
Duncan’s (127) return was pretty special, but golden boy Will Day (99) might be in some MRO strife. Hold if you can but despite Stewart’s (70) lacklustre showing in the wet I don’t mind it, it’s nearly a straight swap.
Bring them in: Ziebell, Stewart, S.Ryan
Cop it on the chin: Rozee, Doch, Smith
Put them in the bin: Laird (if you dare), McGrath, Worpel.
