With only one more bye round left, this is the last week to make the most of best 18 before things tighten right up on the run home with a lot of teams likely to be fielding 22 premiums in Round 16.
So who are the top C/VC options for this all important final bye round to make sure our rank is looking good heading into the final third of the season? Let’s take a look.
VC Options
Again, with the easy access to a late VC option, I will keep the VC section short and sharp over the bye weeks with dot points for the best options on Thursday or Friday night. My top Thursday/Friday VC options are ranked in the following order.
Brodie Grundy
- 121 last week, his 6th score of 110+ in a row.
- Averaging 128 in last 3 and 126 in last 5, and 110 against the Bulldogs in his career.
- English has been the 5th easiest Ruckman to score against over the last 5 weeks.
Matthew Kennedy
- 9 consecutive scores of 107+.
- Averaging 118 in last 3.
Marcus Bontempelli
- Averages 109 across his career at the SCG.
- Bounce back with 120 last week.
Tim English
- 138 last week, 132 over his last 3 and 110 over the season.
- Grundy has been the 4th hardest Ruckman to score against over the last 5 weeks.
Honestly, Grundy is the only one of the four above I would be super sold on using a VC on early in the round this week simply due to match up difficulty, and also the potential of James Jordon going with Bontempelli, however I personally see that tag going to Richards or Dale this week. Other options that were considered for the list were George Hewett, Connor Rozee, Zak Butters and Adam Cerra, however I have even more doubts over these guys due to match up difficulty and in particular the threat of Cincotta tagging Butters or Rozee. I will personally be holding my VC over until later in the round, as I expect most others who do not own Grundy will also do.
If you do 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
- Jordan Dawson
Jordan Dawson sits on top of this list this week due to season long form and match up, but it was a harder decision to make than you would expect. He plays the Tigers this week and should be fresh after having the bye last week. Richmond have been the 4th easiest team for inside mids to score against over the last 5 weeks, and the easiest over the course of the entire season. Dawson scored 124 against the Tigers last time they met, and they allowed scores of 120 to Bontempelli and 114 to Matthew Kennedy as inside mids against them last week. With 6 scores of 120+ already this year, I expect Dawson to make that 7 by the end of this one.
- Nick Daicos
Nick Daicos is so close to being number 1 on the list this week it isn’t even funny. After fighting through a tight tag from Windhager last week to score 102, I expect Nick to have some more freedom this week against the Eagles. He averages 124 against West Coast across the course of his career, including 131 last time they met. He also averages 109 at MArvel Stadium, where this will be played. The only reason he sits behind Dawson this week is because the Eagles have been harder for inside mids to score against across the course of the season than the Tigers, however over the last 5 weeks it has been a lot closer. My advice is to VC Daicos and get a look at him then leave your C on Dawson if you need it, which is what I will be doing this week.
- Tristan Xerri
Tristan Xerri is in a bit of a form slump at the minute, which unfortunately is coinciding with the other Ruckman in the competition hitting a purple patch. I expect Xerri to bounce back to his triple figure scoring ways this week against the Hawks, who have been the 7th easiest team for Ruckman to score against across the last 5 weeks. Xerri scored 109 against the Hawks at UTAS last year, and I expect him to be hitting those sorts of areas again this week without too much difficulty.
- Andrew Brayshaw
This is a tough one to rank, as if I knew where the Windhager tag was going for sure, it could completely change this. I expect it to go to Serong, as it did last year when he was held to 65 in their match up, otherwise I would rank Serong ahead of Brayshaw based on recent form. However, as I expect the attention to go Serongs way (as it usually does), it leaves me with Brayshaw sitting at number 4 on the list, only behind Xerri due to the possibility of being tagged, and scoring only 78 against the Saints himself last year. I expect him to be better this week though, with a 3 round rolling average of 118 and 7 scores of 110+ in his last 12 games. St Kilda are a middle of the road team in terms of giving up points to inside mids, ranked 9th easiest over the last 5 weeks. Playing the last game of the round, he could be a useful fallback option if your VC fails.
- Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera
Wanganeen-Milera finally gets his turn in the top 5 this week after a seriously hot month of footy, where he has averaged 126 across his last 4 games, which includes a game with only 69% TOG. He scored 103 against the Dockers earlier this year, and has shown no reason for us not to trust him as a fallback Captaincy option in the final game of the round this week with a lot of our premium Captaincy options on a bye or in tough match ups.
That is my top 5 Captains for round 16! The final week of the byes and the last chance to spring up the rankings before we return to best 22, so trust your gut and best of luck everyone, I’ll be back next week!
