Captainancy Candidates – Round 18

Captainancy Candidates – Round 18

We’re changing things up a little this week, i’ve been a little short on time this week with the start of the new financial year.

Rather than working through the fixtures game by game, let’s focus on the players themselves. At this stage of the season most coaches know the matchups, so the question becomes, which premium do you trust with the VC or captaincy?

There are plenty of genuine options this week and, as we’ve seen over the past month, getting your VC and captain right can make all the difference in overall rankings and those all-important league finals.

Vice-Captain Rankings

1. Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (Saturday Afternoon vs Port Adelaide) – At the moment he’s doing whatever he wants on a football field. Playing through the midfield, taking kick-ins and still spending time behind the ball, he’s become one of the safest premium options in the game. Another 150+ wouldn’t surprise anyone.

2. Nick Daicos (Saturday Afternoon vs North Melbourne) – O’Sullivan could spend some time with him, but Collingwood desperately need the four points and Daicos is chasing a Brownlow Medal. Big games generally produce big Nick Daicos scores.

3. Harry Sheezel (Saturday Afternoon vs Collingwood) – Averaging over 160 across his past three games and coming off a massive 180 last week. Ed Allen may spend some time with him, but when a player is this hot it’s hard to bet against him.

4. Lachie Ash (Saturday Afternoon vs Geelong) – With Lachie Whitfield unavailable through concussion protocols, expect the ball to be in Ash’s hands even more than usual. This shapes as a huge opportunity for one of the most improved defenders in the competition.

5. Bailey Smith (Saturday Afternoon vs GWS) – It was a toss-up between Smith and Holmes, but I’ll give Smith the nod. Holmes looked to be limping late last week and there were reports of a slight hamstring concern. Smith has been one of the most reliable premiums all season and is never a bad VC play.

Honourable Mentions: Finn Callaghan, Max Holmes, Luke Parker.

Luke Parker deserves a special mention. North Melbourne defenders have scored well against St Kilda this year and Parker is coming off 142 last week. If the Kangaroos spend plenty of time in defence, Parker could quietly put together another huge score.

Captain Rankings

1. Max Gawn (Sunday vs Richmond) – This is about as good as it gets. Richmond continue to give up points to opposition rucks and Gawn is coming off 165 last week. Don’t be surprised if he goes even bigger.

2. Jordan Dawson (Sunday vs Gold Coast) – Adelaide at home is always appealing and Gold Coast rarely tag opposition midfielders. That should allow Dawson to do what he does best, win plenty of contested footy and use it beautifully.

3. Marcus Bontempelli (Sunday vs West Coast) – If you saw this fixture at the start of the season, Bont would have been the automatic captain. His recent form hasn’t quite been at his usual elite standard and he may still be carrying a niggle, but it’s still West Coast at Marvel Stadium. Ignore him at your own risk.

4. Bailey Dale (Sunday vs West Coast) – Dale is back to his All-Australian best and is coming off a massive 151. West Coast continue to allow defenders to score heavily, making Dale an outstanding point-of-difference captain.

5. Lachie Neale (Sunday vs Essendon) – Brisbane are back in form and take on an Essendon side that has struggled badly in recent weeks. This has the potential to get ugly. The hardest part is picking which Lion goes biggest. Will Ashcroft is a fantastic option if you own him, but I’ll just give Neale the edge because we’ve seen him dominate these types of games so many times before.

Final Thoughts

There are captain options everywhere this week, which usually means there will be one premium who goes 180 that hardly anyone picked.

If I had to narrow it down, my favourite VC option is Wanganeen-Milera while Gawn is the standout captain for me

Make sure your loophole is available

thanks fellas