Josh Dunkley, Luke Davies-Uniacke, Sam Flanders, George Hewett and Sam Flanders made their cases to be trade-in options for Round 20, while there were cruel injuries for Sam Walsh and Will Ashcroft.
Essendon v Bulldogs
Freak: Bont (128)
Flop: Merrett (88)
Rookie Roulette: Jackson Macrae (69)
Back to Friday night footy and three VC options looked likely, but only one of them came through. Bont has continued to be unreal despite apparently carrying a small niggle? I’m not worried, he looked to be moving better than VC duds Merrett and English (98). Bailey Smith, is he back? No, don’t be silly, that 114 was through no fault whatsoever of Bevo’s and there’s simply nothing we can rely on there. Lol, he’s so cheap. You’d be mad to do it though. Parish (108) wasn’t blowing them out of the park but with some other premo flops this weekend looks pretty good in retrospect. Young upstart rookie Jack Macrae is putting up rookie numbers but seems promising, I’m sure once he can be trusted with his natural role the scores will start to flow. The only thing worse than fielding that is if the carnage of the last fortnight has meant you’ve held Hobbsy (43), a truly vomtastic display.
Richmond v Hawthorn
Freak: Sicdawg (121)
Flop: Day (80)
Rookie Roulette: Banks (74), Mitchell (59), Weddle (53), Young (36), Coulthard (30), DGB (0) Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. That’s what happened to Sicily owners last week and Hawthorn supporters this week. Sic has repaid the faith though, and I think we can expect this from here on. He’s a top 3 defender imo and just bring him in whenever you can afford it. Meanwhile Soldo (103) has continued his ridiculous Nankless run. One more week to go, though, and he’s up against big Max this week. His BE is ridiculous but if you have the option to trade him out this week I’d almost do that while you can. Taranto (116) is back to his stat-padding ways, but this did take a 3 goal game to get there. Will Day (80) keeps having these really bad starts and recovering late and I just think we’re game away from a proper stinker. He’s a great player but can go missing at times. Banks may very well be the rookie pick of the week.
Carlton v West Coast
Freak: Docherty (130)
Flop: Walshy’s luck (53)
Rookie Roulette: Cincotta (60), Hewett (60), Maric (57), Chesser (56), Long (47), Williams (36), Cowan (35)
Like, come onnnnnn Fantasy Gods, this is as bad as your work on Lloydy the other week. Walsh looked absolutely on fire early, primed to go big and repay the faith, only to ping a hammy and take no further part. Charlie Curnow (146) kicked about a billion goals and there’s going to be a genuine strategy for bringing in big forwards against the Eagles late season, especially if neither Barrass nor McGovern are playing. Docherty ran riot and capitalised on the Eagles’ poor stoppage work, as he played most of the game in the middle. Fortune favours the bold for Witho (103) and George Hewett (91) owners and I tip my hat to them.
Brisbane v Geelong
Freak: Stewart (116)
Flop: Injury Gods (63)
Rookie Roulette: Wilmot (90), Fletcher (76), Mullin (9), Lohmann (5)
Oh boy I was kissed this week. I said goodbye t o Ashcroft (63) who has acquitted himself so well and simply doesn’t deserve an ACL. Swift recovery, Will – you’ll be back in all our sides for years to come. Finally finally Tom Stewart did something useful, alongside returning man Dunks (112) and a better performance from Neale (105). It was a good game for defenders with Coleman (105), Duncan (92) and Superstar Wilmot all performing well. I came very, very close to awarding the Freak to Wilmot. He has stood up at convenient times again and again and honestly I wish I hadn’t traded him at his bye.
