Another 5-game Saturday slate greets us for Round 8 with some explorable options for your Draftstars teams. Draftstars veteran ‘Tbetta’ has another epic preview once again which explores the depths of the galaxy in this weeks edition of Stargazing.
Also, last chance to check out ‘Tbetta’s’ education piece – How to Win on Draftstars with limited entries. Keep this in mind when building your Draftstars lineups!
MAIN CONTESTS:
$75,000 Main ($15 entry, 125 max)
$10,000 High Roller ($150 entry, 3 max)
$5,000 Fiver ($5 entry, 50 max)
$3,000 Mini ($2 entry, 15 max)
$2,500 Buck Hunter ($1 entry, 100 max)
$2,000 Micro ($0.50 entry, 100 max)
SATELLITE:
RICH vs WCE – MCG: Showers.
GEEL vs ADE – GMHBA Stadium: Showers.
GCS vs MEL – Heritage Bank Stadium: Fine.
GWS vs WBD – Manuka Oval: Fine.
FREM vs HAW – Optus Stadium: Chance of showers.
INNER CORE:
FWD
Former Lion Thomas Berry ($6,000 FWD) has been named to make his Suns debut and, despite scores of 87 and 103 in the VFL coming in, I’m not overly interested. He’ll be filling a pressure forward role in Nick Holman’s absence this week.
I’d much rather funnel my hard-earned dollars into Tanner Bruhn ($6,730 MID/FWD) instead, especially as it looks like Mark O’Connor could slide back to defence on top of injuries to Jack Bowes and Cam Guthrie amongst the midfield mix. He scored 58 at a healthy 0.73 PPM after being activated as the sub last week, attracting 55% centre bounce action. Alex Davies ($7,340 MID/FWD) is another cheap alternative, locked into a midfield role with Lachie Weller following Touk Miller into the medical tent over the past fortnight.
Sam Switkowski ($9,110 FWD) is a left-field option but might have to pick up some midfield slack with Will Brodie and Matthew Johnson exiting the squad since Round 7. He had a score of 104 against the Eagles as a part-time midfielder earlier in the season, so getting the Hawks at Optus could easily produce a similar outcome. Speaking of the winged Eagles, Jack Riewoldt ($8,870 FWD) is generously-priced and will find it difficult not to kick a bag this weekend.
MID
Neil Erasmus ($6,000 MID) should be one of the most popular cheap targets on this slate given the likelihood of an inside midfield role for the reasons mentioned above. He’s averaged 88 in the WAFL this year and this is his cleanest run at CBAs at AFL level so far in his career. His teammate Nathan O’Driscoll ($8,320 MID) has a similar boost in role with some wing time potentially opening up, and could also be worth a look with the soft draw.
Young midfielder Neil Erasmus one of the first to arrive at Perth Airport ahead of Fremantle’s clash against Brisbane. Hasn’t played since round 10 last season but had 27 disposals and 10 clearances for Peel in the WAFL on Saturday.
— Jordan McArdle (@jordan_mc12) April 27, 2023
Brayden Fiorini is once again screaming to be picked at $11,490, but there are other options to pivot to in his price-range. Jaeger O’Meara ($11,690 MID), Rory Sloane ($12,310 MID) and Dion Prestia ($12,360 MID) are some veterans who stick out as strong value, while Dom Sheed ($11,440 MID) hasn’t been this cheap on Draftstars since before he had a Premiership medallion draped around his neck.
The midfield has plenty of quality spend-up options this Saturday, so it’s a case of whittling down the list. I personally love Andrew Brayshaw ($15,390 MID) at the cheapest we’ve seen him in over a year, and the reports during the week that he’s overcome the knee soreness that’s plagued him so far in 2023 only emboldens my affection. Noah Anderson ($15,750 MID) showed he’s up to the task of being the big banana on the Gold Coast with 134 last week, while Tim Taranto ($16,610 MID) has a season-low score of 108 and faces the lowly Eagles this weekend. It could get messy at the G.
