Every Friday we build into the round with the weekly Warm Up with MJ.
Take it?
‘Should I take It?’ Almost always after every Thursday night match our twitter feed (and no doubt others) is flooded with coaches pondering whether they should take the vice-captaincy score of the player and whether or not they’ve scored enough to use the score as a captaincy loophole.
Every coach is different; some will always be on the more conservative side and try to bank the points, knowing that one injury or heavy tag can drastically damage a score. While others, like to be more adventurous and look for opportunities to gain 10-20+ points on others where they can. Many coaches in AFLFantasy would’ve taken the safe approach last week and made the VC score of Max Gawn and Jake Lloyd, and while it’s hard to be unhappy with a 120+ score, coaches that went with Brodie Grundy or Patrick Cripps who both had favourable matchups would have given coaches another 30 point boost. Sometimes it pays to look at the matchups; you may find some more points could be on the board for you.
If you placed the VC on any Brisbane Lions player you don’t even need to consider taking the score, none of them scored enough to make it worth while. While for Collingwood, Adam Treloar owners who VC him in SuperCoach have an easy choice and that is you simply take a 150 score every day of the week. While DreamTeam & AFLFantasy coaches have the safety of taking a 120 from him if they wish. However, as we just spoke about, a 240 is a strong captains score, but do you have a favourable matchup that could net you a further 20 points?
AFLFantasy: 2 Bites at the Captaincy Cherry
Currently, in AFLFantasy, we’ve been getting the opportunity that DreamTeam & SuperCoach players get every week which is a chance to use our Vice Captain not just as a backup but as a second bite at nailing our captains. This week in AFLFantasy we get three lockouts. The first partial lockout is already in motion with the Lions and Magpies players now locked in. The next lockout commences today at 4:20pmAEST, which is for Bombers and Kangaroos players. The full lockout commences at 8:10pmAEST.
You’ll also have multiple partial lockouts next week with the games for round six commencing on Wednesday evening.
AFLFantasy Potential DPP’s
Ahead of rounds 6, 12 and 18 AFLFantasy award secondary positions to players that have had a role change. Here’s my take on some players that would be in contention for a DPP addition when they are announced after this round.
GAIN DEFENSE
Sydney Stack: He showed plenty of dash and dare in his first game against the Giants and did some critical things late in the game against Port. With no Bachar Houli or Jayden Short (mostly) over the past two games, he’s been one of the critical creators for the Tigers coming off defensive 50. While I don’t think he’s got the most exceptional job security in the world, hopefully, he’s done enough for us in Champion Data’s eyes to give us DEF status and open up a link that’ll be helpful for trades and squad flexibility.
Josh Battle: He’s had a drastic role change from that of previous seasons and the gaining of back status should be a pure formality here. Only relevant in very deep draft leagues.
Jackson Thurlow: Not a relevant gain in classic or even draft, but he’s being getting games across half back over the past fortnight and a similar showing this week against Richmond should give Champion Data enough information to make it a pretty easy addition.
Adam Cerra: Another very simple one for AFLFantasy to make. With the exception of one game, Chez has played his games almost exclusively inside the defensive half.
Bayley Fritsch: After being used down forward in round one and parts of round two he’s since moved to become a vital user of the ball down back in part to replace the absence of Jordan Lewis. While he’s not relevant in AFLFantasy Classic, depending on the depth of coaches and squad sizes, he could play a role in the draft formats of the game.
Caleb Daniel: An absolutely no brainer selection here. He simply must gain a defensive status. He’s being used as the principal distributor of the ball from halfback, starting the centre bounces inside defensive 50 and is one of the leaders of the club for kick-ins. Currently ranked as 8th best forward overall in terms of seasonal average, and when he does gain the defensive status that average would place him just outside the top 10 on current numbers.
Mitch Duncan: This would be a big one, but I think it could be on the cards. With Tim Kelly, Brandon Parfitt, Charlie Constable and even Patrick Dangerfield increasing their midfield minutes we’re seeing guys like Duncan spend less time at Centre bounces and starting from the defensive half. Against the Giants, we also saw Duncan take a few kick-ins. We’d have enough information for Champion Data to justify the selection and it would give coaches another viable top defensive line scorer. Am I confident he’ll get it ‘no.’ But a big game inside defensive 50 may give us enough data to make them give him a new position.
GAIN MIDFIELD
Travis Boak: He’s had a flying start to the season and is proving to be one of the high value wins for coaches that started with the former Port Adelaide skipper. In the preseason the coach Ken Hinkley spoke about the desire to play Boak back more through the midfield, and we’ve seen that now over the past four weeks. A certainty to gain MID/FWD status! At this stage, he looks like a top-six forward, and his MID status gain adds great flexibility to your team.
Kane Lambert: Has been a staple of the Tigers midfield for years. A relevant player in drafts, but all these gains for current and future owners is versatility in your squad.
Jack Billings: Probably the simple way to explain why that MID gain is ditto for the Travis Boak explanation. The move for Jack to be a predominant wingman has translated into seeing him back to his fantasy scoring best and is a genuine candidate as a top 6 forward if his current scoring trend continues.
Will Powell: Like Boak, Lambert and Billings above his real value is that he’s forward eligible. The possible gain of MID will only add versatility to current owners not more significant value.
