Round 13 has some juicy match ups for some big name captaincy options in AFL Fantasy, and only 2 teams on the bye. This should equate to easy access to a quality score from your skipper this week, meaning the top options should really be making you lick your lips. It’s about to be a Fantasy feast.
Coaches got the full experience of ups and downs caused by the byes and subsequent best 18 scores last week, with some premiums hitting massive ceiling scores, whilst others may not have even been included in your best 18 for the week. Captaining someone who posted one of those ceiling scores would have gone a long way to determining how your round went, and will continue to do so for the next 3 weeks. So who are the best options for round 13?
Vice-Captains
After being at number 3 on my list last week and producing a horrendous 60 for his owners in what was a massive let down, Jordan Dawson will make up for it this week. There were concerns during the week about a light week on the training track and a fitness test leading into the game in round 12 due to foot soreness, but I would bet they could cut his sore leg off at the knee this week and he will still score a ton. He comes up against Richmond on Thursday night, who allowed 6 tons against them last week, and Adelaide are now without Matt Crouch in the side. Just for the record, Matt Crouch missed one earlier in the year, round 6 against Essendon. Jordan Dawson filled his boots with 155 points that week. It is the easiest VC selection you will have this year. Forget about last week, he will double it on Thursday night.
Marcus Bontempelli flicked the switch last week, producing the highest score of his career with a 159. He comes up against the Lions this week, and I expect Dunkley to be standing next to him for a lot of the day, so I can’t see him producing that sort of score again this week, but we know how good The Bont can be on his day, he has to be considered.
Dayne Zorko is the main man of interest for me on Friday. He has scores of 184 and 148 in his last 4 games, and plays under the roof this week where he wont have any issues taking marks, like he did in those 2 weeks where he took 16 and 15 respectively. A week off last week would have been nothing but a positive for a man of Zorko’s vintage, and he is comfortably my second best VC option this week due to his ceiling.
Josh Dunkley and Adam Treloar are the other options for their small percentage of owners. Treloar is just a reliable option, averaging 109 for the year and averages 11 against Brisbane across his career. Dunkley is much the same, averaging 11 for the season, and scored 116 against the Dogs last year. Only 2 scores below 100 for the year for Dunkley, with the worst one being a 90, and his best for the season being 151. Dunkley over Treloar for me, but I doubt many people own both.
The same situation as last week, if you want to save your VC for later in the week or end up needing a fallback Captaincy option, I have listed the top 5 for round 13 below, and there are some good ones this week.
Captains
- Errol Gulden
A monster ceiling score has been brewing for weeks now for the young superstar, and I think this is the week it finally happens. Last year after the bye, Gulden averaged 118 for the rest of the year, including 7 scores over 120, and 4 over 130. In that period he scored 128 against Geelong, the side he plays this week, who have also allowed some massive scores against them this year, such as 149 to Bontempelli and even 152 to James Worpel. Warner and Heeney will take any potential tags away from Errol, and it is destined he will get off the chain at some point. I am backing in that it is this week.
- Nick Daicos
He has well and truly figured out this midfield thing, hasn’t he? Averaging 122 over his last 5 games, with 2 scores of 130+ in there. He comes up against the Dees this week, who allowed 8 tons to be scored against them last week, including 151 and 142 to Jordan Clark and Luke Ryan. Yes, these guys are half backs who took marks for fun, but Young, Serong and even O’Meara all scored over 106 playing in the midfield last week, and if you think Daicos wont make the most of some potentially easy ball from a couple of marks, you would be mistaken. He plays the last game of the round, and having him as your Captain could be the perfect way to finish your long weekend.
- Sam Flanders
Talk about a guy who just keep getting it done. 113 last week, 109 over his last 5, a low score of 98 in the last 8 weeks. Oh, and he comes up against St Kilda this week, who so far this year have allowed Clark (141), Dale (160) and Martin (145) to do what they want across half back, The list is much longer mind you, these are just the top ones. Flanders will be huge. If he had shown a higher ceiling already this week, he would have been in contention for the number 1 spot. But everyone who has a ceiling had to show they have it before you knew, and that could be this week for Sam.
- Isaac Heeney
He has to be in the list this week with the Geelong match up. Yes, he may cop some attention. No, it wont matter. He has only scored under 100 twice for the entire season, those two scores being a 90 and a 99. He is ultra reliable. He may not have shown the ceiling of some of the other guys this year, but anyone averaging 112 over the year without one score over 130 yet is obviously posting captain scores week in week out. The key word used in that sentence is yet. It will happen, and it could be this week.
- Max Gawn
I disrespect this guy every week by missing him off my list, and it needs to stop. Stiff not to be higher considering the form he has been in this year (5 scores over 130), but the guys above him this week are also having ripper years. Last week against the Pies, English scored 116, but there was over 100 hit outs between the 2 sides number 1 ruckman which is an anomaly, so take it with a grain of salt. The thing is, it doesn’t matter who Max comes up against, if he wants to dominate, he will. And after a shocking loss last week, I expect he will be pretty hungry to put the team on his back for a bounce back win this week.