DEF
Josh Weddle ($7,050 DEF) and Ethan Hughes ($7,890 MID/DEF) project out best of the salary-savers on this slate, but there’s so many tantalising stacking options in defence this week that you might not find yourself entertaining them as much as you’d expect.
The Suns have spread out their ball winners, so Rory Atkins ($9,560 MID/DEF) joins Wil Powell ($11,150 DEF) and Darcy Macpherson ($13,450 DEF) as defensive targets. I like Powell’s stranglehold on the kick-ins with Lachie Weller moving up the ground of late, taking 15 cheapies in the past fortnight. The Demons have done more damage on the scoreboard than any other club this year, so you’d imagine he’ll have plenty of opportunities to take kick-ins this weekend.
I mention him almost every week, but Lachie Whitfield ($12,570 DEF) keeps getting cheaper and cheaper and you just know there’s a big ceiling game on the horizon. He managed to creep his way to 88 with the Ryan Clarke tag last weekend, so I’m optimistic about what he can do with no tag and the softest match-up in the league in the Bulldogs instead.
RUC
I was going to talk about Ivan Soldo after being managed last week. Turns out the management continues after he was withdrawn on Friday. I have concerns for Jonathon Ceglar at $11,690, given that the Cats are set on Mark Blicavs taking a third of the ruck contests each week.
With a lot of question marks over the rucks on this slate, it could be worth paying up for the faultless Tim English ($16,400 RUC). After all, if Peter Ladhams can drop a 130-bomb on Matt Flynn’s head, imagine what the consensus All-Australian ruckman can do against GWS this weekend?
BLACK HOLES:
Caleb Daniel ($13,240 FWD/MID)
With Tom Liberatore returning from concussion, Daniel’s 44% CBAs from Round 7 are likely to evaporate. This is a huge concern given that he used that extra midfield clock to rack up a season-high 118 fantasy points, so it might be back to his half forward role and the scores in the 70’s that he was manufacturing for the month prior.
Jai Newcombe ($13,710 MID)
Duke experienced this exact phenomenon last week, as his CBAs were down 29% with Will Day back in the fray. So, after posting scores of 119 and 122 back-to-back as a full-time inside bull, Newcombe returned to regular programming with a more balanced role that resulted in a modest score of 81 – his splits with Day versus without Day in the side is a concerning 83 vs 120 early doors in 2023.
Although he may not accumulate 40+ possessions, Jai Newcombe had a massive 19 CONTESTED possessions and 2 goals (could’ve been 3).
Absolute beast right in the thick of the action.#GoHawthorn #AFLDogsHawks pic.twitter.com/gTeDqt8o2g
— Phill T (@philltee) April 29, 2023
Tom Stewart ($14,230 DEF)
Ben Keays had his first taste of the forward tag with a clamp on Brownlow favourite Nick Daicos, restricting the Pie to his first non-ton of the season. More importantly though, it was the first time this season that Little Nicky has scored under 109 in SuperCoach with just the 72 points – which I bring up solely to highlight how ineffectual he was (by his already extremely lofty standards).
Adelaide will be hoping to restrict Geelong’s premier playmaker in Stewart in the same fashion, having averaged a massive 126 SuperCoach points for the season on top of absolutely destroying the Crows with 169 fantasy points and 3 Brownlow Votes in the corresponding fixture last season. I’ll be floored if Keays doesn’t get a tagging assignment, which is something Stewart has struggled with in the past; he crawled to scores of just 46 (Owens) and 62 (Ryan Clarke) and 70 (Maginness) in his past three tagged games.
STAR SIGNS:
Fiorini – Italian for “Wingman”
While the scoring went the way we predicted with a season-high 112 from Brayden Fiorini ($11,490 MID), the CBAs surprisingly went the other way. Gold Coast clearly prefers the balance of David Swallow (+31%) in tight and Fiorini (-40%) on the wing, with Lachie Weller (+24%) and Alex Davies (+29%) instead soaking up all the inside midfield vacated by their skipper Touk Miller.
