As the Calendar turns to April, your Season Long Fantasy team is already dust and you have scored a bonus hour of your life with daylight savings ending. That means more time than ever to get into Draftstars AFL Daily Fantasy contests on this Sunday. A great three game contest is now available to play on Draftstars with AFL sides looking to avoid that dreaded 0-3 start. With thanks to Draftstars fantasy veteran in ‘Tbetta’, lets take another look into the galaxy for his Sunday’s tips.
MAIN CONTESTS:
$90,000 Main ($15 entry, 150 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:
GCS vs GEEL – Showers. Avoid players that scale on marks.
MEL vs SYD – fine.
FREM vs WCE – fine.
INNER CORE:
FWD
The forwards make for a brutal read on a dirty Sunday. Whenever fresh meat is available you need to ask the question, so can we trust Jacob van Rooyen ($6,000 FWD) as a spend-down option? With an average of just 64 from almost 2 goals a game in the VFL last year, a rough match-up against the stingy Swans, and as a young key forward on debut – I’m thinking this is pot-shot territory only. It certainly worked out for those who took the plunge on Joel Amartey ($7,250 FWD) last week, who was sensational with 91 in limited minutes, but doesn’t get to play the Hawks every round.
Jacob Van Rooyen finally debuts for Melbourne after believing he was in for last year’s semi final until Max Gawn’s late fitness test saw the skipper passed fit. Five contested marks in round 1 of the VFL. He is ready pic.twitter.com/6RUNwmbdzu
— Jon Ralph (@RalphyHeraldSun) March 30, 2023
This is where you’ll need to either correlate your forwards with your team stacks (see below), or get speculative! Luke Jackson ($9,490 RUCK/FWD) has been under fire in the WA media – could he silence his critics in one fell swoop against West Coast? The Suns have added an extra forward to their mix, so could we see some extra wing time for Jack Lukosius ($9,660 FWD/DEF)? Is Sam Switkowski’s ($9,500 FWD) 36% CBA from last week worth getting excited about? Is Sam Flanders ($7,760 MID/FWD) finally looking at some midfield time with Brayden Fiorini once again dropped to the Magoos?
Yep, the well is bone dry.
MID
Salary relief is also a concern in the midfield, with all of the sub-$9k real estate filled with blokes we didn’t really get too excited about as forwards. With it looking increasingly unlikely that there’s enough value on this slate to afford the “big dogs” in the MIDs, the mid-range is the perfect place to go shopping instead. Fremantle are down a big on ball rotation with Will Brodie and his 44% CBAs unceremoniously shown the door, so packaging up players like James Aish ($11,380 MID), Jaeger O’Meara ($12,370 MID) and Caleb Serong ($14,010 MID) makes a lot of sense. I’m also waiting for the week where our sleeping Cats pounce, especially as DFS mainstays in Cam Guthrie and Patrick Dangerfield have gone and made themselves cheap enough to gamble on at roughly $13k.
If you do somehow find the coin to buy something lavish in the midfield, Andrew Brayshaw ($16,540 MID) is my favourite treat with West Coast resisting the temptation to bring in a tagging type like Xavier O’Neill, while the player that got the gig in both matches last year in Jackson Nelson is no longer on an AFL list.
DEF
My favourite value play on the slate is Trent Rivers ($7,580 DEF) with the unfortunate news of Salem being ruled out long term, especially with my hunch that Angus Brayshaw moves into the midfield this week. This is simply too cheap for someone with his skillset and a score of 94 already under his belt this season. Jayden Hunt ($7,680 DEF) is similarly-priced and will attract suitors following his 86 last weekend, but I’d be wary given his downhill skier profile and a wounded Dockers match-up.
The more I look, the more I feel that the best way to fit under that $100k salary cap is by hitting the underpriced defenders on this slate. We have a revenge game from Jack Bowes, a huge price slash on a player with Witherden’s ceiling, plus an injury-discounted Tom Stewart – all under $11k.
RUC
The field will be all over Brodie Grundy ($13,490 RUC) with the unfortunate Max Gawn injury news, but his ceiling over the past couple of seasons – only 2 tons from 8 games – means you should diversify your portfolio.
