Captainancy Candidates – Round 9

Captainancy Candidates – Round 9

Sometimes SuperCoach doesn’t need a deep review. Sometimes it just needs two words:

You’re welcome.

Our number one VC option was Luke Jackson. He scored 143.

Our number one Captain option was Tristan Xerri. He scored 165.

You’re welcome.

Round 9 – Start With the Obvious

Every single week we ask the same two questions.

Who plays West Coast?

Who plays Richmond?

Because usually, that’s where the easiest points live.

This week, Melbourne get West Coast and Adelaide get Richmond.

Straight away, that gives us something to work with.

Melbourne vs West Coast – Sunday Safety

Max Gawn against West Coast.

Honestly, do we even need to keep talking?

Against West Coast.

That’s already enough.

If your VC misses and you need the safest Captain fallback on the board, this is exactly the type of setup you want.

Now yes, there is one thing to mention. Max Heath has been sharing ruck duties with Gawn, and last week Gawn had less than 50% of Melbourne’s ruck contests.

At first glance, that looks terrifying. Like seeing “please call me” from your accountant at 8:47pm.

But don’t panic.

A big reason for that was Brody Mihocek getting injured in the first quarter, which forced Melbourne to use Gawn as the tall forward for most of the first three quarters rather than just leaving him in the ruck.

It absolutely affected his scoring profile.

Can it happen again? Yes.

Is it slightly annoying that Max Heath is getting so much TOG? Also yes.

But this is West Coast. There are almost too many points to go around.

Even if Gawn isn’t taking every ruck contest, he still has multiple ways to score, and against West Coast the ceiling remains enormous.

Last year against them he scored 131 and 198.

That tells you everything.

Then there’s Kysaiah Pickett.

When Melbourne are on top, Kozzie can put together big scores very quickly through pure chaos and impact. He’s not the safest Captain option, but if you like living dangerously, the ceiling is absolutely there.

Gawn is the safe play. Kozzie is the fun one.

Adelaide vs Richmond – Sunday Late Gamble

Richmond continue to be a team we target, and this week Adelaide get the matchup.

Jordan Dawson immediately comes into the conversation.

When Adelaide dominate territory, Dawson is usually right in the middle of it, and against Richmond, that’s a very realistic outcome.

Then there’s Izak Rankine and Josh Rachele.

Both can explode. Both can also ruin your weekend by halftime.

That’s the issue.

They’re fantastic if you’re chasing a miracle, but they’re not exactly the safe Sunday fallback type.

They’re less “Captain option” and more “I’ve had a bad week and now I choose chaos.”

That makes Dawson the safest Crow option

GWS vs Essendon – This Feels Like the Whitfield Week

GWS against Essendon in Sydney quietly looks like one of the better scoring games of the round.

Lachie Whitfield’s last five scores are: 128, 102, 115, 123 and 117.

That’s excellent consistency.

What’s missing is the monster Captain score.Maybe this is the week.

Essendon still allow defenders to score, and if GWS control possession, Whitfield could easily turn that steady 115 type output into something much bigger.

There’s also another factor helping. The other Lachie, Lachie Ash, is now spending more time through the midfield. Not ideal for Ash owners. Very good for Whitfield owners, Because it leaves Whitfield doing what he does best, controlling everything behind the ball like a slightly annoyed traffic controller.

Last week he took 11 of GWS’s 17 kick-ins.

That is exactly what we want. More kick-ins. More cheap marks. More reasons to smile.

Then there’s Finn Callaghan.

His season has been very simple.

Tagged = bad.
No tag = very good.

We can’t really see Essendon sending major attention his way, which makes this a very strong bounce-back opportunity.

Thursday Night – Jackson vs the Hawthorn Ruck Wall

Thursday night opens with Fremantle at home against Hawthorn.

And yes, Luke Jackson is immediately in the conversation again.

He is now the third-highest averaging player in SuperCoach this season and comes in off scores of 147 and 143.

That is ridiculous form.

The issue? Hawthorn’s ruck duo of Lloyd Meek and Ned Reeves.

They’ve been incredibly restrictive this year. The only ruckman to score more than 85 against them was Brodie Grundy……and naturally he scored 135, because Brodie Grundy enjoys personally attacking statistical trends.

That makes Jackson tricky.

The form says yes. The matchup says maybe.

As a Thursday night VC, there is definitely appeal

Friday Night – Brisbane vs Carlton

Brisbane host Carlton at the Gabba, and there are almost too many VC options here.

Which is actually the problem. Too many cooks.

Lachie Neale remains the standout Lion. He’s averaging 109 and when Brisbane are playing well, he is usually at the centre of it.

But beyond him, Brisbane are surprisingly hard to trust.

Zac Bailey is averaging 103, but no other Lion is averaging over 100. That tells you plenty.

Carlton do allow plenty of points to defenders though, which makes Dayne Zorko very interesting on his return from injury.

For those brave enough to still own him, he’s a very nice POD VC play.

