Some premiums found some form again last week in what was a tough round to find a Fantasy captain, but there wont be any issues this week with plenty of big names finding themselves in very friendly match ups. Let’s take a look at the top options for round 7!
Vice-Captains
After missing the memo on Max Gawn as a VC a couple of weeks ago for his 149, I wont make the same mistake this week. Playing Wednesday night after a week off, there isn’t a better option than the Melbourne skipper this week as he comes up against Richmond and Nankervis, who has allowed Marshall (136) and Grundy (103) to score freely against him in the last few weeks, and he has been a friendly matchup for rucks for an extended period now. Last year against Richmond, Gawn had scores of 96 and 131. The hot streak will continue rolling this week.
Zach Merrett and Nick Daicos face each other Thursday afternoon in the Anzac day clash, and I expect both of them to make the most of it. Daicos loves a medal almost as much as Darcy Parish in 2021/22, finishing this game last year with 140 points. Merrett missed the Anzac clash last year, but when the teams played off again in round 24 (which Daicos missed), Zach pumped out a massive 146. If you own both, I have Merrett coming out on top purely based on form so far this year, but you can’t go wrong either way.
If you are still looking, Josh Dunkley and Tom Green face off later in the day in the GWS vs Brisbane clash. They have both had hot starts to the year, but Green is down on form since his bye, and Dunkley had a down week last week, so if you can pick one of the three above, that is the way to go. Nic Martin is another guy you could have a look at with your VC if you want to take a different approach to most this week.
If you do happen to miss out on a respectable VC score, there are plenty of guys in VERY favourable match ups later in the week. Have a look at who is the best Captain option below.
Captains
- Isaac Heeney
This is exactly what we have all been waiting for Heeney to do for over half a decade. Finally, after moving into the midfield permanently this season, he is yet to score below 108 in his first 6 games, has 3 scores of 120+, and is averaging 118. This week he comes up against Hawthorn, who have allowed Noah Anderson to score 154 against them 2 weeks ago, De Goey to score 135 the week before that and Perkins and Merrett to score 130 and 125 respectably in round 1. The point is, midfielders love racking up against the Hawks, and it will be Heeney’s turn this week.
- Rowan Marshall
Had a stinker last week which hurt owners, but he is still averaging 109 for the season and has had 2 scores of 130+ in the last 3 weeks. Coming up against Port Adelaide this week, who Marshall has a respectable history against, resulting in a career average of 129.8… This includes a score of 159 against them last year. Yes, they have different rucks now in Soldo and Sweet, but my best comparison for what Marshall should score in match ups is Gawn, as the two are on a different level to the rest of the rucks in terms of fantasy, and Max scored 146 against them in round 3. History suggests RoMar will bounce back in a big way this week.
- Caleb Serong
A little underwhelming last week on what I was expecting, but he still ended up being the second best Fantasy performer of the match (1 point behind Tim Kelly). Coming up against the Dogs at home, with a career average of 108 against them, including scores of 134 and 114 last year. We saw the dogs belt St Kilda last week, but we know they can be volatile in their performance, and can give up plenty of points on their day too. Serong is a safe option again this week.
- Sam Walsh
Sam Walsh played another ripper last week, racking up 35 touches, but only resulting in 101 points. This is because he didn’t take a mark, and laid 4 tackles compared to his 13 the week before. I still think these low 100 scores are the floor for Walsh as long as he is getting the CBA’s he is at the moment, and if he can add some marks or a couple more tackles to his disposal numbers, it wont be long before he is pumping out another monster like he did in his comeback game 2 weeks ago. This week he has a brilliant match up in Geelong, and the Cats are playing good footy and winning games, but they are doing it without being too worried about what the opposition are doing. Last week Zorko (127) and Berry (117) found plenty of the footy, the week before Sheezel scored 159, and before that it was Bont with 149, with Libba (132) and Treloar (125) not far behind. That is plenty of big scores against Geelong in the last 3 weeks, and Walsh could do the same this week.
- Zak Butters
We are so close to seeing this guy explode for a monster. 5 tons from 6 games, including 3 over 110. Last week he had managed to rack up 15 disposal on his way to 61 points by quarter time, only to have very disappointing second and third quarters before getting going again in the last to finish on 117 for the day. After a disappointing showing as a team against the Pies, I expect Butters and the rest of the Port side to bounce back this week and I can see it being the week we see Butters put 4 quarters of footy together and pump out the ceiling score we are waiting for. Last week there were 5 Dogs players score 125+ against the Saints, with Bailey Dale finding his way to 160. There will be points available for Butters in this match up, and owners can expect him to cash in.
There are other guys who were stiff to miss the top 5 this week, including Dawson after his bounce back game last week and with the perfect match up against North coming up. Sam Flanders also has a good match up against West Coast this week, while Gulden is every chance to run riot against the Hawks with Heeney. Harry Sheezel is the one most unlucky to miss out, but with talk of a potential change of role for him this week, along with the friendly match ups for other premium options, it is enough for me to fade him as a captains choice this week.
As always everyone, let’s hope for a great captaincy score and good luck for round 7!
