A predominantly irrelevant fantasy match up on Friday night leaves us tossing up between two of the best VC options going around early Saturday afternoon.
Vice-Captains
My top option is Errol Gulden coming up against the Suns at the SCG. His last 3 games at home have resulted in scores of 126, 128 and 145. Out of his last 7 games, Errol has posted seven scores of 126 or higher. Two of those over 140. That is pig like numbers.
He has become a genuine, reliable captain option week in week out in front of our eyes this season, and is the perfect VC option any chance you get.
Zach Merrett also plays early Saturday, against North Melbourne at Marvel, where he already posted 155 against them this year. His last two games have been a 140 and a 128, he has played at Marvel seven times this year for six tons, three of them over 140. Those are numbers to make a serious case to VC Merrett over Gulden this week, and I will not talk you out of doing so.
Merrett will be great, I just don’t see how North Melbourne can let him run around doing what he wants after he had 34 touches and two goals against them last time. Its’ a great matchup, Merrett will score well.
I just like Gulden’s chances of reaching that ceiling score you’re looking for in a VC slightly more this week.
Captains
If these two jets don’t pump out a score worth taking this week, the best captain options for the rest of the round are below!
- James Sicily
Last year in this same matchup, at the same venue, Sicily scored 151. Last week, he scored 160. His 3 games at UTAS this year have resulted in scores of 125, 115 and 132. 3 weeks ago, Essendon had 5 defenders score a ton against the Bulldogs. 5 DEFENDERS. The week after, Whitfield scored 134 against them. Points will be there for Sicdawg this week, and his ceiling means that he sits right up the top of the list. Risky, but no one can reward you like the Sicdawg when he has a good day, which everything points towards him having one on Sunday afternoon.
- Andrew Brayshaw
Brayshaw’s consistency has him averaging 109 for the year, with only 5 scores of 120 or more. I know that doesn’t sound exciting as a captaincy option, but we know he does have a ceiling, scoring 157 against the Hawks earlier this year and a 181 last year against the Saints. This week he has West Coast, who allowed Merrett (128) and Parish (113) to score freely last week. Of Brayshaws last 14 games, 12 have been tons, and the other 2 have been 90s. A safe, reliable captain option this week in a friendly matchup, and I believe we might just see him get back towards those ceiling scores again this week too.
- Caleb Serong
Another somewhat “boring” captaincy option, but Serong is as reliable as they come. 11 tons in a row, only 3 scores below 100 for the year, 2 of them being in the 90s. He has had 5 scores of 125+ this year, so he is capable of producing something at the higher end, but he sits behind his teammate above simply because of the ceiling. Serong’s top score this year is 134, and although that is certainly a serviceable captaincy score, I like Brayshaw more due to both being ultra reliable, but Brayshaw the more likely player to score 130+.
- Brad Crouch
126 last week, with 0 points scored in the last quarter. That can be seen as a positive and a negative, but anytime someone is capable of pumping out a score like that in 3 quarters of football is a good sign to me. 133 the week before, and has a nice matchup against Richmond this week, who he had 109 against in round 14, you can expect Crouch to keep up his form this week.
- Marcus Bontempelli
Yes, the Brownlow favourite and in form player of the comp sits at fifth for my captains this week. Honestly, he has only scraped in because of his form. Averaging 124 in his last 5, which includes a 142 in round 18 and 151 last week. He has a great match up against Hawthorn at “Pg Park” this week… Everything points to another monster from Bont right? He will be tagged by Connor Nash. I know that doesn’t sound like too much of a worry, but Nash is one of the only lockdown players in the comp with the size and speed in the middle to be able to somewhat shut down the Bont. He held him to 90 earlier this year already in Round 7. I still expect a ton, but I think it will be on the lower end. He slides into 5th in my rankings on respect for his form alone.
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