Like the tag line suggests, this might be a week for smoky, outside the box VC/C picks with Grundy coming up against an established ruck and a North side desperate for their first win, a question mark over Gawn after a 63 and Jackson’s rising star ascendancy and one of Macrae or Bont copping Curnow. Gone for more discussion and analysis given the crop of options this week, but I think it’s worth a read with the rankings starting to tighten up; a captaincy blunder could be make or break this round.
Vice-Captaincy Candidates
MERRETT v Giants
- L3 v Giants: 119, 67, 88 (91 av.)
- L3 @ GS: 67, 89, 118 (91 av.)
Doesn’t have the greatest stats v Giants or down in Sydney, but looked really sharp until Curnow tightened the screws last week. No De Boer for the vice grip or Coniglio to play defensively, so Zerrett a shot to go 130 left alone.
STEELE v Suns
- L3 v Suns: 124, 115, 96 (112 av.)
- L3 @ MS: 111, 124, 87 (107 av.)
Spending the entire fourth quarter forward with the game iced accounted for his subton last week. Tends to score much better with both Ryder and RoMo in the side and should capitalize their ruck dominance for 120, even if some attention is sent his way by Greenwood.
GAWN v Swans
- L3 v Swans: 150, 119, 113 (127 av.)
- L3 @ MCG: 147, 172, 135 (151 av.)
With the Roos MIDs getting the drop on the Dees engine room early, an established ruck in Goldstein, increased ruck minutes for Jackson (CBAs: Jackson 13, Gawn 18) and then having to play FWD as McDonald dropped back to cover Tomlinson, Big Maxxy had a dog of a day. Think it can be safely chalked up as an anomaly, but if you’re worried you can just VC him or look elsewhere. Great record v Swans and killing it at the G this season, will bounce back with 125 this week…surely?
Captaincy Candidates
BOAK v Crows
- L3 v Crows: 112, 79, 87 (93 av.)
- L3 @ AO: 121, 84, 120 (108 av.)
Will come to the Showdown fresh, mended and hungry after a week on the sidelines. The Crows let 3 Giants get 30+ touches last week and another 3 get 25+. Expect Boak to come out hot for 130.
WALSH v Dogs
- L3 v Dogs: 92, 112, 50 (85 av.)
- L3 @ MRVL: 130, 89, 124 (114 av.)
The kid’s just insane. Solidly a Top 8 MID this year and replaced Cripps as the Blues’ #1 on baller. Even against the Dogs’ competition best midfield, Walsh is rocking 90%+ TOG a game, elite running and will fight to the death for 125.
FYFE v Lions
- L3 v Lions: 143, 126, 43 (104 av.)
- L3 @ G: 143, 81, 117 (114 av.)
Hampered last week by the Eagles surprisingly, and to my delight and FT’s demise, smashing the Dockers as well as attention from Nelson. Season over the Dockers if they don’t get their sh*t together against the Lions this week, whom Fyfe has a great record against. A lock to step up to the plate and push 130.
Steer Clear
MACRAE v Blues
- L3 v Blues: 138, 150, 97 (128 av.)
- L3 @ MRVL: 146, 108, 137 (130 av.)
BONTEMPELLI v Blues
- L3 v Blues: 116, 112, 104 (111 av.)
- L3 @ MRVL: 133, 82, 145 (120 av.)
A double steer clear this week. Curnow will 100% be deployed as a tagger against the comp’s best midfield, but it’s hard to know who he’ll go to out of Macrae and Bont. Teague showed last week that he’ll clip a player accumulating too much (Zerrett after HT), so Macrae in elite form might get shut down early. On the flip side, Bont’s reputation as that high impact, game winning CP player often leads to him soaking up the tag. One of them cops it, just not worth the risk C’ing either – I, of course, own both lol.
Smoky Pick
GUTHRIE v Tigers
- L3 v Tigers: 110, 102, 99 (104 av.)
- L3 @ MCG: 105, 163, 142 (137 av.)
