The first week of the bye rounds are here. Which means less teams playing, and endless loophole possibilities. There isn’t much point in me dividing players into VC and C options this week, as your bye players do not lock until the final game of the round has begun.
This means you can loop right up until Sunday at 4:40pm AEST. Therefore, I will discuss the top options this week and rank them.
Follow me on Twitter @Pig_Mentality for more SuperCoach VC/C chat.
Captains and Vice Captains
1. Nick Daicos
Nick has flown under the Captaincy radar for many in the last few weeks after being held to a 72 and 81. Despite that, he now has a three-round average of 116 and plays the depleted Eagles. Daicos has only played them once in his career, for a 125. On the other hand, he has only played at Optus Stadium once in his career, for a 65. Small sample sizes are hard to forecast with, but I am expecting a big Daicos score in this one, based on what Redman (144) and Ridley (130) did to them last week. Perfect VC option.
2. Marcus Bontempelli
Marcus scored a 112 in 12°C at Ballarat and then backed it up with a 124 in 31°C at Darwin this week. He has powered through some tough venue changes and now gets a juicy run of 5 straight games at Marvel, under the roof, where he does some of his best work. He neither strives nor struggles against Geelong, averaging 117 against them in their last three meetings. But after losing last week, I expect the Bulldogs Captain to stand up and put out a big score in this one. VC or C option.
3. Zach Merrett
Zach backed up his 162 with a below-par 110 last week. We will take that considering the trip to Optus Stadium is never an ideal one for visiting teams. He now gets a home game, at Marvel Stadium, against North Melbourne. The last few midfielders to play North Melbourne at Marvel? De Goey (156), Pendlebury (119), Warner (137), Parker (136). The risk with Merrett is always that he may be tagged, but that is minimal this week. Safe Captain fallback option.
4. Rory Laird
Rory has only played at TIO Stadium twice, for scores of 111 and 121. Last week at TIO, the highest scorers were the big tacklers; Rowell (159, 7 tackles), Macrae (145, 8 tackles), Bontempelli (124, 11 tackles), Holman (118, 10 tackles). The slippery Darwin conditions should lead to more stoppages and more tackle opportunities, which should help Laird. Gold Coast currently give up the fifth most points to opposition midfielders. VC or C option.
5. Jordan De Goey
I was eyeing off listing Pendlebury as a captain option against the Eagles, but Jordan’s form demanded I recommend him. De Goey has a high score of 138 against West Coast, and I think that could be in danger this week. He comes into this game with a 3-round average of 125, highlighted by a 156 against the Kangaroos. West Coast give up the most points to opposition midfielders this year. VC or C option.
6. Tim Taranto
Tim has never played against the Giants, but he is very familiar with Giants Stadium and will be hungry to put in a big game against his old team. Taranto hasn’t dipped below 90 all season and he just torched Yartapuulti with a 4 goal, 33 disposal game for a season high score of 147. The only worry here is that GWS are the most restrictive team for opposition midfielders this season, but I think we can expect a motivated TT in this one and he should buck that trend. VC or C option.
7. Tom Green
Tom turns into a little Piggy at Giants Stadium. And this week it is the Tigers who visit him. Richmond have been known to give up big points to midfielders this year, with Rozee (111), Merrett (162), Atkins (113) and Sheed (115) all outdoing their season average in their Tigers matchup. Interm Richmond Senior Coach Andrew McQualter said they used Marlion Pickett to tag Rozee last week. This is now a flag that they may tag Green, hence why I have bumped him down this list. He still should score well, but a VC option only now.
8. Tom Liberatore
Tom had a shocker last week, the first time I had recommended him as a Captain option. He obviously struggled in the hot Darwin weather. This week he returns to Marvel and should be back to his bullocking best (141 and 120 in his last two at Marvel this year). Libba has scores of 112, 123 and 126 in his last three against the Cats. I expect more of the same this week. VC option preferred.
POD Captains
1. Matt Rowell
Matt is having a great year, averaging 107 points per game, which has him right on the heels of some of the premium midfielders despite being owned by only 7% of the competition. He thrived last week in the hot slippery Darwin conditions, with a 159, and I see no reason why he can’t go big again. This week he plays against Adelaide in Darwin, where he averages 119 points per game (3 games). Rowell has played the Crows twice in his career, for a 123 and a 141. It is a small sample size, but this week he plays against his most profitable opponent at his highest-scoring ground. Lock it in. VC or C option.
2. Darcy Cameron
Darcy is now playing his third game back from injury and I think he is about to start putting his hand up for F6 consideration. It should begin this week with a trip to Perth to play the Eagles. West Coast are the second most lucrative match up for opposition ruckmen this year, in large part because Williams and Waterman only win the Hit Out 35.2% of the time, leaving plenty of points on the table for their opponents. Owned by less than 5% of the competition, Cameron attended 92% of Collingwood’s Ruck Contests last week, indicating that he is the man for the job. This could be the start of a big second half of the year for DC. VC or C option.
My moves
I scored 2,464 last week which had me climbing into rank 574th for the season.
Last week I chose Sicily as Vice-Captain (172) into a Merrett Captain (110). I took Sicily’s score as Captain.
This week I will have the Vice-Captain on Daicos 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: 120
Average C recommendation score: 116
Average POD C recommendation score: 104
*excluding injured or subbed games
Read our SuperCoach Expert Panel on how to get ahead during the bye rounds
