Western Bulldogs ruckman Tim English top scored for the round, with Errol Gulden, Zach Merrett and the returning Josh Dunkley not far behind, while there were flops including popular trade-in target George Hewett.
Collingwood v Carlton
Freak: Newman (123)
Flop: Hewett (66)
Rookie Roulette: Cincotta (66), Hollands (53)
Trust Carlton to storm home in a massive upset but produce nothing Fantasy relevant, unless you’ve taken a flyer on Newman. DCam (98) holders will be very happy with that, no doubt assisted by the subbing of Cox (14), although they’ll be a bit miffed that he briefly tonned up before a late update robbed him of it. Daicos (97) and Doch (87) went unders, with Doch being brought in by some this week. An 87 on debut is pretty annoying, but there is no doubt he is cemented in the top 6 backs. Unfortunate scenes for Cerra (66) who’s got hammy problems, but apparently it’s not a concern for Carlton who don’t need two of their top mids to beat the premiership favourite?
Geelong v Fremantle
Freak: Brayshaw (122)
Flop: Young (83)
Rookie Roulette: Sturt (53), Hamling (48), Stanley (17)
It’s a very Freo phenomenon to dramatically beat a finals contender away the week after they wave goodbye to their finals hopes. It’s a good metaphor for fantasy, really. A stellar return to form for Andy Brayshaw, with Stewart (112) similarly scoring well. Ryan (112) continues to be the unique defender of the year, whilst Serong (101) and Duncan (94) did enough. Hayden Young has hopefully been moved on by now but he gets the flop because he scored 81 points in the first three quarters and two in the last. Jackson (79) under-delivered again but unless you’ve got nothing else going on I’d be holding him and looping where possible.
Western Bulldogs v GWS Giants
Freak: English (153)
Flop: Bont (86)
Rookie Roulette: Angwin (49), Cadman (15)
It was a very, very competitive field for what was the biggest upset this weekend but it would have to go to me, because I had the biggest tantrum. I’m really going to try hard not to make this entire paragraph about how I captained Bont instead of English. Just kidding. Sweet merciful crap what a nightmare. I feel worse than the Doggies must for letting this one slip. I checked Bont’s score near the end and I was busy cursing the 89 he was on, when really I should’ve taken that because then he gave away a free. This man scored forty three in Q1 and I thought this was my round. It wasn’t. Even Macrae (107), who was in the CBAs and everything, outscored him. God. How good if you traded Briggsy (130) to English, an upgrade of 23 points! The rest of this was good, I guess, with Cogs (129) and Jelly (122). Actually no it wasn’t; as Daniel (39) spudded it up on his least favourite ground with an absolutely deplorable score. And alongside him Himmelberg (62) and Smith (69) crashed back to Earth.
Gold Coast v Brisbane
Freak: Dunkley (137)
Flop: Neale (60)
Rookie Roulette: Wilmot (75), Lohmann (63), Humphrey (47), Fletcher (39), Tunstill (13)
Another upset! You know you’re in strife when you’re a top team thumped by a bottom team and your best player told us mid-week he hasn’t really recovered from injury. But it was no calf, no problem for Dunks, what a superstar. Get him the eff in immediately. You can trade him in for absolute Flop Lachie Neale while you’re at it. What a stinker. He was outscored by Lohmann, poor bloke, who has been parked on my desolate bench since the byes. We really all should’ve brought Flanders (103) in three weeks ago, but instead I have Mills. More on that later. Anderson (110) returned to form and Miller (97) has shown he can play a sublime game without really racking up the fantasy points of old. Ratkins chipped in with a ninety, a bit unders for him really. Yes I am smirking as I write that.
Essendon v Sydney
Freak: Gulden (142)
Flop: Mills (56)
Rookie Roulette: Menzie (50), Davey Jr (27)
A ripping game for all involved except the entirety of Essendon and one Sydney player. Number 14, who are you and what have you done with Callum Mills? Idk what is going on but that bloke can’t score and needs to go to a new club or something and be an inside midfielder. I’m done, I’m pulling the pin on this and so should you. I ended up looping him off for Windy, for goodness sake. Here I was, genuinely worried he’d score an awkward 75-85 and I’d have to make a really big call about Windy. Instead it was literally the easiest looping decision I’ve made this season. What else happened here? Oh yes, Gulden was exceptional, Merrett (140) back to his best, Parish (93) ok, and Lloyd (127) plunging a dagger into my heart again. If that calf rules Rampe out, Lloydy is a sneaky option. This wasn’t without its flops, though with Hobbs (73), Martin (67) and especially Parker (52), what a putrid display.
Adelaide v Port Adelaide
Freak: Dawson (134)
Flop: Keays (62)
Rookie Roulette: Pedlar (68), Nankervis (59), Visentini (55), Keane (51), Michalanney (44), Williams (27)
I worried myself out of bringing Laird (115) straight back with the injury and the match up but that was stupid. I’ll have to get cracking on that asap. Laird was a bad pick this week in the same way that Aliir doesn’t have a concussion. Which is of course to say, not at all. Rozee (106) was solid again and again his mate Butters (83) was not. His ability to get 30+ touches but not ton up is unrivalled. It’s frustrating but I wouldn’t be moving him on because from one week to the next it could be him or someone else at D6. If you can’t get your other borderline forward up, you could persuade me to tick off Butters to Dunkley/Taranto/Cogs/Rozee/Gulden, but your team would have to be pretty schmick to have nothing more important to do. The writing was on the wall for Keays, and this week he only managed 62, and that included two goals.
Hawthorn v St Kilda
Freak: Crouch (133)
Flop: Sicily (95)
Rookie Roulette: Phillipou (73), Weddle (59), Ryan (55), Caminiti (54), Blanck (24), Mackenzie (24), Mitchell (22)
A whopping game for fantasy with a massive ten hundreds notched up, including a massive one from Crouch. Which helps to explain SicDog’s flop award despite nearly tonning up himself. The thing is, a 160 was on the cards and didn’t eventuate. The rest of the usual suspects were all very impressive: NWM (125), Day (119), Steele (116), Sinclair (106) and even the man who caused us all the anxiety this week, RoMar (114). Brandon Ryan has popped his hand up for a downgrade option.
West Coast v North Melbourne
Freak: LDU (120)
Flop: Witho (52)
Rookie Roulette: Hewett (73), Williams (62), Phillips (57), Long (55), Maric (42), Chesser (31), Hansen Jnr (18), Archer (17)
I don’t think these teams understood the assignment in the Harley Reid cup. Least of all Sheez (98) and popular trade-in target LDU who were huge late. But I do not care, what a win for the mighty Eagles. Turns out Jack Williams was the correct cover to bring in for the ruck line, and Witho isn’t used to the ball not being down back every two seconds. Otherwise this game was filled with fantasy irrelevance.
Bring them in: Laird, Gawn, LDU
Cop it on the chin: Bont, Taranto, Butters
Put them in the bin: Mills, Himmelberg, Neale
