It’ll be a great Sunday of footy and having a few Draftstars lineups to follow can help make it even better, especially if you’ve had a bit help from Tbetta to build them!
MAIN CONTESTS:
$60,000 Main ($15 entry, 100 max)
$10,000 High Roller ($150 entry, 3 max)
$3,000 Mini ($2 entry, 15 max)
$2,000 Fiver ($5 entry, 20 max)
$2,000 Buck Hunter ($1 entry, 100 max)
$2,000 Micro ($0.50 entry, 100 max)
SATELLITE:
HAW vs STK – Marvel Stadium: Under the roof.
RICH vs MEL – MCG: Showers.
WCE vs NTH – Optus Stadium: Fine.
INNER CORE:
FWD
It’s that time of the year where teams outside of finals contention want to see what they have on their lists, which gives us a couple of mid-season recruits in Brandon Ryan ($6,000 FWD) and Robert Hansen Jr ($6,000 FWD) to consider as fresh meat in DFS. I’m not super pumped about picking either; Ryan is a key forward averaging 66 for Box Hill, while Hansen Jr is a small forward averaging 54 for North’s Reserves.
It’s hard to ignore Nick Larkey ($9,230 FWD) after the crimes that Charlie Curnow was able to commit against the Eagles last week, and it will surprise no one to learn that Souva’s biggest haul this year was a bag of 6 against West Coast all the way back in Round 1. He’s had a fantasy ceiling issue this year despite ticking along goal-wise, but the absence of intercepting defenders in Tom Barrass and Jeremy McGovern should allow him to rack up a few extra marks to bolster his score.
Another option in that same range is Kysaiah Pickett ($9,770 FWD/MID), who was back in form with that 93 against the Crows last week. The injury to Tom Sparrow and his 55% CBA share opens the door for even more midfield clock for Kozzi, especially if the Demons elect to keep Petracca closer to goal.
I also like Tarryn Thomas ($11,550 MID) once again, especially after posting a season-high 87 last week. He won’t see the same 74% CBA presence now that Jy Simpkin is back in the squad, but finding himself in a mid-forward rotation is potentially even more promising against the Eagles.
MID
James Harmes ($8,550 MID) and James Jordon ($9,270 MID) rarely get the opportunity to fire on the same afternoon, but with Melbourne taking some heavy midfield losses in Clayton Oliver and Tom Sparrow, the deck is stacked in their favour for once. It’s a typically packed range with these fringe midfield types, as an argument could be made that Ryan Byrnes ($8,400 MID), Hunter Clark ($9,840 MID/DEF), Darcy Tucker ($9,920 MID/DEF) and Zak Jones ($10,640 MID) are all underpriced based on the best-case scenarios.
Then we have the enigmatic Andrew Gaff ($10,850 MID) following his top-scoring 109 against the Blues. It looks like the faux-dropping a couple of weeks ago has helped him regain some much-needed hustle, and there’s no better way to continue his current form than getting North on the road.
He’s been clawing his way up the midfield hierarchy all season, so the loss of Tom Sparrow is another chunk of CBA’s headed Angus Brayshaw’s ($13,880 MID) way. He’s averaged 92 points with at least 40% CBA share this year (compared to just 78 points under that figure), so this is one of the safer picks of the slate. Of course, his teammate Jack Viney ($14,910 MID) is also worth a long look for all the same personnel reasons.
Some injury-affected mid-season output has kept the prices of Jack Steele ($15,560 MID) and Luke Davies-Uniacke ($15,870 MID) very affordable despite recent hot form. The Saints skipper is now coming off scores of 146, 106 and 133 as he heads towards a soft Hawks match-up, while the tale of the tape is almost identical for LDU with 122, 138 and 104 on his approach to a weak West Coast midfield.
DEF
All eyes will be (and should be) on Hawks defenders with the soft St Kilda match-up, so it’ll take some significantly mispriced defenders to rate as core-worthy this Sunday.
For instance, I like Sam Banks ($7,860 DEF/MID) after 74 points last week in what will probably be his final game as a poor man’s Jayden Short, but do I like it more than Lachlan Bramble ($9,640 MID/DEF) soaking up easy points across half back against the Saints? Is he truly better value than the rebounding Josh Weddle ($9,990 DEF), or the mark-reliant Blake Hardwick ($12,040 DEF), or the hefty ceiling of Jarman Impey ($12,850 DEF)? Probably not.
Throw in some obligatory West Coast stacks and I’m not sure I’m straying too far from the streams that we’re used to, just to chase some potential waterfalls.
RUC
I find Max Gawn ($15,860 RUC) almost irresistible as the solo ruckman after three-quarters of a season having his price systematically lowered by a weird Brodie Grundy tandem. Totals of 162 and 115 over the last fortnight highlight this peacock’s incredible scoring power when, like Terry Hoitz from The Other Guys, he’s allowed to fly.
