Round 10 SuperCoach VC/C Picks: The week for big rucks & big inside mids & an inside-out POD captain

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. Clayton Oliver

Clayton doesn’t have the best track record against the Yartapuulti Football Club (Port Adelaide), who generally restrict opposition scoring. But with them playing the first game of the round, this is a nice easy VC to get your week started. Narrm Football Club (Melbourne) midfielders are currently the second highest SuperCoach averaging midfield in the league, in large part due to Oliver and Petracca’s dominance. Oliver averages 133 at Adelaide Oval.
*Petracca is also a great option if you have him and don’t have Oliver.

2. Max Gawn

Max is averaging 108 through his five non-injured games this year. He now comes up against the Yartapuulti Football Club (Port Adelaide), who give up the most points to opposition ruckmen this year, largely due to Lycett and Teackle winning the Hit Out in only 34.7% of their ruck contests in 2023. They have recently given up 171 points to Todd Goldstein, 110 points to Sam Draper and 159 points to Rowan Marshall. Max averages 130 points at Adelaide Oval in his 7 games played there. A Gawn VC on a Friday night is a nice throwback, and I see no reason why he shouldn’t turn back the clock with a big score here.

3. Errol Gulden

Errol is in red-hot form, averaging 144 points over his last three games, which includes a 156 against Collingwood and a 156 against the Walyalup Football Club (Fremantle). He now plays the injury-riddled, bottom end of the ladder Kangaroos. He tonned up against them last year at Marvel, and he has taken his game to another level since then. North Melbourne give up the third most points to midfielders this year, and I can’t see them containing Gulden this week, so VC with confidence.

Captains

1. Rowan Marshall

Rowan is coming off a score of 131 against Reilly O’Brien, who is usually a tough matchup for opposition ruckmen. That score was largely due to a season-leading 21 Hitouts to Advantage. This week he gets the soft GWS ruck matchup, who only win the Hit Out 39.7% of the time, leading to some big scores from their opponents over the last three weeks; 128 to Mason Cox, 124 to Tim English and 103 to Peter Ladhams. GWS give up the third most points to opposition ruckmen, and Marshall should cash in on Sunday.

2. Zach Merrett

Zach scored a 95 last week after being a popular trade-in target. The Bombers dropped off in the second half and they will be looking for a bounce back this week. There is no bigger stage to bounce back than Dream Team at the G. Expect a big Captain’s game from Merrett this week against a team that does not tag. 150, 102 and 137 in their last three meetings.

3. Marcus Bontempelli

Marcus has only gone under 112 once for the entire season, making him the highest SuperCoach scorer of the year. This week he plays the Crows, whom he averages 120 against across his career (8 games). This is highlighted by a 199 in 2020, which is his SuperCoach PB. The only flag is that the game will be played at a very cold (12°C) Mars Stadium in Ballarat (100 average from 8 games for The Bont at Mars).

4. Jarrod Witts

Jarrod has taken his owners on a bit of rollercoaster this season; scoring well when playing but he has missed two games with injury. He versus the Lions in the QClash this week after scoring 115 in Round 8 and 124 Round 9. Witts scored 143 points on the Lions in the corresponding matchup last year, but also failed with an 86 against them towards the end of 2022. I am expecting a big score this week as the Lions ruckmen only win the Hit Out 39% of the time, leaving plenty of points of the board for Witts in this one.

5. Tim Taranto

Tim comes into this round as the 8^th highest scorer for the season and the #1 forward. He will be playing in his first Dream Time at the G game, and I am expecting a big game from him under the Saturday night spotlight. Essendon may have tried to tag him with Setterfield, but now that Setterfield is out injured, I expect TT to run riot in this one.

POD Captain?

1. Sam Walsh

Still owned by less than 8% of the competition, despite the incoming Forward Status. Sam has started the year well, with 104+ scores in every game he has played. This week against the Pies he should continue that trend, given his last two battles with them have scored him a 123 and a 193. Walsh averages 121 against Collingwood over his career (5 games), his most profitable matchup.

My moves

I scored 2,251 last week to move up to 560^th for the season.

Last week I chose Anderson as Vice-Captain (88) into a Bontempelli Captain (112). I took Bontempelli’s score as Captain.

This week I will have the Vice-Captain on Oliver followed by Marshall 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: 124
– Average C recommendation score: 115
– Average POD C recommendation score: 105
*excluding injured or subbed games