Fremantle v Sydney
Freak: Parker (127)
Flop: Brayshaw (91)
Rookie Roulette: Wagner (70), Sturt (63), Johnson (22), Stanley (18)
Freo are just very disappointing at the moment aren’t they? With their finals chances in the toilet, I think it’s certainly possible that even if Darcy does recover before season’s end, that they’ll start his holiday early. Enter Jackson (88) who should have put up more after a fast start. He’s not a top 6 forward, but I don’t think it’s the worst pick up if you need a cheap option. Pretty much everyone disappointed in this game, except for Parker and I suppose Mills (98) and returning Serong (102). Mills was better scoring-wise but didn’t have the role, and needed two goals to get to 98. It’s a concern. It’s not a priority but if you can get him up to a proper premium I tick that off. A-grade premos Gulden (89) and Brayshaw (91) need to produce more than that given their price, and Andy seems to make his way in to the naughty corner with alarming frequency. Johnson is losing cash now, get rid of him asap.
Port v Collingwood
Freak: Houston (106)
Flop: Daicos (86)
Rookie Roulette: Evans (48), Williams (11)
The temptation to trade DCam (99) if he was a forced hold last week was strong, but looking at the match up this week this was a good hold this week. He’s still on the chopping block now that Dunkley is back but if you have the big five forwards it’s still a crapshoot who’s D6 so there’s and argument to be prioritising trading out others just because of who you’re getting on the other end. Of course, if you can get DCam to Dunks I would certainly give that a big tick. Butters (105) looked on for a massive one but went quiet late, while his partner in crime Rozee (108) did the opposite. Those who brought in Houston recently must be feeling a little smug. Apparently Daicos is human, with Drew (117) flattening him and top-scoring for good measure.
GWS v Gold Coast
Freak: Himmelberg (112)
Flop: Miller (81)
Rookie Roulette: Angwin (65), Oea (17), Cadman (16), Humphrey (11), Fahey (8)
HH was high on the list for the chopping block for me, even more so when Haynes (68) was a late in, but he held the role despite that, and really delivered with trade mark +6s. Flanders (110) is once again politely inquiring whether he’s a top six forward and I’ll just advise that Ratkins has a deeply hilarious three game rolling average of 108. On the flipside none of the more ‘reliable’ premos felt like doing anything impressive here with a who’s who of human Flops sticking their hands up. Jelly (94) was mediocre (but at least he didn’t score 30). Cogs (91) did that thing he does sometimes and went to sleep in Q3. Anderson’s 89 was actually flattering because he had seven points at quarter time. Briggsy (73) was never going to be brilliant against Witts (85) but the most disappointing effort has to be Miller, who seemed to be an underpriced option but had been less convincing than I’d hoped.
Melbourne v Adelaide
Freak: Gawn (115)
Flop: Keays (82)
Rookie Roulette: Chandler (83), JVR (51), Pedlar (39), Woewodin (38), McVee (31)
Adelaide are unfathomable. They keep nearly winning games they shouldn’t and then utterly stuffing it up when they should. It’s sort of like putting the captaincy on Tim English. Did anyone pull the trigger on a big dog down to Gawn? It’s too rich for my blood but so far so good. Gus Brayshaw (108) had the role again and this time the points to go with it and boy oh boy wowee are Keaysy and Dawson’s (97) scores looking much, much better than they could have. At the half Jordy Dawdy was on thirty five and the Keays were well and truly on the chain with only twenty one. They came good but Keays just has to go imo. I’ve said it once I’ll say it again, that role is too volatile. He’s on the bin list for the second week running, but he’s got the same issue as DCam if you’ve already got the big 5. Late in Luke Nankervis (67) is an option if he holds.
St Kilda v North
Freak: Steele (133)
Flop: NWM (89)
Rookie Roulette: Windhager (114), Phillips (94), Harvey (23)
I hate this expression but St Kilda are having a season of two halves. They were very lucky to win this. Like Sinc (112) and RoMar (123) and Steele are bloody good right, but the team is just a bit like a limp dishrag. Sheezel (116) what a genuine premium he is. I might have to trade him back in. Windy (114) had gone bang for the second week running, if only we’d been able to get him on the ground. Crouch (97) was fine again and popular target LDU (104) only got going very late. NWM is a bit stiff but he’s put up such good numbers he’s only gone and set the bar too high for himself.
Bring them in: Sicily, Docherty, Banks
Cop it on the chin: Merrett, Miller, Brayshaw
Put them in the bin: Ashcroft, Walsh, Keays
