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Career High SuperCoach Score: 144 vs Brisbane (2018)
Career High AFLFantasy Score: 126 Vs Melbourne (2016)
Career High SuperCoach Average: 88.4 (2018)
Career High AFLFantasy Average: 85.2 (2022)
Impact on new club
Plenty went right in season 2022 for Carlton. They had the Brownlow Medalist in Patrick Cripps, the Coleman Medalist in Charlie Curnow, and one of the best’ feel good’ returns with Sam Docherty playing AFL after his cancer battle. But, even though plenty went right for the Blues, there were still some clear gaps in the list.
One of the gaps they’ve needed to fill is across the wings. The inclusion of Adam Cerra last year did make a difference, but he’s not a pure outside wingman. So instead, Carlton opted to make his game time almost a 50/50 inside/outside split. They’ve also tried to use young star Sam Walsh similarly. Furthermore, Nic Newman and even Zac Williams got some rotations up the ground when they were healthy and available to play.
The trade for Blake Acres means that the Blues should have the full midfield complement to finally make their return to playing finals football.
Patrick Cripps is the clearance beast, and George Hewett is the unheralded defensive inside hard nut. I predict Carlton will run them heavily at centre bounces, similar to what they did in 2022. They’ll then rotate Sam Walsh and Adam Cerra through the CBAs and a wing. At the same time, Matt Kennedy finishes out the midfield 5. Now with Acres, the other ‘outside’ midfield role no longer has to be flipped around across multiple players every week. With Blake in the side, Carlton no longer has glaring gaps in the best 22. It’s time for the Blues to push for the flag.
Impact on the old club
Over the past few seasons, the Dockers midfield depth has started to thin. A combination of retirements and trades has seen them lose Adam Cerra, Darcy Tucker, David Mundy, and Blake Acres.
While Acres might not have the name recognition that either Mundy or Cerra has, he’s still a significant loss for the club. In addition, Blake had created a damaging partnership with James Aish.
The club ran quite a tight centre bounce rotation this year. It was predominantly Andrew Brayshaw, Will Brodie, David Mundy and Caleb Serong. If fit, I’d suspect the Dockers are hoping that Nat Fyfe will pick up most, if not all, of Mundy’s midfield minutes.
Over the past few seasons, the Dockers have hit the early portions of the draft hard. So they’ll be looking to fill the wings with some of the talent already on the list. The most obvious option that comes to mind is Nathan O’Driscoll. He showcased plenty of promise in his twelve games this year. His running power and skills should only grow with another preseason. Long term, I think NOD has the potential to be a phenomenal footballer.
Local lad Neil Erasmus is more of an inside midfielder that can be damaging forward of the ball, but he does have the ability to get it done on the outside. I think he replaces Mundy in the best 22 and should eventually slide more into the centre bounce rotation.
Fantasy Summary
Last year was a career high AFLFantasy/DreamTeam season from Blake Acres, with an average of 85. However, while still solid, his average of 83 in SuperCoach wasn’t as high as in his 2018 or 2020 seasons.
He posted five tons in AFLFantasy/DreamTeam and four in SuperCoach, in addition to multiple scores of 90+. Given that Acres spends most of his game rolling across the acrs on the wing, his scoring variance and ceiling are heavily linked to his team’s success. That is due to either their ability to win the ball at stoppages or to pick up possessions of the intercept.
In salary cap formats, he’ll need to increase his scoring average by 20 points per game for him to become relevant. However, at Carlton, I don’t forecast this to be possible. Why? Because Carlton’s game style is considerably less dependent on uncontested possession and marks than Fremantle. For example, Freo was ranked fourth for marks last year, while the Blues were tenth.
Outside of possessions, Acres next highest scoring column of AFLFantasy points came through marks. Almost 20% of his scores came through that column, averaging six per game. Last year of all Carlton players, only Sam Docherty and Nic Newman took more grabs than him.
I expect Acres still to be a fine late round selection in draft leagues. His ability to regularly post scores north of 90+ should still make him a viable option, even if it’s only a bench option.