GAIN RUCK
Rowan Marshall: Three matches this year and an average of 104.3 would place him second in terms of seasonal averages for the ruck division if currently ruck eligible. While I’m always hesitant to say someone is a ‘safe’ lock for DPP, Marshall is as close to a certainty to gain RUC as you can get. He is leading the Saints ruck division since entering into the team.
GAIN FORWARD
Lachie Whitfield: Maybe this is out of the left field for you, but for me, I think Champion Data / AFLFantasy will award this for Lachie. While he is getting midfield time, it’s based on him starting from inside forward 50 and then pushing up the ground.
It might feel like it’s not a huge gain, but it could be of great benefit if we get higher scoring from our defensive premiums than forwards. His potential DPP gain opens up the opportunity to move him forward and grab another backline premium if D6 is going to outscore F6. For what it’s worth we have nine defenders currently averaging over 95 and just six forwards.
Zac Clarke: Spending plenty of time deep inside forward 50 as well as relieiving Tom Bellchambers in the ruck. Should open up the RUC/FWD DPP link for the 12% of owners and could give them a chance to grab Reiley O’Brien if they wanted a playing R3.
Jeremy Finlayson: He’s not classic relevant, or even really draft relevant, but he’s moved into the forward line this year and looks more comfortable by the week.
Jayden Hunt: Like Finlayson, he shouldn’t be anywhere near your classic team, but depending on the depth of your squads and number of teams he might have some small relevance to you.
Oscar Allen: The Eagles have a beauty here, and he’s the perfect key forward replacement for when Josh Kennedy does choose to retire. Big O has a is presence about him, is strong in the marking contest and in time is going to be a brilliant forward target for the Eagles. For fantasy coaches though, right now he’s not someone in any format of AFLFantasy I’d be chasing after to own.
Tom Atkins: A pretty handy one here if he gets it giving our forward rookies are starting to fall over. He moves from a midfield bench cover to a potential passable F6 for a week or two.
Aaron Naughton: It looks like it’s not just an experiment that was trialled at times in 2018 is becoming the permanent set up with Aaron Naughton now looking stable in the new look forward line. Lock in forward status, not a relevant gain for us though.
Zac Butters: An easy addition he for AF given he seems to be playing close to 3/4 of the game inside the forward half. Handy for the 16% of coaches that own him.
Michael Gibbons: Isn’t scoring well enough to make much cash, let alone be an on-field scoring player. The positive is, since making his debut in the JLT Community series and again over the opening four rounds of football Michael Gibbons has slipped seamlessly into the void in Carlton’s forward line created by the retirement of Matt Wright. His MID/FWD status should open up a DPP link for you, which in fairness is his only relevance now in fantasy football.
Dom Sheed: We may not have enough data to make the change (yet), but ever since the return of Andrew Gaff we’ve seen Sheed Island spend much more time forward. His first two games where he played as a pure midfielder may count against him getting it now, but based on his role during rounds 3 & 4 we’ve got a reason for some level of hope he gets it. Personally, I don’t think he’s been based forward enough to get it just yet.
Ed Curnow: Previous seasons he’s been a midfielder who’s had low value in the eyes of opposition coaches but for his owners has been reliable on field scorer. With a move forward over the past four games, we will start to see a more significant variation in his scoring and coaches only need to look at his seasonal scores of 113, 46, 94 & 95 from this year so far to see. I’m not convinced he’s a top 6-8 forward for the season, but in a draft league, he’ll be a massive gain to his current owner.
Gary Ablett: The Geelong coaching team all preseason indicated that he’d be spending a large portion of game time forward in 2019 and that’s certainly been what’s happened over the opening four matches of the season. A look at his centre bounce attendances would indicate he’s spending the majority of his time outside of the midfield at centre bounces and starting from inside the Cats forward 50. I’m not sure he’s going to be classic relevant again, but in drafts, he’s a much-beloved name that adds some firepower to your forward line.
Brad Ebert: I might have got this all wrong! Not about the fact that he’s a solid candidate to gain forward status, for me that’s very likely given the past four weeks. What I got wrong was that a move into the forward line as predicted in the preseason would severely damage his scoring ceiling. However, scores of 109 Vs Melbourne, 121 Vs Carlton and 121 vs Richmond suggest we now have a potential premium forward on our hands.
Side note for Ebert owners, check how he starts the season historically in contrast to the end of year scores. He typically comes out firing and slows as the season goes on. Not saying it will happen again, but just a reference for current owners. Side note for Ebert owners, check how he starts the season historically in contrast to the end of year scores. He typically comes out firing and slows as the season goes on. Not saying it will happen again, but just a reference for current owners.
Dustin Martin: He’s not scoring well enough to be a midfield premium, but he looks like he’s playing well over 40% of his game time inside the forward 50. His suspension may cost him the shot at FWD status by missing the week of data, but I’d like to think he’s done enough to be a serious candidate.
Jarrod Berry: Averaging just shy of 90 and while that’s not enough to place him yet as a top 10 forward for draft owners he’d be a huge gain given I think he’s gone past the 35% time of a new position
So! Who would you love to see gain an additional position after this week? Have your say on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram
