Captaining the right player became a major point of difference in Round 16 after Josh Dunkley and Tim Taranto let us down on Thursday as VC picks, with Jordan Dawson, Brad Crouch, Nick Daicos and Connor Rozee among the heroes.
Brisbane v Richmond
Freak: Neale (127)
Flop: Taranto (80)
Rookie Roulette: Wilmot (87), Fletcher (77), Young (57), Clarke (47)
This was a revolting display from Richmond coupled which a disastrous VC game, in which obvious options TT and Dunks (72) didn’t deliver. Let’s not panic about Dunks’ calf, since the drubbing was significant enough it was more of a precaution. I query whether Hopper (103) had any effect on Taranto, but having said that Dunks and others put a chunk of time into old TT so I think we can chalk that up to an anomaly. The unlucky few who’ve been rolling with Short (25) were slapped with a round-ruining injury.
Coleman (111) is a big risk play but he seems over his injury concerns and if you’re (very) strapped for cash I will tick it off. Neale (127) has proved the pick of the premium bye round targets and Wilmot the pick of the bye round holds. Ashcroft (95) was quiet early and came good with Dunks off. You can hold one more week for the Eagles match up. Fletcher is a bit expensive, but this has been the year of paying up for rookies. You could still do it if it works for you.
Sydney v Geelong
Freak: Gulden (128)
Flop: Lloyd (79)
Rookie Roulette: Sheldrick (93)
What a wild game. Sydney deployed that controversial tactic of kicking only points and somehow managed not to win. It is lucky for Sydney supporters and Fantasy coaches alike that Sheldrick exists. There’s nothing like a saviour to swoop in off the bench to fix your Yeo problems. A big rookie score on a Friday is the fantasy holy grail, granting looping options galore. I actually swapped red dots in order to take his score, so I finally waved goodbye to Matty Roberts, meaning he’ll probably be back next week.
Gulden has continued to demonstrate a vaulted ceiling and Parker (107) is still doing his thing. Stewart (105) looked on for another floppy effort, but strung it all together late to raise the bat. Duncan (86) was good enough if you brought him in for Yeo, but unfortunately faded late. Cheap target Millsy (85) had the role, attending some CBAs and floating back in defence, with 76% TOG. Was it enough of a look to bring him in? I still think so, but I wouldn’t expect the massive scores of old. Lloydy sucks, I’ve had enough. Ditch him if you have the luxury.
Adelaide v North
Freak: Dawson (136)
Flop: Laird (85)
Rookie Roulette: Wardlaw (86), Phillips (61), Pedlar (57), Michalanney (56), Bergman (49)
Rarely do we have a tough-to-split captaincy choice land us a Freak and a Flop all at once. The Laird captainers would be fuming, especially given that the pack seemed to go with Dawson, who gets the 3 votes in my B&F this round because he put up this score despite getting absolutely crunched right before half time. Lairdy on the other hand had a terrible second half and proved the difference between a good and a shocking round. Keays (132) just looks so very good but the concern was a solitary CBA. Sheez (106) is back to his hundreds which may prove important since a fair number of people chose to trade last week. Ziebell (86) was both the obvious and correct choice to trade throughout the byes. I think Wardlaw (86) is going to continue generating cash and score well. Those who were able to hold last week might see a late season jump. North duo Simpkin (67) and LDU (63) both under-delivered, although LDU had very low TOG in his returning game. They’re cheap but I couldn’t do it.
Bulldogs v Freo
Freak: Serong (134)
Flop: Jackson (35), Smith (51)
Rookie Roulette: Johnson (87), O’Donnell (34), Erasmus (0)
What the actual heck can be said about Bailey Smith? I had him in my top 8 mids preseason but this performance was the floppiest of the lot. He had two lonely CBAs and the worst of it is the Dogs didn’t need him in there. I formally apologise for my take on him a few weeks ago. The lesson is always this: never trust the role at the Bulldogs. Interestingly Macrae (109) was back in the CBAs himself and Bont (116) is just cementing himself in the top couple of mids. Serong was absolute fire in tandem with Darcy (126). Matty Johnson provided yet another good score serviceable for a loop option. It will be difficult to let him go with that BE, but I approve it if you’ve got something good on the other end. The Dogs defenders’ spread is hard to pick with Daniel (74) disappointing and Dale (96) getting the points this week but I do like them both as targets, unlike Young (83) who is a luxury trade out option.
