It was the first week of AFL Fantasy finals and some of the big guns delivered to help us, led by James Sicily and Marcus Bontempelli while Nic Newman and Jack Ziebell thrust themselves into relevance.
Western Bulldogs v Richmond
Freak: Bont (151)
Flop: Smith (68)
The first week of finals sees me wave goodbye to rookie roulette. Everyone’s team is hopefully ‘complete’ or nearly complete, but fear not, I’ll still highlight the important targets. It was Friday VC heaven as Richmond confidently announced they wouldn’t be tagging Bont. A curious strategic decision which went exactly as you might expect. English (131) VCers were given a bit of a fright early, but he came home like a steam train with a fifty point final term. TT (99) also eventually put something half-respectable together, but who would’ve thought the play was trading him out at his bye? This game does strange strange things. Macrae (90) and Daniel (83) went unders, and I am happy for you to ditch Daniel for one of the proper premiums. Bailey Smith has notched up yet more votes as biggest Fantasy disappointment of the year.
Essendon v West Coast
Freak: Merrett (128)
Flop: Martin (52)
Who does this game say more about? Unfortunately I think it may very well be Bombers. The two set up for big hundreds, Merrett and Parish (113) came through, but not with the overwhelming 150s people were predicting and honestly I think it was because they weren’t beating the Eagles at the stoppage as much as everyone thought they would. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not turning my nose up at either of those scores, I’m just a little smug I VC’d Bont instead of Merrett, and dirty that Parish scored less than the man I traded him in for. Nic Martin and Hobbsy both failed to manage 60 and the reminders that you need the main five forwards seem to come week after week. Tsatas (65) looked good but it was very rude of Essendon to debut him this late. He would otherwise have been everyone’s first picked in 2024.
Adelaide v Gold Coast
Freak: Borlase (90)
Flop: Anderson (84)
Good LORD is this kissed. I randomly swapped out my rookie downgrade to Borlase just to fix a minor rookie bench flexibility issue, chucked the E on him and then ended up looping him on the ground. Sure, it only netted me 17 points, but honestly this game can be ridiculous. Needless to say he’s the downgrade option of the week. Anyone who took a flyer on Matt Crouch (120) would be feeling very smug, but the rest of the popular premiums were floppier than a wacky waving inflatable arm failing tube man. Laird’s 102 is extremely flattering, he started with an 8 point Q1, and somehow turned out to be the best of a bad bunch. Dawson (98) similarly saved his score, while Anderson did not. We’ll be taking 94 from Flanders, though.
Hawthorn v Collingwood
Freak: Sicily (160)
Flop: Daicos (37)
Well, well well. Welcome back to the top of the Sicdog rollercoaster. And. They. Won. What is happening? If anyone was brave enough to bench or bin off Nick Diacos because of the Finn Maginnes (32) tag flag, I can only commend you. It was potentially a Hilux winning move. The kicker is the six weeker injury. I hope he makes it back for the finals. You could go straight to Sicdog or whichever of Docherty/Dawson/Sinclair you don’t have. Reeves’ (95) weird ability to restrict ruckmen came though again even without a partner in crime, so DCam only managed an 80 despite Cox being dropped. Day (106) has put together a few good ones again and is frankly holding my dodgy backline together.
Geelong v Port Adelaide
Freak: Butters (130)
Flop: Houston (46)
See, this is what I mean about the D6 dilemma. Week to week it could just as easily be Butters as anyone else. His mate Rozee (109) wasn’t too shabby either and, have mercy, Tom Stewart (94) gave us a significant rage-trade energy with a 22 point first half, but saved it with a 72 point second. How the mighty have fallen, with Houston delivering his worst score of the year from 81% TOG. Absolutely gross. That would be a very worthy rage trade.
GWS v Sydney
Freak: Green (141)
Flop: Me
All I can do is apologise. What in the heck happened between last week and this week to Callum Mills (117). He has slammed a score in my face so good that my ‘upgrade’ to Parish netted me -4 points. What a boilover. Is this going to keep happening? I can’t be trusted on this one, but I honestly would still be looping Mills if you can. Gulden (132) just keeps on getting it done, as does forgotten man Briggsy (114). Green wasted absolutely no time in getting back to it and probably had an impact on Cogs’ (90) and Jelly’s (71) output. The Jelly experiment might actually be an instafail. Could you trade? Could you bring Green back? Gee, it would be a lovely POD but it’s a move for the bold.
North v Melbourne
Freak: Ziebell (138)
Flop: LDU (82)
Not to be outdone by Collingwood and Essendon, Melbourne did their best to serve up a load of slop against a bottom side before righting the ship. JZ has flagged he’s going not with a whimper, but with a bang. Idk about you but if he’s in the 22 each week I really, really don’t mind a side swap from Windy for a 23rd premium. Sheezel (53) and LDU can raffle the Flop but in the end LDU takes it because Sheez rocketed us through the first half of the season and his ownership is still relatively high. Gawn (97) owners finally took a small hit. I’m still wrong about Petracca (108).
St Kilda v Carlton
Freak: Newman (139)
Flop: Steele (59)
Sometimes the popular, risky move is the right one and that was the case here for Nic Newman. He’s a genuine option for Diacos. Marshall (116), Doch (112) and Hewett (105) also performed well. You’ll note that Crouch (126) is absent from that list and this is mainly because he ate donuts in Q4, which really makes that score very remarkable. There was also a lot to loathe about this game starting with a long line of Floppy troublemakers, headlined by Jack Steele. NWM (74), Sinclair (83) can be included and I’ll throw in Windy (64) for good measure. Windy has been a superb post-bye pick up but it’s time to move that cash onto your field.
Fremantle v Brisbane
Freak: Jackson (149)
Flop: Dunkley (81)
What a cracking game of footy, it’s a shame it was another competitive field for the Floppers though. Luke Ryan (76) charged to the bottom of his rollercoaster, but Dunks just has to take it given many brought him in instead of Sicdog (gasp) this week. If that was you, I probably don’t need to tell you that was a 79 point turnaround. Luke Jackson, on the other hand, finally came good against Lions Deputy Fort (79), but even then nobody could’ve expected him to nearly raise the bat by half time. A brilliant Fantasy game. Serong (125) has gone a little under the radar lately. He basically gets a ton every week but this was a big one. Brayshaw (106) made a slow start look ok, as did Neale (104) who looking on for another stinker early.
Bring them in: Borlase, Newman, Ziebell
Cop it on the chin: NWM, LDU, Steele
Put them in the bin: Windhager, Martin, Daicos
