What a luxury it will be to know all teams’ 22s before the bounce of the first game on Friday night. Take advantage by preparing a rock solid VC/C plan, with Jimmy Crawford bringing you his top SuperCoach tips.
Follow him on Twitter @Pig_Mentality for more SuperCoach VC/C chat.
Vice-Captains
1. Marcus Bontempelli
Marcus is playing in the fourth game of the round, so you will need to make sure you have a later loop (eg Constable). He could also be a C option if you are brave, but personally, I think the Connor Nash tag will be aimed at the Bont. An average of 122 in his last three against the Hawks looks nice, but tread with slight caution this time around and try a VC if you can make it work.
2. Rowan Marshall
Rowan is averaging 140 over his entire career against Port (4 matches), making them easily his most profitable opponent. And this week there is no Scott Lycett. This could be a big one. 127, 132 and 160 in his last three matches against the Power paint the picture here.
3. Connor Rozee
Connor is coming off a nice 126 against the Eagles, and now plays the team that has given up the most SuperCoach points this season. St Kilda’s tight zone defence has forced opponents to chip the ball around all season, leading to big scores for anyone playing the Saints. Rozee is averaging over 4 marks and 4 tackles per game, and this is a game where he could blow those numbers out of the water.
Captains
1. Tim English
The highest scorer in the game, and the most consistent. Tim is the only player in the league with every score over 130 for the entire season. This consistency makes him an easy C or VC choice this week (check your loop options if you VC him). This week he comes up against a Hawthorn team with two inexperienced ruckmen. English’s previous scores against Hawthorn are not amazing, but this year he is speaking a whole new language.
2. Nick Daicos
There is always the risk that someone tags Nick Daicos. And this week it could be Ben Keays. But at this point, it just doesn’t matter. Nick is averaging 135 over the first six games of the year, and we expected a tag in approximately half of those. It was in this exact matchup last year when we cracked a 40 disposal, 3 goal, 163 SuperCoach game on the Crows. Just lock it in.
3. Rory Laird
Rory’s last three matches against Collingwood are beautiful reading; 154, 144 and 185. This is a much improved Magpie outfit, but Laird will still dip his snout in the trough. With no tag incoming, I am expecting a vintage Rory Laird performance on Sunday afternoon.
4. Clayton Oliver
Clayton ruined his ton-run last week with a 98 after being sick in the lead-up but he comes up against a disappointing Kangaroos team this week. Scores of 178, 116 and 137 in his last three meetings with North Melbourne mean you can pick Oliver for a bounce back with confidence.
5. Sam Walsh
Sam has worked his way into the season well, with scores of 104 and 130. He now comes up against a depleted West Coast midfield that is giving up bucketloads of points. Walsh averages 109 against the Eagles over his career (4 games), and none of them have been against an Eagles team this injury-riddled.
POD Captain?
1. Noah Anderson
The gap left by Touk Miller will need to be filled by multiple players, but I expect Noah Anderson to be one of the main beneficiaries. He has played the Tigers twice in his career for scores of 154 and 126. You would need to be a brave coach to pull the trigger on this, but if you are struggling in the rankings, this could be one of those moves that land a huge score.
My moves
I climbed the rankings again this week, to be sitting at 2,150 overall, due to locking in some good Captain scores.
Last week I chose English as Vice-Captain (131) into a Daicos Captaincy (145). I took English’s VC score.
This week I will be going back to the well for a third straight week, with 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: 129
Average C recommendation score: 116
Average POD C recommendation score: 99
