Another week of knowing 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. Tom Stewart
Tom had a down week last week due to the Ben Keays matchup and still managed a 99. He now comes up against the Tigers, who he piled on 161 points against last year before he KO’d Dion Prestia. I expect Richmond to show a bit of fire and come at Stewart this week, but it shouldn’t affect his SuperCoach score. We know Richmond don’t tag, and once the dust settles, I expect Stewart to have free reign over the back half, especially with him taking on the Geelong Captain duties this week.
2. Noah Anderson
Noah rewarded his coaches last week with the highest score of the year to date; a monster 189. He now comes up against the depleted Eagles, who just gave up 152 points to Shai Bolton and 110+ to all of Taranto, Prestia, Martin and Hopper. If the usually low-scoring Tigers can pile on, then I expect another big Anderson game. A 5-round average of 133 indicates that his last game wasn’t a fluke.
3. Errol Gulden
Errol has only played Fremantle twice in his career, for scores of 113 and 127. He is coming off an amazing game against Collingwood, in which he scored 156 due to 13 marks and 32 kicks. If Gulden plays the same role as he did last week, he could reward you again. He plays early enough to use as a VC, which I recommend much more than a straight Captain.
Captains
1. Jordan Dawson
Jordan had 130 points on the Saints last year and wasn’t playing the same dominant role that he is now. He still managed 122 down in Geelong in a notoriously hard matchup last week. I am expecting a score more in line with his 5-round average of 135 this week. The Saints allow plenty of uncontested marks for the opposition and Dawson should have a field day.
2. Marcus Bontempelli
Marcus is currently the highest scorer in the game for 2023 and has had some huge Captain-worthy spikes. His 5-round average of 156 is amazing and he now plays the Blues, whom he has a 3-round average of 125 against. Will he get some attention from Curnow? Who cares. The Bont is just too good. Lock it in.
3. Clayton Oliver
Clayton has only put out one score this year that would have frustrated his owners, and it was still a 98. Coming off back-to-back 134+ scores and now coming up against the Hawks, who he has a three round average of 124 against means you can look at Clarry again. I have him a little further down the list this week because there is the flag of the Connor Nash tag. If you can make a VC loop work, I would prefer that.
4. Zach Merrett
Zach scored 106 last week and is averaging 105 for the year. Those numbers may not scream Captain material, but he will be a very safe pick this week. He has averaged 115 over his 11-game career against the Lions, including 147, 117 and 130 in their last three clashes. Brisbane is the opponent that Merrett averages the most against.
5. Tim English
Mr Reliable was at it again on the weekend with another 124. He now comes up against Carlton under the roof at Marvel and there should be plenty of marks on offer for him. Pittonet just gave up 110 points to McInerney, so I am expecting another solid ton from English this week.
POD Captain?
1. Josh Dunkley
I am confident that one of Dunkley and Neale will go off against the Bombers, but which one is it? I would lean towards Josh, coming off a stat sheet stuffing 149 last weekend which included only the 8th quadruple double in AFL/VFL history with 22 kicks, 11 handballs, 11 marks and 13 tackles. Dunkley has form against Essendon too, with scores of 139, 75 and 153 in their last three meetings.
My moves
I scored 2,569 last week and made some big strides in the rankings to now be sitting at 865th for the season.
Last week I chose Taranto as Vice-Captain (118) into an English Captaincy (124). I took Taranto’s VC.
This week I will have the Vice-Captain on either Anderson or Oliver followed by Bontempelli 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: 125
Average C recommendation score: 118
Average POD C recommendation score: 105
*excluding injured or subbed games