Out of nowhere Guthrie has taken his game to another level and sitting pretty as the #5 player OA and #2 MID in SC. If you’re among those who somehow started him or are rightfully jumping on, you’ve got to give him the VC week. His two biggest outings this year have been at the G, where he lines up again this week against a non-tagging Tigers side. Solid for 125 with a shot to go large and make for a deadly VC.
MARSHALL v Suns
- L3 v Suns: 143, 122 (133 av.)
- L3 @ MS: 105, 143, 76 (108 av.)
Suns announced they’re going to stick with their ruck set up of Burgess and Graham this week, who managed 13 HOs to Grundy and Cameron’s 50 the other day. Irrespective of how the game goes, Ryder and RoMo will just have a field day in the ruck contests. Marshall’s got a juicy albeit limited record v Suns, looked really limber and in sync with Ryder last week and will have those lucrative F50 HOs to feast on. Will go 120 at a minimum, with a chance to go large depending on the outcome of the game.
Verdict
Usually pretty prescriptive with the verdict, but this week’s tricky. Nothing hard and fast. If you’ve got a safe VC/C lined up, go for it – but don’t be afraid to roll the dice. For me, I’m thinking Zerrett (although considered RoMo) as an early VC into Gawn and hope last week’s circumstances don’t rematerialize. If you’ve got someone not listed above in mind let me know in the comments and can I drum up their stats and some analysis for you.
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Tough week for VC/C.
Was thinking Macrae as the C but good call with Curnow potentially shutting him down.
May go Merrett into Oliver.
Yep, Satan also a good option:
SATAN v Swans
L3 v Swans: 130, 92, 87 (103 av.)
L3 @ MCG: 114, 115, 130 (120 av.)
Satan will most likely cop Hewett who should do a good job on him.
Hasn’t played as a tagger this season. Doubt he returns from concussion and they throw him on ball.
…..won’t be on ball…..in a pocket…….Satan’s!?!?
Yep, HH…and who will we use on Tracca?…….
Think the Swans back in their own MIDs.
Yet to apply a hard tag this season and didn’t give Duncan, Guthrie or Selwood a look last week even as they all flew off the chain.
Im leaning toward Gawn into Walsh.
Yep, very nice.
In a similar vein, Gawn into Bont.
Steele into Big Max for me this week I think
Sticking with the captaincy big dawgs. Grundy into Gawn for me.
Like the Merrett shout.
Merrett -> Gawn
However if Rowe is dropped will go Zieball -> Gawn
Ziebell’s interesting v Pies this week.
Put up his biggest scores when the Roos backline has been under siege:
R3: 155, Dogs by 128, 17 behinds
R5: 148, Cats by 30, 17 behinds
R6: 169, Dockers by 51, 15 behinds
Pies offense looking woeful, thinking maybe the Roos pick them off for their first win. Might not get as many kick ins, but Pies are conceding an average of 121 marks a game and Ziebell was still flying at HT when the Roos were competing v Dees last week.
A solid VC if needed.
Good luck, Abs.
Thinking north get their first scalp too.
Seriously considering him as vc.
Tough call. Him and Grundy probably both on for a big score.
Grundy into Mac for me
A reason why Gawn was so flat last week?
“Fly in and fly out I don’t think works for the 1 o’clock game is my gut feel.. I desperately needed a nap”
Max Gawn after waking up at 4:30am on Sunday to catch a charter flight to Hobart for Round 7 via @RSN927
Stewart into Ziebell
Can’t be worse than the tripe Max served up last week!
Love it, Chillo.
Good luck.
VC either Steele, Duncan, or Grundy into Gawn. Leaning towards Steele. Who should I go with?
T/up – Steele
T/down – Grundy
Comment – Duncan
Yeh I’m thinking Stewart will be seeing a lot of it with the tigers attacking structure.
Stewart into Gawn for me. Cmon Gawn
STEWART v Tigers
L3 v Tigers: 127, 95, 83 (102 av.)
L3 @ MCG: 104, 94, 18* (72 av.)