High risk. Very high reward.

Friday Night – Butters vs Bont

The other Friday game is Port Adelaide hosting the Bulldogs.

Which means Zac Butters and Marcus Bontempelli are automatically in the VC discussion.

Let’s start with Bont.

He’s been carrying an injury, and while it’s Bont and he can score through almost anything, I personally struggle to confidently recommend someone who is clearly playing sore.

That doesn’t mean he can’t go 140.

It just means I’d rather not need him to.

Zac Butters, on the other hand, His last two against the Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval are 159 and 146.

That’s exactly what we’re looking for. Strong history. Big ceiling. Big-game player.

The Heavyweight Title Fight – Grundy vs Xerri

This is the ruck battle of the year.

Brodie Grundy vs Tristan Xerri.

The number one and number two averaging players in SuperCoach for 2026 going head to head.

Will they cancel each other out? Maybe.

Will it be a battle for the ages? Hopefully.

Personally, I think both score well.

Both play that same high-contested, high-involvement style where they don’t rely purely on hitouts to score.

This feels less like a shutdown and more like two heavyweights standing in the middle of the ring refusing to step backwards.

I’m expecting big scores from both.

Sydney vs North – Hello Isaac Heeney

Like Brisbane, Sydney have plenty of good options.

But none better than that beautiful man, Isaac Heeney.

He scored 197 against North Melbourne last year.

And looking at North right now, I’m not sure they have anyone who can stop him.

The Swans vs North game is the early Saturday game, which makes Heeney both a fantastic VC option and a very legitimate Captain option if you want to be aggressive.

Gold Coast vs St Kilda – Sneaky Options Everywhere

Gold Coast are a much better team at home, and I’m expecting them to bounce back strongly here.

Christian Petracca can go large against anyone and is averaging 127 for the season. He feels like the standout Sun premium.

Noah Anderson, on the other hand, looks out of form and has been dealing with heavy attention from opposition taggers. That gets harder this week. St Kilda have two very good taggers in Garcia and Windhager, and I can absolutely see them making life difficult for Anderson.

At St Kilda, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Jack Sinclair remain two players who can absolutely go large against anyone.

Geelong vs Collingwood – Holmes Might Hurt Us Again

We also need to talk about Max Holmes. Because if you don’t own him… this could be another long watch.

Geelong take on Collingwood, and the Pies continue to give up a ridiculous number of points to defenders.

Max Holmes is basically a defender now. Well… technically he just goes wherever he wants to, but according to Champion Data he is sitting at 34% defender for the season to date.
Sneaky MID/DEF DPP coming soon? Very possibly.

Holmes is one of those players who doesn’t even look like he’s scoring well, and then you check halfway through the third quarter and he’s somehow on 118 with zero signs of stress.

Against Collingwood, who don’t seem to want or know how to tag, this feels like another big one.

Honestly, I think he probably goes bigger than the 149 he scored last week.

For non-owners like me, it won’t be enjoyable.

Then there’s Bailey Smith.

He had a very casual 97 last week in a comfortable win, which somehow felt disappointing because he’s been so ridiculous this season. That’s how good he’s been.

I can absolutely see him bouncing back here. Big game against a Big club. Big crowd.

Exactly the type of environment where Bailey Smith likes to remind everyone Bailey Smith exists.

And I hate show-offs.

But unfortunately for us, show-offs score very well in SuperCoach.

Both deserve to be firmly in Captain discussions.

Saturday Night – Daicos vs Mullin (Again)

And then there’s Nick Daicos.

Saturday night gives us Collingwood vs Geelong.

And we all know what happens next.

Mullin. Straight to Daicos.

No discussion required.

If you have a strong Sunday fallback like Max Gawn sitting there, you can absolutely still VC Daicos and hope he beats the tag.

But as a Captain? I wouldn’t recommend it. We’ve seen this movie before. It ends badly.

Final Thoughts – Captain & Vice-Captain

Vice-Captain Options
1. Zac Butters (Friday) – Huge history vs Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval, elite recent form, and loves the big stage
2. Tristan Xerri (Saturday) – Massive ruck battle, elite form, and capable of another monster score
3. Brodie Grundy (Saturday) – Same heavyweight matchup, huge contested game, and always a ceiling play
4. Marcus Bontempelli (Friday) – Injury concern noted, but history and ceiling are impossible to ignore
5. Nick Daicos (Saturday Night) – VC only because Mullin is waiting for him

Captain Options
1. Max Holmes / Bailey Smith (Saturday Night) – Collingwood give up huge points to defenders and both are built for big games
2. Isaac Heeney (Saturday) – Massive ceiling and North still have no real answer for him
3. Max Gawn (Sunday) – West Coast. Enough said.
4. Lachie Whitfield (Saturday) – Elite kick-in role, strong consistency, and feels due for a true captain score
5. Finn Callaghan (Saturday) – Great chance if Essendon leave him alone

Thanks fellas