Gold Coast v Collingwood
Freak: Daicos (150)
Flop: Cameron (58)
Rookie Roulette: Humphrey (45), Oea (21), Harrison (4)
In what world, where essentially no-one could rely on their VC, did Daicos not get a look in against the Suns? It seems obvious in retrospect. Side note, he had 3 FAs so it actually could’ve been bigger. Anderson (123) performed well alongside Titch (101) who put to bed mid-week injury worries. Fiorini (95) continues to be incredibly frustrating for past owners so I promise I’ll stop talking about him soon. Rowell (95) propped up owners who were forced to hold when Yeo went down, but DC absolutely did not. It is difficult to assess the role from here on out. I think the Frampton inclusion hurt him. You can move him on but he fits in the luxury trade category. I’d continue looping Sheldrick and decide after having a look. Rookies off the ground should still be a priority, as Humphrey continues to demonstrate. His role has fallen off a cliff.
Essendon v Port
Freak: Rozee (145)
Flop: Martin (64)
Rookie Roulette: Williams (75), Menzie (38), Visentini (9)
This has been a ripping round of footy. Port went into this game raging favourites and only managed it after the siren. Twitter stats guru Swamp pointed out that this is the first time ever a single round has given us a draw and a win after the siren.
Right, enough footy chat, lets get to the important stuff. Rozee, superstar. Lately he’s been gaining on Butters (102), who was still very good. I really like Parish (125) as a POD from here on out although, flag on that, Essendon’s run isn’t great. Merrett (114) has thankfully ditched that yucky forward role and it’s been somewhat at the expense of Hobbs (73). It was tough to award the Flop in this game with plenty of candidates sticking their hand up including Hobbsy. The Essendon backs have gone back to their early season problems with Ridley (52), McGrath and Redman (80) all going unders. In the end Martin takes it solely due to his recent ownership increase.
Hawthorn v Carlton
Freak: Docherty (113)
Flop: Day (79)
Rookie Roulette: Weddle (83), Mitchell (79), Cincotta (24)
Not a good game for fantasy or the Hawks, who are missing SicDog something chronic. Cerra (114) was good but despite the trouncing, the big Carlton mids didn’t cash in, with Walsh (90) and Crippa (91) going unders again. The Hawk defender rookies were more than serviceable for the umpteenth time, which is more than can be said for Will Day. I know he’s coming off a good score last week but I’m comfortable with you moving him on. I’m a broken record as this is luxury trade territory but that is the stage of the season we’re at.
Melbourne v GWS
Freak: Viney (148)
Flop: Briggs (59)
Rookie Roulette: McVee (48), Chandler (22), Angwin (10)
Is this the same team that beat Collingwood a couple of weeks ago? Unbelievable scenes. Jack Viney put on one of his high ceiling games and was followed by Petracca (117) who could’ve had a lot more if it wasn’t for kicking 0.4. Green (108) and Cogs (105) did the job for owners as did risky mid-pricers Salem (98) and Himmelberg (94). The Briggs experiment was a wild, fun ride but it has come to a crashing halt, along with the Darcy Cameron stop gap. Briggs was up against the Gawndy 1-2 punch so that softens the blow, but if you can get him to English I’d be doing that.
West Coast v St Kilda
Freak: Crouch (137)
Flop: Steele (83)
Rookie Roulette: Maric (71), Long (71), Hewett (61), Chesser (61), Ginbey (53), Williams (49), Phillipou (36), Barnett (9)
Sweet merciful crap the Eagles nearly won. This was more heartbreaking than last week. Many of the rookies stood up and Maric and Williams are potential targets. They’re capable of putting up a 30 but Maric at least should hold now. Hewett remains the rookie target of the week, though. He and Chesser put together twin 61s which has given them both a healthy cash boost. Two of the three potential captain options were good ones, with Crouch laying an amazing 17 tackles and RoMar (130) having six of his own. Sinclair (100) on the other had limited CBAs early and stood up late. Everybody actually avoided the vest we were all worried about because it was actually a close game, but that didn’t save Steele from returning to a disappointing performance.
Bring them in: Maric, Parish, Docherty
Cop it on the chin: Laird, Dunkley, Taranto
Put them in the bin: Lloyd, Briggs, Hobbs, Cameron
