Popular Round 9 trade-in targets Noah Anderson and Callum Mills left AFL Fantasy coaches frustrated, while a handful of rookies reached their peak led by Kade Chandler, meaning it’s time to move them on.
Richmond v Geelong
Freaks: Ryan (72), Taranto (129)
Flop: Pickett (18)
Rookie Roulette: Ryan (72), Knevitt (70), Geelong Clark (36), Richmond Clarke (21)
King Taranto shares the Freak honours this week because he’s only the 151st best player in the competition. He does get 3 votes in my B&F though, because I was stuck for looping options and had to go early on my VC, against a rotten match up, and he delivered anyway.
But special mention to the big man Samson Ryan who gave us a score worthy of covering potential late-out RoMar, whilst non-owners had to save trades or run the gauntlet. Totally fantasy irrelevant but Pickett’s 18 is a genuinely remarkable score for 84% TOG. Duncan (109) seems to be back now, but crikey it is risky. Knevitt (70) put up big numbers in Danger’s absence, and a serviceable effort from Stewart (96) rounded off a reasonable Friday. Jayden Short (113) is looking more and more difficult to ignore but it is hard to trust the role.
West Coast v Gold Coast
Freak: Rowell (142)
Flop: Anderson (86)
Rookie Roulette: Ginbae (96), Humphrey (94), Berry (50), Tsitas (29)
Someone should’ve told the Eagles that the Battle of the Coasters wasn’t to be taken so literally that that they lie down flat and be trodden down all over.
Grass-fed cash cow of yesteryear Matty Rowell delivered a staggering stat line which has me considering distributing grass amongst my players pre-game. Ginbae tried to match him for tackles and he wasn’t the only rookie to go well. Humphrey looked good in both fantasy and to the eye. The same cannot be said for Noah Anderson, who was earmarked for a 150 and ended up getting tagged out of it.
I should’ve done the aggressive (absurd) thing and brought in Witho (106) like I threatened to but I cannot do it now he’s back above $600k….or can I? Of the GOAT/Rat risky duo, Atkins (75) was the better pick, although Fiorini (65) looked better in real life than his score suggests. Let’s hope the axe doesn’t fall on either of them. Hunt (54), DMac (55) and to some extent Powell (79) came crashing back to Earth. I wouldn’t be panic trading them, but they’re in the luxury category.
Sydney v Freo
Freak: Gulden (153)
Flop: injury gods
Rookie Roulette: Treacy (77), Gould (28), Sheather (25)
Good lord this is just about the worst one of these I’ve seen. Perfectly primed for an underpriced upgrade, Callum Mills (3) was one of the targets of the week. Plenty brought him in, but not enough to cushion this very significant blow. This was a 100-point turnaround on other options. Horse didn’t seem confident he’d be back quickly, so even worse you now have to think about trading him straight back out. Such was the drama of this that poor Errol’s incredible two-week average almost went forgotten.
Young (108) continued his resurgence but Parker (88) was disappointing, particularly given Mills wasn’t there. Erasmus (73) looked handy but got subbed, proving his job security isn’t worth the pricetag.
North v Port
Freak: Butters (118)
Flop: Rozee (79)
Rookie Roulette: Evans (62), Williams (62), Lord (50), Bergman (41), Drury (25)
LDU (95) has turned out to be perhaps the most cursed pick of the season. Late outs, injuries, and when he finally delivers another good score, he does a hammy. Ziebell (104) has piled on some more cash, and the Butters pick is now paying off. Evans or Lord might be rookie options if they can hold.
The rest of this game was just a whole pile of meh. Houston (84) and Sheezel (81) were only alright by their lofty standards. Connor has turned in yet another frustrating score. Meh. Moving on.
Hawthorn v Melbourne
Freak: Mitchell (95)
Flop: Day (77)
Rookie Roulette: Mitchell (95), JVR (65), Mackenzie (58), Weddle (57), Chandler (41), McVee (39), Blanck (12)
Hear me out here, Oliver (126) is the obvious Freak pick but c’mon this was against Hawthorn and would you take a look at that Seamus score?! Hopefully you’ve got him, hopefully you were able to loop him on. Or maybe you had Chandler instead and got a -54 point turnaround. The very definition of rookie roulette.