BLACK HOLES:
Ivan Soldo ($11,270 MID)
This one is a horses-for-courses flag, because solo Max Gawn is a tough, tough course. Big Ivan has been a revelation for the Tigers who haven’t skipped a beat in the ruck with Toby Nankervis suspended, but it’s worth putting his scores of 107 and 103 into context. One was against the best ruck match-up in the league (West Coast), while the other was against a rare Hawthorn solo ruck structure.
Besides being the best pure ruckman in the land, Gawn just gave Reilly O’Brien (69) his lowest score in 14 weeks, so I’m happy to sell high on Soldo here.
Todd Goldstein & Tristan Xerri
I’m sticking with the ruck theme here and raising another flag with North’s double act in the low $11k range. It was the worst-case DFS scenario with their timeshare last week, splitting the ruck contests 53/44 in favour of the veteran Goldstein. They scored a respectable 92 & 84 as a pairing, but at this price you really want one of these guys taking 70% of the ruck – and maybe those scores look more like 105 and 70 instead.
West Coast are a dream match-up in both the ruck and up forward so I wouldn’t count either out of an upswing, but with some strong alternative options in the ruck line on this potent Sunday slate, why would you take the gamble on the ruck Roos?
Jack Sinclair ($15,170 MID)
We established last week that the Hawks are wielding Finn Maginness as an outside playmaker stopper, and there’s potentially no one in the league that fits that job description better than the dynamic Jack Sinclair. The Hawthorn tagger has restricted stars in Josh Kelly (30), Tarryn Thomas (61) and Daniel Rioli (83) to well below their best over the last few weeks, and I see no reason why he’d stop now. Be wary.
STAR SIGNS:
James Sicily ($16,210 DEF)
St Kilda at the Dome – what more can I say? If you trust the DvP numbers, Sicily posted ridiculous numbers of 43 touches, 16 marks and 165 against the Saints a couple of months ago at the same venue. The SicDawg (shout-out to The Traders) has been barking with four of his past five scores over the 120-point threshold, with the rude forward tag muzzle from North Melbourne the only blemish in that stretch.
Lloyd Meek ($9,010 RUC)
Now this is a ruck situation we can get around! Ned Reeves’s suspension is Lloyd Meek’s ascension, moving into the #1 ruck role without any recognised support. He’s played one game without Reeves this year, which was an 84 against the tough Demons, and has earned his promotion with scores of 129, 93 and 95 in his past few VFL games. Solid numbers and a great DFS situation makes him a very simple pick.
Marcus Windhager (11,850 DEF/MID)
It was a new half-back role that resulted in a score of 114 for Windhager, and following his ton from Round 18, that’s back-to-back career-highs for the young Saint. Ross Lyon has since swung the axe with 4 changes at selection that could all impact that midfield/defence balance, so a repeat role for Windy is far from guaranteed. But at this price, and with Sinclair likely to be locked down (which could mean more stats for his fellow half-backs), I think this is a rollercoaster worth riding.
GALAXY CLUSTER:
Hawthorn – DEF Stack
The show rolls on for defenders versus St Kilda, with Rising Star favourite Harry Sheezel (116) top-scoring for the Roos. I’ve already covered the James Sicily ($16,210 DEF) above, but there’s plenty of other backline Hawks with a ceiling worth investing in for the classic one-two punch in the DEF slots.
West Coast & North Melbourne – Full Stacks
Trying to figure out which of these two teams to stack in the Harley Reid Sweepstakes is like trying to solve for the square root of a negative number. Both clubs want to lose. The Roos have a marginally better side, but the Eagles get the vital home ground advantage.
So why force yourself to choose? Stack both game scripts! North Melbourne stacks with West Coast defenders slotting in and full-blown Eagles stacks are the two sides of the correlation coin I’d be flipping.
St Kilda – Full Stack
If you want an alternative to the standard West Coast vs North game stack above, St Kilda and Hawthorn at Marvel also projects out as a high scoring affair. While the Eagles and Roos dominate all the DvP categories, Hawthorn isn’t actually that far behind, ranking 3rd-softest for defenders, 5th for midfielders and 3rd for forwards.
Stacking the Saints is by far my favourite contrarian play on this slate, and it could reward astute punters who are willing to zig while everyone else zags to that eyesore of a late game.
MULTIVERSE THEORY:
In a parallel universe…
- Rowan Marshall was almost a late-late withdrawal last week, and the Saints have been very coy about his availability this Sunday. Thankfully we’ll know before lock as it’s the first game of the slate, but if it eventuates, Tom Campbell ($8,700 RUC/FWD) storms into “lock” status territory. Be prepared to pivot if so.
- I know I just spent a few paragraphs fawning over Sicily above, but a small part of me can’t help but wonder why the Saints would let him run free after his massive performance in a 10-point victory last time around. Could Ross the Boss change things up with a forward tag?
Tbetta.
Ready to go? Draftstars multi game Sunday slate will close at 1.10pm AEST. ENTER NOW!
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