Brodie Grundy sole ruck time. This should be fun
— Lenny Phillips (@lenphil29) March 24, 2023
The Cats brought in Jonathon Ceglar-sized reinforcements for Jarrod Witts ($13,980 RUC), who looks to be in a league of his own hitout-wise this year with a competition-high 44 per game, so I’d feel very comfortable with his floor in a slippery game that should have plenty of stoppages. Another option is a Hail Mary in the direction of Sean Darcy ($13,050 RUC), who does break my solo ruck rule on multi-game slates. However, after what he did against West Coast in Round 22 last year in a similarly Naitanui-free outing – a casual 16 touches, 56 hitouts and 147 fantasy points – he’s worth a gander.
BLACK HOLES:
Brennan Cox ($12,320 DEF)
All good things must come to an end, and Cox’s monstrous 12-mark average (including the pre-season outing) is a trend I just can’t see continuing. For all of West Coast’s deficiencies, leaking points to deep defenders has not been one of them lately, in the red zone for both General DEFs and Designated Kickers.
Clayton Oliver ($17,370 MID)
In the unlikely event that you can afford him, I’d be going back to the drawing board and looking at other ways to spend your money. Oliver has been immense to start 2023 with scores of 124 and 149, but the going is about to get a lot tougher with a match-up against the 2nd-hardest team to score against over the past 10 rounds. There’s also the threat of another date with James Rowbottom who “kept” Clarry to scores of 102 and 126 last season. Highly commendable efforts against the tag, but nowhere near enough for the bloated salary.
Tim Kelly ($13,090 MID)
Speaking of potential tags, the stars are aligning for a rough afternoon for Tim. A BOG performance last week and a likely midfield role for James Aish with Will Brodie omitted and a must-win game for Fremantle all adds up to some accountable footy – and West Coast minus Kelly’s footballing freedom.
STAR SIGNS:
Brodie’s Bounceback
No Max Gawn and no recognised opposition ruckman does not make Brodie Grundy a dull boy. I mentioned Grundy’s lack of ceiling earlier, but that was slightly disingenuous as he hasn’t had that solo role for a long, long time. In reality, his average in the past two seasons without Darcy Cameron is a gaudy 110 points, and he’s coming up against a Hickey-less Sydney who currently rank as the 2nd-best match-up for rucks. Get on.
Mills’s Exorcisms
I’m on the record as not being a huge fan of Callum Mills’ usage in 2023 with his CBA’s down from 56% to 35%, but one stat has me re-evaluating his value for one week only. Sydney’s Mr Fix-It’s last three scores against the Demons have all been monsters of 133, 126 and 122 – are you brave enough to back in that trend on Sunday afternoon?
Sunset on the Gold Coast?
It’s early days, but with the Suns and Cats essentially a clash of 15th vs 17th for fantasy points this year, this game on the greasy Gold Coast profiles as highly fade-able. Add in some showers and a sloppier footy than usual, and I’d be happy to stack my DFS hopes in the other acts on the bill.
GALAXY CLUSTER:
Sydney – Full Stack
The Swans have outscored their opponents in the fantasy stakes in 8 of their last 9 H&A games, plus a 1496-1455 “victory” in the Finals series. Inside MIDs and DEFs have been a happy hunting ground for Demon opponents, and anecdotal evidence from that Final – where Callum Mills (122), Jake Lloyd (121), Luke Parker (120) and James Rowbottom (110) all went big – support those numbers.
Fremantle – Full Stack
The Dockers have outscored opponents in their last 7 games in fantasy, plus both Derbies last year. As a West Coast fan, I’m personally terrified of what a 0-2 Fremantle side will do to us to right their 2023 ship, so I’d be expecting that fantasy dominance to continue. FWDs, MIDs and RUCs all have a historical advantage against the Eagles, and I wouldn’t rule out Freo bucking the DEF trend with how they’ve shared the footy around in the backline to start the year.
MULTIVERSE THEORY:
In a parallel universe:
- A Rhys Stanley injury paves the way for Mark Blicavs to get some extra ruck time to continue his grudge against Gold Coast with scores of 129 and 120 in his last two against them…
- Reuben Ginbey is given an early career lesson in accountability with a tag on Andrew Brayshaw…
- Jack Bowes adds insult to injury by dunking on the team that packaged him and a Pick #7 just to not have him on their list…
Tbetta.
Ready to go? Draftstars multi game Saturday slate will close at 2.10pm AEST. ENTER NOW!
Chances are you’re about to lose. For free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au
