Vice-Captaincy Candidates
MACRAE v Pies
- L3 v Pies: 118, 103, 110 (110 av.)
- L3 @ MRVL: 89, 153, 92 (111 av.)
Taught us all a lesson last week for abandoning him after one down game. In a lackluster Dogs performance Macrae got down to business with 32 touches, 20 contested and was only held back from a 160+ by 71% DE. This week he comes up again a leaky Pies midfield at home, making him the perfect early VC for 140.
STEELE v Cats
- L3 v Cats: 100, 116, 86 (101 av.)
- L3 @ MRVL: 131, 121, 87 (113 av.)
Speaking of off use, Steele was working with some lower quality alloys last week: 10 clangers, 65% DE and 4 frees against barrelled him to his lowest score of the season. Yowza. The Cats at Marvel should be a high octane, hotly contested game and one in which Steele’s contested and tackling talents will need to be on display. Back him to step up and bounce back with a 130.
NEALE v Crows
- L3 v Crows: 147, 148, 110 (135 av.)
- L3 @ AO: 118, 99, 55 (91 av.)
Don’t think a 123 has ever felt more underwhelming. Probably a touch underscored last week but the wet took a lot of pace, distance and efficiency out of the game which resulted in capped scores around the board. Still in tremendous form and will put the Crows to the sword. A lock for 125.
Captaincy Candidates
MILLER v Dockers
- L3 v Dockers: 127, 111, 90 (109 av.)
- L3 @ MS: 99, 105, 140 (115 av.)
My man was tagged for 3 quarters and still put up a 122! What a god! For the one quarter he was unshackled, the first, he slapped on 7 touches, 4 contested, a goal and 60 odd SC points. Beaming with confidence after the Swans scalp, the Suns will look to take it right up to the Dockers at home. Miller 130 at a minimum.
BRAYSHAW v Suns
- L3 v Suns: 92, 78, 62 (77 av.)
- L3 @ MS: 109, 86, 63 (86 av.)
Just in good nick currently and Darcy hitting his stride also improves his VC/C capital. Solid for 120, more if the Dockers blow the Suns away.
SATAN v Eagles
- L3 v Eagles: 98, 99, 115 (104 av.)
- L3 @ OS: 98, 99, 115 (104 av.)
West Coast (*sigh*) are barely a side right now, so pencil in every Dee premo to feast. Satan’s contested possession work in particular will be devastating against a midfield of old earnest veterans and young useless hooligans. 140 in his sleep for Satan, same for Petracca. Gawn, despite the injury cloud, will be rucking against no one, will slot a few and in a side set to get the lionshare of the 3300 SC points available. Deserves a shout as a late Sunday fall back if he presents okay.
Steer Clear
CRIPPS v Giants
- L3 v Giants: 71, 57, 95 (74 av.)
- L3 @ GS: 71, 66, 69 (67 av.)
Not so much as a “steer clear” as such. Just a “be aware” as the Giants have tagged on a few occasions the season, particularly against Atlas type midfielders. Cripps is in insane form and shrugged Hately off with ease last week, so should still be alright for a ton.
Smoky Pick
MILLS v Dons
- L3 v Dons: 129, 87, 96 (104 av.)
- L3 @ SCG: 60, 139, 130 (110 av.)
Usually tricky to fit low ownership MIDs into this piece but Mills’ ceiling against a side like the Dons cannot be ignored. Expect him to punish the Dons CP deficencies for 130+ regardless of the outcome of the game.
Verdict
Macrae into Neale for me. All of the Saturday and Sunday options are great but you cannot go past Macrae on a Friday night. I’ll be at that game, so will be sending Macrae good vibes on our behalf.
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Does bontempelli back mean less points for macrae??
Nah, not at all. Been a proven premo and viable captain for years with Bont in the side.
If anything, it’ll help the whole side and the midfield overall having Bont back.
No offence Matt but has Bontempelli resulted in Macrae getting less points at all in literally the past 5 years?
Well, that’s a less delicate way to put it but exactly right lol.
