I hope you made it through to the next round of SuperCoach finals. This is a week where our premium players have low averages against their upcoming opponents. But I will do my best to find you the diamond in the rough.
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Read on for my recommendations.
Vice-Captains
1. Zach Merrett
Zach has scores of 139 and 143 in his last two matches (both against easy midfield matchups). This week he plays another easy midfield matchup in North Melbourne. The Kangaroos give up the third-most points to midfielders this season and Merrett scored 137 on them earlier in the year despite being tagged for three quarters. There is a chance he is tagged again this time considering their last meeting, but as a VC option you don’t need to stress about that. Zach will be my Vice-Captain. Darcy Parish could also be an option if you want someone more unique.
2. Luke Davies-Uniacke
Luke has never scored 100 SuperCoach points in a game against Essendon during his career. I predict that to change on Saturday. LDU is coming off scores of 106, 127, 133, 129 and 134. This week he plays against Essendon (who do not tag) at Marvel Stadium (where he averages 113 this year). Tim Kelly (117), Chad Warner (117), Marcus Bontempelli (126) and Tom Liberatore (126) have all scored well against the Bombers recently playing as inside midfielders.
3. Errol Gulden
Errol has scores of 152 (against an easy matchup) and 120 (against a hard matchup) in his last two games. He is in great form and should be a VC option every week with his huge ceiling. This week he plays against Gold Coast, who were an easy team to score against under Stewart Dew but have really clamped down on opposition midfielders in recent weeks. For that reason, I would not Captain Gulden, but he is a worthy VC. 115 in their matchup earlier in the year and 117, 124 and 164 in his last three at the SCG.
Captains
1. Tim English
Tim is in great form, leading the SuperCoach league in points scored in 2023. Hawthorn is a tough ruck matchup when they play both Reeves and Meek, but for the last three games that hasn’t been the case. This week Hawthorn have named Reeves as a solo ruck, which means that English should have an easier matchup than the last time he played them (for a score of 90). I can’t see Reeves containing English around the ground at the large UTAS Stadium surface and he should have access to plenty of marks.
2. Caleb Serong
Caleb has averaged 118 points per game (2 games) since Hayden Young entered the Dockers midfield as a tagger. The move appears to have energised Serong and Brayshaw and their midfield mix is working well. This week he plays against the easiest team to score against in the league; the West Coast Eagles. Serong is averaging 16 contested possessions and 9 clearances per game in the last three weeks and with the Eagles being an easy ruck matchup, Luke Jackson should be able to feed his star midfielder all game.
3. James Sicily
James is the in form defender at the moment, with a three-round average of 146. Luke Beveridge has flagged that the Bulldogs will put some time into containing Sicily, but that doesn’t worry me as they have been one of the easiest matchups for SuperCoach defenders all season. Sicily has scores of 128, 134 and 87 against the Bulldogs in their last three matchups. His high score of 135 at UTAS Stadium could be in danger here if they let him roam free.
4. Rory Laird
There will be a big score in this game as it features Laird, Dawson, Neale and Dunkley. I just have no confidence in which one it will be. I am recommending Laird because his last three games against the Lions have led to scores of 115, 142, and 129 (although it must be noted those three games were all at Adelaide Oval). Additionally, in every instance that he has had a poor game over the last three years, he has bounced back the next week with a big SuperCoach score. He has scored under 100 four times this year and his average in the following game is 136.
5. Jack Steele
Jack went missing in the second half of the game last week and only scored a 57 as a result. This was a horrible second half from the Saints as a whole and would be embarrassing for their skipper. He also only scored 52 points on them earlier in the year. Why am I recommending him then? Purely because he is the Captain of a team coming off an embarrassing loss into a must-win game and he needs to lift. It is the same reason I recommended Merrett (139) a fortnight ago and Bontempelli (153) last week. Those two previous names willed their team to a strong performance, and I think Steele can do the same on Sunday.
POD Captain?
1. Luke Jackson
This could be a fun one. Luke was the highest scorer of the round last week, with a monster 173. This week he plays against West Coast, who give up the second-most points to opposition ruckmen. And they have dropped their backup ruckmen, meaning Bailey Williams will have to ruck for the majority of the game with some help from Jack Darling. Those two players combine to only win the Hit Out in 36% of their ruck contest, which should lead to a Luke Jackson clinic. Jackson’s scores as a solo ruck this year (games without Sean Darcy) are 119, 118, 100, 87, and 173 (an average of 119). Luke will be my Captain.
My moves
I scored 2,476 last week which had me climbing up to rank 230th for the season.
Last week I chose Merrett as Vice-Captain (143) into a Dunkley Captain (77). I took Merrett’s score as Captain.
I predict Merrett to be my highest scorer of the week and he will get my VC armband. Luke Jackson will be my fallback Captain.
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