Sicdog (103) and Petracca (103) produced reasonable scores, but utter disappointment from Will Day who put together a terrible Q4, which was probably always going to happen after getting a massive write up on the AFL website.
You can let Worpel (85) go if you still have him, but there is absolutely no rush. Rookies off the field is the priority and I’d only be doing a move like that if a rookie gets you nowhere and Worps gets you to an uber premium. I’d easily be moving on Chandler first, and he’s got cash on his head anyway.
Brisbane v Essendon
Freak: Ashcroft (109)
Flop: Dunks (88)
Rookie Roulette: Sharp (70), Baldwin (64), Wilmot (59), Menzie (35), Davey (11)
This game tells the age-old tale of Fickle Fantasy Footy. Parish was a late out, paving the way for Setters (98) holders to be randomly rewarded. Aggressive coaches might’ve moved on Ashcroft to Mills, netting them minus 106 points. The theory wasn’t bad. Meanwhile, somehow Merrett (83) didn’t benefit from Parish’s absence and Dunkley scored nearly half of what he did last week.
Oh and good lord Essendon should get a bollocking for that dirty move to name Davey on the ground and then make him the sub. The AFL should really come out and condemn that. Oh wait, they actively supported it. Wot the hell. Can we do a JVR and appeal that somehow?
Carlton v Bulldogs
Freak: Walsh (123)
Flop: Cerra (62)
Rookie Roulette: Jones (68), Hollands (59), Cincotta (22), O’Donnell (10)
Six 100s on offer here for the Dogs and not one of them went to Macrae (83). There are obvious top 8 long-term superstar targets Bont (118) and Walsh, but I’m more interested in Doch (112), it’s just hard to get him in now. Bailey Smith (102) has also stuck his hand up a couple of times, but he’s so hard to trust.
Hopefully you didn’t put the C on English (92) this time, but I really hope you didn’t bring in Cerra. Matt Kennedy (95) is where his points went. Cincotta gave us a brutal reminder about why we need to get the rookies off the field and scored a Richie Benaud (22). Arty Jones’s spot seems settled and that 68 will kickstart some cash gen.
St Kilda v Adelaide
Freak: Marshall (116)
Flop: Sinclair (72)
Rookie Roulette: Pedlar (80), Phillipou (52), Michalanney (46), Bytel (25)
Maybe you dodged the Mills bullet and went to the top instead. Laird (101) or Steele (75) for example. Such was the drubbing of supposedly good team St Kilda that both teams subbed out/benched their superstars by precaution. Unbelievable scenes. That blow was cushioned somewhat if you had Laird, who was on for a big one but at least raised the bat, or if you held and fielded Pedlar.
There’s nothing quite as admirable in the Fantasy community as delivering a ton under an injury cloud so take a bow RoMar. Dawson (116) continues to be a painful watch for non-owners, and faithful rookie duo Phillipou and Michalanney have now topped out. There’s no screaming hurry to trade them, but you can absolutely move them on if need be. If Bytel can get a solid run at it I like him as an option, but he seems to always have sub written all over him.
Collingwood v GWS
Freak: Daicos (115)
Flop: Green (81)
Rookie Roulette: Angwin (42), Fleeton (31), Cadman (24)
Collingwood put on a clinic and also some time into Daicos early but, superstar he is, he broke through anyway in the second half and roamed free. Titch (120) was very impressive and so was potential target Whitfield (120). Whitters is getting a little pricey so this is the last week if you’re going to do it. Callaghan (91) has been bloody amazing since I gave him the boot. Green’s 81 was flat, but he still got 30 touches, the problem was he was very handball happy and didn’t do much tackling. Jelly (113) had a very nice Q4 whilst Cogs faded late. I wish Mason Cox (129) was relevant because I’d love to bring him in. Actually the only relevance is how performances like that will effect DCam’s role when he comes back.
The rookie trade in options were all a bit lackluster this week so we may have to pay up and/or get a bit creative.
Bring them in: Docherty, Sharp, Humphrey
Cop it on the chin: Anderson, Sinclair, Green
Put them in the bin: Michalanney, Chandler, Davey