*injury affected game
Thanks GD. Fingers crossed for a 130+
Hey you reckon Martin a sneaky chance to go big? Loves playing cats but back from a concussion is tricky
Dustin Martin- “He trained really well the other day. Sometimes a week off can really freshen up players physically & mentally. We think we’ll get the best version of Dusty this week.” Damien Hardwick
Hmm might roll the dice with dusty. The visit to his dad might have recharged the batteries
Yeah, Dusty this week is interesting.
No O’Connor to tag, reportedly freshened up and should be hungry.
Here are his stats:
MARTIN v Cats
L3 v Cats: 85, 97, 88 (90 av.)
L3 @ MCG: 39*, 85, 120 (81 av.)
*concussion affected game
Any ideas who the most inaccurate team is at moment?
I would’ve thought the Saints would be up there.
Thanks to the CBA and kick in article,I think a real smokie for VC would be Bowes, plays on 100% of the time and may get a lot of it this week.
Clint Eastwood comes to mind now…do you feel lucky punk!!
North are, unsurprisingly, the most inaccurate team in front of goal at 40%. Saints are 8th at 48%. Competition best is the Eagles at 55%, closely followed by the Dons at 53%.
Wouldn’t be picking someone based on the goal accuracy of their opponent though, Joestar. Gotta factor in how you think the game will play out. Doubt the Suns will be defending the whole game, will be hard fought. Saints won’t just roll over them.
Bowes could still be a great smoky VC, but don’t let a metric like goal accuracy swing you. Factor in match-ups, venue, form, expected flow of the game, role, etc.
BOWES v Saints
L3 v Saints: 53, 98, 61 (71 av.)
L3 @ MS: 92, 107, 114 (104 av.)
Cheers GD , this Punk doesn’t feel that lucky anymore !!
Ahaha. Nah, still fine if you want to VC him. Perfect round to get spicy, just saying the accuracy of his opponent shouldn’t have anything to do with your decision.
Bowes my next DEF after Ridley, looks the goods this year.
The Dons 2nd most accurate in front of the sticks wow !
Daniher to Brisbane for improved goal kicking was a great deal.
Money for nothing and Perkins for free (or was it Reid) !
Grawndy for me, one of them will get it done if not both
Has anyone heard about the possibility of game time changes to the Swans and GWS games?
Heard “possibilities” on ch 10….
Chameleon, you didnt check the Teams Rd 8 post?
I have posted the new times for the games and marked with #.
Saturday, May 8
Gold Coast v St Kilda, Metricon Stadium (1.45pm AEST.)#
GWS Giants v Essendon, Giants Stadium (2.10pm AEST)#
# Change of starting times.
Ha ha……maybe if I read that BEFORE the Capts….
Cheers CT, how I could have possibly or remotely doubted you……
ATM thinking(??) Vc Ridley -> Capt May……..
Am i the only one that seen big Max cop a fairly nice right hook to the cheekbone in the contest in the first quarter last week ?
I have seen numerous concussions with less force this year and if Max is a little bit human he may be forgiven for not feeling himself from that point on.
Ziebell into Gawn for me.
Should be plenty of sloppy entries into the pies forward line that ziebs will mop up and hopefully a decent amount of kick outs. I’ll play him into the safe Gawn playing at the G. He can’t have two stinkers back2back, can he?
Sounds good, Mav.
Do you keep Duncan 125 as capt.
Ziebell into anybody but Max.
Two reasons why Max is only safe as a VC option from this point forward.
1.
Melbourne need to give Jacko more time on ball to continue his growth or risk losing him and they seem to be doing better with the more CBA’s Jacko gets.
Dees were being flogged early by Roos last week and reducing Maxs CBA’s halted the rubbish
2.
I traded him in last week at a stupid price and trusted him with the C and …….whack! Another steaming James Hird of a captains score.
How about Grundy’s stats?
GRUNDY v Roos
L3 v Roos: 85, 133, 113 (110 av.)
L3 @ MRVL: 162, 179, 133 (158 av.)
Great stats, the worry is just he’s coming up against an established ruckman and spends time FWD in an ass team. Could still go well.
TU Gawns 112
TD Jarryd Lyons vs Freo
My opponent has taken Oliver’s 125
Had VC’d Gawn. Need a Captain today –
TU: Macrae
TD: Walsh