The games will come thick and fast in Round 5, aka Gather Round, so it’s important to have a VC/C plan locked in early, with Jimmy Crawford bringing you his top SuperCoach tips.
Follow him on Twitter @Pig_Mentality for more SuperCoach VC/C chat.
Vice-Captains
- 1. Patrick Cripps
146 and 151 in Patrick’s last two games against Adelaide. With Carlton starting the year hot, their skipper has been leading the way (no scores under 99 this year). Start your weekend off right with a Cripps VC and take the pressure off.
- 2. Jordan Dawson
Jordan was flying under the radar until last round despite averaging over 100 in his first three games. He showed us his ceiling last week, tallying the highest score of the year so far (173) and now comes up against an opponent he likes terrorising. 126 and 134 in his last two games against Carlton make Dawson a nice VC hit.
- 3. Rory Laird
Rory is a very hard guy to trust right now, so I would stay away from giving him the Captain’s arm band, but a VC punt here could reward you. He could be tagged by Curnow, but Laird is averaging 114 over his twelve career games against the Blues, which includes 144 and 123 in their last two matchups.
Captains
- 1. Brodie Grundy
Averaging 144 since Max Gawn went down with an injury, and with 129 and 153 in two of his last three games against Essendon make Grundy a juicy pick. I wouldn’t be expecting a 140+ because Draper is a slightly harder match-up than the Sydney and West Coast reserves, but Brodie should do the job for you on Saturday night.
- 2. Tim English
I have VC/C’d English each of the last 3 weeks and have reaped the rewards. I am slightly hesitant this week as his past three scores against Port are 49, 93 and 71. However, the highest scorer in the game this year has earnt our respect, never scoring less than 134 this season. Plus, Lycett has been leaking points to opposition ruckman over the last 3 weeks; Ladhams (113), O’Brien (121), and Cameron (137).
- 3. Clayton Oliver
I feel a bit unoriginal by suggesting Clarry as a C option every week, but if you paid up for him, that is exactly what you want to read. Averaging 131 to start the year and coming up against a Bombers team that does not tag. Clayton dropped 146 on Essendon last year, making this a super safe pick.
- 4. Nick Daicos
Averaging 135 to start the year, including a recent 151, means don’t overthink Nick Daicos. Yes, he could cop a Windhager tag. But he could not. I need to take a second here to emphasise the bulk points that the Saints are giving up to defenders this year:
Round 1: Luke Ryan (171), Brennan Cox (154), Hayden Young (137), Jordan Clark (100).
Round 2: Crozier (96)
Round 3: Jake Kelly (110), D’Ambrosio (98), Ridley (96), McGrath (93)
Round 4: Sam Collins (115) and Will Powell (102).
If some of those names can ton up, then just lock in Daicos.
- 5. Zach Merrett
147, 119 and 120 in his last three match-ups with the Demons. Zach has been solid without being a standout this year, but I expect him to net you a safe C score to lock in if your VC fails.
POD Captain
- 1. Josh Kelly
Josh is averaging 119 over his entire career against Hawthorn (7 games), with scores of 121 and 122 in two of their last three matchups. He has started the year hot and comes up against a very soft Hawthorn. If Dangerfield (119) and Duncan (116) can both ton up on the Hawks, then so can Jelly.
My moves
A slight dip in overall rank this week, but I am still sitting at 6,308 overall, due to locking in some good Captain scores. I am averaging 288 points from my team’s Captains over the last 3 weeks.
Last week I ignored my own advice and took the VC off Daicos (151) last minute to choose Laird as Vice-Captain (97) into an English Captaincy (145). I took English’s C score.
This week I will have the Vice-Captain on English followed by Daicos as my Captain.
For those interested in my recommendations, I started this article in Round 2, and since then the stats look like this:
Average VC recommendation score: 113 (or 125 if you exclude Gawn’s injured 0).
Average C recommendation score: 117
Average POD C recommendation score: 102
