We saw the best and the worst side of our premos in AFL Fantasy last week, with some monster scores dampened by some absolute stinkers.
So with our Captaincy options running hot and cold, who should we back in as our VC/C options this week? Let’s take a look.
VC Options
Options are thin early on in the round this week, with Noah Anderson, Jai Newcombe & Tom De Koning (since ruled out) the only legitimate options on Thursday or Friday night, and none of them are filling me with confidence.
Noah Anderson would be the first one you would take a punt on, with 3 scores of 110+ this year. The issue is that the other 5 games he has played have all resulted in scores below 100, and the Hawks aren’t an easy match up for him to make the most of. The reason I remain interested in him is his ceiling, which he showed in his 1 match up against the Hawks last year with a massive score of 154, whilst in 2023 he scored 107 against them. The 154 was before the Hawks got rolling last year, but it is still impressive form against them. He could be a high reward play.
Jai Newcombe has had the best month possible for Fantasy match ups and has not made the most of it, and this week is his last chance to cash in. Tagged by Clayton Oliver last week to a dreadful 67, owners will be hoping for a bounce back, but after a score of 40 against the Suns last year, I wouldn’t be holding my breath. He does have a ceiling as shown by his score of 142 against the Blues in round 3, but he hasn’t shown any signs of going close to that sort of number recently.
With all of the guys above having HUGE question marks over them as VC options, the most logical thing to do would be to wait until the first game on Saturday, where Nick Daicos and Jordan Dawson will go head to head as the Pies face the Crows. There are question marks over these two also, with both of them being tagged last week resulting in scores of 67 for Daicos and 78 for Dawson.
I would look at Jordan Dawson ahead of Daicos this week if you own both of them. Last year against the Magpies, Dawson scored 117, while in 2023 he scored a MONSTER 172 and 112 in their 2 match ups. I also suspect he is the less likely to receive a tag out of these two players this week, so if you want your VC to be early in the round, Dawson is the best bet in my opinion.
Nick Daicos was also solid against the Crows last year with a score of 115, whilst in 2023 it was scores of 120 and 99. Again, decent form against the opposition, but I just have bigger fears of a Peatling or Keays doing a job on Daicos than I do Sidebottom doing one on Dawson. If you own Daicos and not Dawson, I would still feel comfortable backing him in this week.
If you don’t own or like any of the guys above, just want to wait until later on in the round for your VC, or you need a fallback Captaincy option, as always, I have listed my top 5, in order, below, and boy are there are some beauties in the back end of the round this week!
Captains – Top 5
- Josh Dunkley
Mr Consistent. 7 tons from 9 games, 6 of them over 110. A low score of 97. It doesn’t get much safer than that as a captaincy option. Reminds me of Pendlebury back in the old days. He plays Melbourne this week, who he averages 120 against across the course of his career. Now, that isn’t a Sheezel average that amount in his career from 2 and a bit seasons. That is an average of 120 against Melbourne across over 9 seasons of football. He absolutely feasts against them, highlighted by his scores of 158 and 123 against them.
- Tristan Xerri
The Big X is back, and I am super comfortable backing him in as a genuine Captaincy option again from now onwards. He has an average of 120 over his last 3 and 110 over his last 5, and comes up against Richmond and Toby Nankervis this week, who is a friendly match up for opposing rucks. In fact, last year in round 21 against the Tiges, Xerri scored a lazy 150. Max Gawn cashed in on this match up 3 weeks ago with a 138, so I expect Xerri to produce a monster this week.
- Dayne Zorko
This man is a rollercoaster, but he is a rollercoaster you definitely want to be on, because the highs far outweigh the lows. A bounce back to form in the last 3 weeks, with scores of 137, 100 and 124 for an average of 120 over that time. This week he plays the Demons at the Gabba, where I will give you his recent stats for again. 184, 148 and 131 were his ceiling scores at the Gabba last year, along with a 126 and 119 already this year. Melbourne gave up 107 points to Jiath last week and 109 to Maric the week before, so points will be there for Zorko across half back. A super option.
- Harry Sheezel
Harry Sheezel is on the verge of a monster, and it could be this week. Back to that juicy role across half back for the last 3 weeks, he has average 110 in that time. This week he comes up against Richmond, who leak fantasy points to their opponents. Last year against them, Sheezel scored 100 (in his mid/fwd role), but in 2023 he scored 129 against them. They are his only 2 games against the Tiges in his career so far, and this one is at the MCG, where Sheezel averages a lazy 122 across his career. He could be back to his absolute best this week.
- Bailey Smith
Bailey Smith has a tough match up this week against the Power, so there is a flag. But last week was a tough match up against the Giants, and he scored 149. I couldn’t continue to disrespect him by not having him in the top 5 options any longer. A seasonal average of 119 consisting of 7 tons from 8 games, 6 of them over 110 and 4 of them over 125. Those numbers scream Captaincy option as much as anyone. The match up means he sits down the list at 5 this week, but he is still a super option!
