Last week saw some of our favourite fantasy guns return to their best with some huge ceiling scores being a massive boost for coaches who pumped out some pretty big scores with us being back to best 22.
Heading back into best 18 again this week, hitting one of those ceiling scores as your captain can make a huge difference in your weekly rankings. So who are the best options for round 5? Let’s take a look.
Vice-Captains
The toughest job for me this week is splitting who the best VC option is on Friday night, with Marcus Bontempelli and Zach Merrett facing off against each other in what is considered a great matchup for both players. Although Merrett has had the hotter start to the year, I am leaning towards Bont as the better option this week. The reason being, in the last 3 weeks, Essendon have allowed 3 scores of 110+ in each round. This is enough to tell me that there will be plenty of points to be had for Bont this week, and after returning to his best with a 149 last week, we know his ceiling is still as good as anyone. Last year in this match up he scored 128, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see something around this mark again.
Merrett has scored 120+ 3 times from 4 games this year, and his other game was a 110. We know the Dogs give up plenty of points, but last year he only had 88 against them. Last week in a tough match up against Port, Merrett scored 135, proving that he is capable of performing against anyone. A great option for his owners, especially whilst in such good form, but I have Bont coming out on top this week.
The other VC option early in the week is Nic Martin. I hate doing this, it hurts me to have to write it as I am one of the 65% of coaches who clearly have no idea how to play this game and didn’t start with him in my side. After a 93 to start the season, Martin has scored 3 consecutive tons, including a 145 against St Kilda, followed up by 114 last week in what was supposed to be a tough match up against the Power. The dogs allowed McGovern (105) and Duggan (104) to take 11 and 10 marks respectively against them in the backline 2 weeks ago, and I am afraid that if Martin is allowed to collect those sort of numbers, he will be scoring 140+ again… Merrett and Bont are above him just because of the safety of it, but safety doesn’t always get you a long way in this game. Nic could be the best of the lot.
Captains
If you need to fall back on someone later in the week, I have outlined the top 5 options below. Take caution with taking on a respectable VC score this week in my opinion though, as it seems to be a tough week to pick a fallback captaincy option that doesn’t have risk.
- Jack Steele
He really is back to his best isn’t he? A lazy 131 points last week which was constructed with 33 touches and 10 tackles lifted his season average up to 120, whilst making it 3 weeks in a row he has scored that figure or higher. Last year, in a down season, Steele came up against the Giants twice for scores of 121 and 114. The 114 was in the elimination final, where he went head to head with Tom Green, and gathered a lazy 38 disposals. It is expected that we will see this head to head battle again this week, and the reason his score wasn’t a lot bigger in that final is because he only managed 2 tackles. Considering his lowest tally for this year is 6, with 2 games of 10 or more already, I expect that tackle count to be much higher this time around, and the best looking man in footy should provide a good captaincy option for us.
- Rowan Marshall
The Saints big man dominated the second half last week, scoring 92 points to finish on 136 for the day. It was his 3rd score of 117 or higher for the year, with his only blemish being an 86 point effort in round 2 against the restrictive Collingwood dual ruck set up. The big man is as safe a captaincy option as you will find, and as long as Tom Campbell isn’t named this week, which was flagged by Ross Lyon in his press conference as a possibility at some stage, he will be as safe a captaincy option as any again this week. Last year he had scores of 110 and 138 in this match up, and Briggs has already allowed scores of 121 to Xerri and 131 to Darcy Cameron as his direct opponents this year. He also plays the first game on Saturday, so he and Steele could both be used as a VC option with a ceiling if you wish.
- Harry Sheezel
I apologised last week for not giving this man the respect he deserved so far, and he again showed why he needs to be considered as an option each week. Playing on a narrow ground at Norwood Oval, there were concerns that half backs wouldn’t have enough space to rack up the ball like they usually do, but Sheez certainly showed that he had no dramas, getting his hands on the footy 35 times for his 4th consecutive score of 120+ to start the season. That is ridiculous consistency for anybody, let alone a second year player. Last year against the Cats, he did have a day to forget, only managing 52 points from 15 disposals. However, the young gun is a different gravy this year, and considering the Cats have given up 4 scores of 125+ in the last 2 weeks, including 149 to Bont last week and 152 to Worpel the week before, I fully expect him to put last years effort behind him and continue on with his elite form.
- Tom Green
A little win for non owners last week with a score of 88, I expect Green to bounce back and make those non owners feel sick again this week. 112 and 111 against the Saints last year, 3 scores of 116+ to start the season before last weeks blip on the radar and a season average of 117. If you own him, don’t worry about one down week, everyone will have them at some stage. He can be trusted as a captaincy option in round 5.
- Connor Rozee
Another man I haven’t shown enough respect to start the season. Averaging 115 over the first month of the season, fresh off one of the best games you will see anyone have with 36 touches and 3 goals for a 133 against the Bombers, the young Port Adelaide captain is a superstar, and has become a genuine premium midfielder in AFL Fantasy. Only one Carlton midfielder scored over 90 against Freo last week, and Laird and Dawson only just scraped to the 100 point mark the week before that, otherwise Rozee would be higher on the list. With that being said, like Sheezel, Rozee is just getting the job done, and should do so again this week.
For the brave: Only 3% of the competition own this guy, but if he was more highly owned he would be sitting high on my captaincy list this week… Liam Duggan is set to reward the coaches who own him this week, fresh off 125 last week and 3 consecutive tons, he is walking into a match up against the Tigers, who have allowed Wanganeen-Milera (127) and Jake LLoyd (107) to do absolutely anything they please across half back in the last two weeks, and anyone else who plays there as well. All season the Tigers have been happy for half bank flankers to rack up as much ball as they want, and considering how much the ball is going to be down there, this should result in a monster from Duggan this week. He has a ceiling, with back to back scores of 140 and 137 last year, so if you own Duggan and want to take a risk to separate yourself from the pack this week, I am fully behind it. What better way to end your weekend than watching your captain storm home with a monster score in the last game of the round?
Best of luck to everyone this week, let’s hope for some massive ceiling scores from our captains!