While he can rack up anywhere and he’s simply too cheap to ignore, this is probably not a great sign for Fiorini long-term. That legendary run of 110 to finish 2021 was strongly linked to inside midfield time, even within the ebbs and flows of that 8-game stretch. With Weller now on the sidelines, will we see Fiorini handed a few more of those scrumptious centre bounces?
Gold Coast vs Goliath
It’s probably no surprise that the premier MID-FWD in the competition stomps weak opponents more than most, but Christian Petracca ($15,620 MID) is definitely starting to trend this way. His two best scores this year of 124 and 142 have come in 60-plus point thrashings against cellar-dwellers West Coast and North Melbourne, and the Miller-less Suns are next on his radar. Petracca’s last two efforts of 136 and 136 against Gold Coast certainly fit the trend, so I’ll be keeping my eye out for another ceiling game from the damaging Demon.
Is Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca the best midfield combo in the comp right now? #9AFLSFS | @Channel9 pic.twitter.com/kVKVIvWILQ
— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) April 30, 2023
Bird Watching
While Conor Nash has been doing a stellar job of clamping down on opposition stars, he can only tag one bloke and his teammates aren’t anywhere near as restrictive. The Hawks now rank as the best match-up for ball-winners overall (2nd-best DvP for inside MIDs and the best DvP for wingmen/half-backs), which suggests that Fremantle’s biggest ball magnets should be on your radar.
Caleb Serong ($16,300 MID) is probably first in line for a tag, so I’ll be throwing a lot of exposure Andrew Brayshaw’s ($15,390 MID) way at a bargain salary. Jaeger O’Meara’s ($11,690 MID) inauspicious start to his Fremantle chapter has turned with scores of 85 and 95 in the past fortnight, and I’ve already thrown out a couple of cheap Docker midfielders ripe for the picking above. Consider linking them up with rebounders like James Aish, Hayden Young and Jordan Clark for the ultimate Hawthorn scoring avalanche!
GALAXY CLUSTER:
Richmond – Full Stack
West Coast got absolutely decimated by a season-high 874 fantasy points last week as their injury list swells once again, which gives Richmond the perfect season stabiliser after their surprise loss to the traveling Suns. The Eagles got smashed in every conceivable line by the Blues, so it’s hard to go wrong with a Richmond stack this week – as long as Taranto and Short feature heavily in your mix.
Melbourne – Full Stack
Melbourne is a reliable club in the sense that we receive in fantasy what they give opponents on the field, averaging +243 in wins and -102 in losses this year. So, if you think they beat the Suns up in Queensland, then you must also think they’re very stackable. That Suns midfield has holes, so that’s where I’d be attacking with Demon stacks.
GWS – DEF Stack
The Bulldogs forward line is the surest bet in DFS, exhibiting easily the juiciest DvP for opposition defenders to feast on in the league. All of L. Whitfield, N. Haynes, I. Cumming and L. Ash are priced well below their ceilings and have to be explored given the match-up, while J. Buckley and C. Idun have both spiked with soft match-ups this year.
MULTIVERSE THEORY:
In a parallel universe:
- Mitch Duncan reverses some poor form with a promotion to chief distributor with Stewart tagged by Keays…
- Laird is under an injury cloud for the second week in a row, and Matt Crouch ($13,100 MID) was the carry-over emergency last weekend. Just saying…
- Caleb Daniel was the best-performing Bulldog last week, so is there a chance that Bevo keeps him in the midfield even with Libba back? Not great news for Macrae and Bailey Smith if so…
Tbetta.
Ready to go? Draftstars multi game Saturday slate will close at 1.45pm AEST. ENTER NOW!
Chances are you’re about to lose. For free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au
