After a horrible week from a lot of our premiums in round 5, who is left for us to trust as our VC/C moving forward? Let’s take a look at the best options for us to back in this week.
Vice-Captains
Zach Merrett is yet to drop under a ton this year, with three of his 5 games resulting in scores over the 120 mark. Last week against the Crows we saw Sam Walsh make his way to 145 in his first game back from injury, and last year in this matchup, Merrett had a day out himself, ending the day with 150 next to his name. Oh, and his career average at Adelaide Oval is 123. If you are an owner, lock and load.
Jack Steele & Rowan Marshall are next in line as VC options this week, with Marshall being the pick for me if you have to choose between the two, however there isn’t much between them. It is a great match up for both players, and they’re both in elite form. Marshall is coming off 138 and 136 in the last two weeks, whilst Steele has put up 4 scores of 120+ in a row. Last year against the Dogs, Steele scored 118 and Marshall scored 116. You can’t go wrong with either of these guns.
Marcus Bontempelli was more than disappointing for owners last week, and many may have seen enough to be looking elsewhere for their VC after a very slow start to the season other than his one monster against Geelong a couple of weeks ago. However, superstars rarely have 2 bad games in a row, and if you don’t own any of the guys above or want what could possibly be a great point of difference with your VC this week, the Doggies skipper can’t be completely looked over.
If you manage to miss a respectable score from the guys listed above I have listed the 5 guys you can fall back on as your Captain later in the week below.
Captains
- Josh Dunkley
Going a little bit under the radar this year, only 3% of the competition own Dunkley as he quietly ticks along averaging 113 for the year. He comes up against Geelong this week, who are allowing monster scores to be put up against them on a weekly basis. Last week it was North Melbourne who cashed in, with 6 players scoring 100+, with Harry Sheezel leading the way with 159. The week before that it was the Bulldogs, with Bont (145), Libba (132) and Treloar (125) all scoring season highs by quite a margin against the Cats. If you’re not yet convinced, Worpel scored 152 against them the week before. The point is, Geelong allow ridiculous amounts of points to be scored against them, and this week Dunkley will do the same.
- Caleb Serong
After a couple of quiet weeks against 2 of the toughest match ups for inside mids you can find, the Freo jet is about to bounce right back to the areas he was in for the first three weeks of the year. Coming up against the Eagles on Saturday night, I expect Serong to bounce back, even though the match up hasn’t been as easy this year as it was last year, with Gulden and Green the only players to score 120+ against the Eagles so far in 2024. Last year in the match up Serong had mixed results of 127 and 86, but in yet another week where fall-back captaincy options aren’t too easy to find, Serong has scored below 90 just 4 times since the beginning of 2023 and is as safe as they come.
- Harry Sheezel
109 and 112 last year were the scores Sheezel put up against the Hawks last year in his rookie campaign. This year he is averaging 129.Last week he scored 159. Last week against the Hawks Anderson scored 154 and Flanders scored 125 in Sheezel’s half back role. Why isn’t he higher on the list? The threat of the Finn match-up is there. It seems as though the Hawks are moving away from using him as a shutdown player unless they absolutely have to, but with the form Sheezel has been in, and it being a very winnable game for the Hawks, why wouldn’t they shut down Norths far and away best player and architect off half back? It’s enough for me to slide him down to three on the list instead of number 2, but even if he cops a tag at half back, I think that only means he will move up field and find a way to get involved elsewhere. You can’t bet against a bloke who hasn’t scored below 120 this year.
- Connor Rozee
Just keeps getting it done. Low score of 99 for the year, averaging 112. Last year against the Pies he had scores of 81 and 108, but like Serong above, he is consistent and reliable, and seems to be taking has game to another level this year. He has shown us no reason to believe we can’t trust him.
- Sam Walsh
Are we overreacting to his come back game score of 145? Are we getting carried away by the hype? Possibly. But the fact of the matter is, although it is thought to be a tough match-up with GWS this week, last week Brad Hill scored 150 against them, Steele had 120 and the week before Noah Anderson scored 113. Last year against the Giants he scored 87 in round 24 once he had run out of gas towards the end of the year before getting a rest before finals. The year before he had scores of 110 and 102. Only for the brave hearted, but he is certainly worth consideration.
Other people to consider as captaincy options this week include Noah Anderson, Tom Green and Isaac Heeney, however with their match ups this week, I would target one of the guys above ahead of them. Best of luck for round 6, and let’s hope for some massive captaincy scores!
