With 4 teams on the bye in round 14, how are we shaping up in the Captaincy options department? The answer is exceptionally well in terms of top tier options this week.
Whether you’re flying or struggling over the first 2 weeks of the mid season bye rounds, the easiest way to ensure the next 3 are good ones is by nailing your Captain selection. So let’s take a look at the best options for the third of five mid season byes!
VC Options
With the easy access to a late VC option, I will keep the VC section short and sharp this week with dot points for the best options on Thursday or Friday night. It is actually a shame that people will all likely head into the round with very similar VC/C’s locked in, as there are a lot of nice options early in the week that would have created differentiation between sides this round. My Thursday/Friday VC options are in the following order.
Rowan Marshall
- Massive ceiling, highlighted by a 158 just 3 weeks before his bye last week.
- Bulldogs are the 6th easiest match up for rucks over the last 5 weeks
- Averages 102 at Marvel Stadium over his career, including a 142 already this year
Jordan Dawson
- 6 scores of 120+ this year.
- Kennedy (132), Daicos (128) & Neale (120) all scored well against the Hawks in last 3 weeks.
- UTAS a historically friendly ground for AFL Fantasy scores, Dawson averages 103 there over his career.
- Only scored 60 against the Hawks last year.
Tim English
- Ceiling scores of 145 in round 8 and 139 last week.
- Scored 128 against the Saints last year.
- Only 1 score below 92 for the year, which was in round 1
Matt Kennedy
- 7 tons ins a row, highlighted by 132 last week to show he has a ceiling.
- St Kilda Match up, who are the 4th easiest match up for inside mids over last 5 weeks.
- Rowell (130), Anderson (118) the latest examples of relevant mids to score against the Saints.
Other options include Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, Jack Sinclair, Ed Richards and Marcus Bontempelli, but I rather the 4 guys named above due to a mixture of ceiling, match up form and tag risks.
If you want to roll with someone later in the week, or your VC misses the mark, as always, I have listed my top 5 Captaincy options, in order, below!
Captains – Top 5
- Max Gawn
Yet to drop under 107 since round 4, fresh off a score of 122 and a match up against Port Adelaide, who are the most friendly match up for rucks over the last 5 weeks, where rucks have averaged 18.6 points more than their season average when coming up against the Power in that timeframe. Gawns season average is 116 and his average in the last 3 weeks is 123. Last week against the Power, debutant Nick Madden scored 80 from only 60% TOG. Honestly, it doesn’t get any easier than it is this week to pick the number 1 Captaincy option.
- Bailey Smith
Disappointing that he missed out on the Gold Coast match up last week, but this week he comes up against the Bombers, who are still a friendly match up for midfielders. In fact, they are the most friendly team to come up against over the last 5 weeks in general. Baz has only recorded 2 scores under 112 for the year… One of them was a 102. His last 4 games have all been 120+, including 2 of them being 140+. No reason to see his form drop off in this one if he is back in the side.
- Tristan Xerri
The Big X didn’t deliver what we were hoping for last week, but that is saying more about what we expect from him than what he has been producing. 111 last week was his 6th score of 110+ in 7 weeks, which includes a 155 in that period. He comes up against Fremantle this week, who he scored 104 against last year before he really got rolling. There hasn’t been quality fantasy ruck play against the Dockers for a few weeks now, so it is hard to get a good read of how they sit in terms of difficulty match up wise, but Big X wont care. He can be backed in for 110+ again.
- Connor Rozee
121 last week was the 4th ton in a row for Rozee, and the second score of 120+ in that period too. This week he comes up against the Demons, who are the 5th best match up for rebounding defenders over the last 5 weeks, with Josh Daicos (128) and Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (117 from 69% TOG) both cashing in against them over the last 2 weeks. I expect his form to continue, and wouldn’t be surprised to see him pushing the 130 mark this week if he avoids a tag.
- Jye Caldwell
A personal favourite of mine to round out the top 5 this week. Jye Caldwell needs to start gettting the respect he deserves. Averaging 119 over his last 3 weeks since his TOG has increased following his return from a hamstring injury, from scores of 120, 128 and 110. Last year against the Cats, Caldwell scored 144, and since the beginning of 2024, in games where Caldwell has recorded 60% or more of CBA’s, he has averaged 118. Over the last 3 weeks, he has averaged 76% CBA’s. He is the main man in the middle for them now, and you can trust him not only to continue to score, but to be a genuine Captaincy option on the run home!