I’ve stopped overthinking Bulldog players and the impact they may have on each other’s scoring lol
Matt, sorry if that sounded too blunt mate!
Great read as usual.
Stick with the formula – Macrae plays early throw on the VC.
Macrae to Miller for me.
Mac/Neale into Oliver will take 125
Vs Macrae last week but skipping this week
Vc Neale into Cripps for me
Giants will be fully emo and should crack.
Awaiting teams tonight obviously, but probably only have Gibcus (sat morning game) or D Stephens (sat night game) to use as a captain loophole.
So am thinking Macrae or Steele into either Neale or Oliver.
My main league opponent doesn’t have Oliver – so will use him as captain if I am looking likely to lose before the Saturday night games 🙂
Either Macrae or Neale into Oliver.
If Gawn wasn’t under an injury cloud he would be an easy choice.
Gawn, IMO, if he plays, sanity will prevail and he will not be jumping up and down and playing knee chicken at centre bounces. Hopefully if he does get to contest for taps it’s boundaries on the forward line or the attacking defence side. It would take just one mishap to become another ruck statistic….
O’Driscoll into Hewett for me………got a good feeling about it. Lol
MACRAE v Pies
L3 v Pies: 118, 103, 110
No Grundy, Martin or English.
Probably Cameron/Begg vs Sweet/Dunkley?
Maybe Dunkley for a smokey VC
Can darcy go large this week or is Witts gonna keep him honest?
Yeah. I’m really not sure, Jesse.
Goldy’s an established ruckman and Darcy had 42 HOs and 10 contested against him – it was North though.
I’d stick with MIDs this round and just take it as a bonus if Darcy pops off – grabbing him this week myself.
Pencil him in straight C v Pies next week.
I’ve been wanting to captain Mills so badly since bringing him in and he went for 200 straight away but his 60 with the V last week for me hurts and it feels dumb to captain anyone over Lachie Neale against a very mid friendly matchup in Adelaide. Macrae into Neale for me
I’d be curious to run the numbers (but don’t have the time) as it feels like a lot of premos aren’t getting massive scores against really poor sides like North and WCE. A few have, but I think that a lot of them score at or slightly below their average because the game’s virtually over by quarter- or half-time.
I havent looked at the stats Daniel, but thats what it feels like. Overall everyone gets higher numbers, but the main bulls arent elevated as much as 1). the points are spread more evenly around, 2.) the increased weighting of points when the game is close drops away quickly due to the one sided nature & 3.) the bulls back off a bit and are often rested more at the back end of the game
So Bowey, Butters etc should do better this week, but gawn, oliver etc wont outperform.
My 2 cents worth anyway
Macrae vc into Gawn C
Thoughts
His against west coast. !
No loophole who to capt
Neal t/u
Oliver t/d
Captain
TU: Gawn
Or
TD: Touk
Who to captain ?
TU: Oliver
Or
TD: Neale
I’m debating the same
Brisbane seems a lot more even in the midfield the last few weeks and Neale doesn’t seem to hit his big scores against easy opponents
Melb will destroy eagles but will they rest the mids once the games decided ( which could be before halftime )
I’m leaning towards Oliver
Do you have Boak???
Final choice
TU: Gawn
Or
TD: Oliver
Witts seems to be scoring nicely lately, up against Freo at Metricon – lots of rain – not sure how that effects ruckmen’s scores? Looking at my matchups, I may need to look outside the box – any thoughts for a Witts Captain choice after VC Macrae not cutting it.
TU: Go for Witts
TD: Stick with safer option of Neale / Steele / Oliver.
IMO, I don’t think Gawn will be on full service duties as a part security safety measure…..
WHO FOR CAPTAIN
– TU – PREUSS
– TD – TOUK MILLER
COMMENT – GAWN
Haha, still with all the anti Gawn sentiment from heaps of coaches. And rightfully so.
But if anyone punishes the non believers, it’s him.
200 incoming just to mess with everyone.
I’m so tempted on captain Gawn this week. Only other remaining options are Cripps and Preuss now. Hmm