The Phantom’s Round 9 captain analysis: All the go-to options in play but the Power pair lead the pack

The fixture is kind to most of the SuperCoach big guns this week but two Port Adelaide midfielders are set for a day out against the Suns. The Phantom looks at the best captain options for Round 9.

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• Rockliff set to scorch leaking Suns

Unlike last week, the Round 9 fixture is loophole-friendly, meaning all of favourite go-to captain options are in play. But there’s also Power pair Travis Boak and Tom Rockliff.

On Sunday, the fourth and fifth-ranked ball-winners in the game face a Gold Coast side who concede more disposals and SuperCoach points to opposition midfielders than any other team in the competition.

Travis Boak, right, is the highest-scoring SuperCoach forward in the game.

There are 14 players who have posted a season-high against the Suns with Clayton Oliver (175), Patrick Cripps (169) and Andrew Gaff (155) the standouts.

Boak is the seventh-highest SuperCoach scorer this season and Rockliff has posted scores of 122, 100, 140 and 116 in his past four matches at Adelaide Oval.

If you’ve got either of the two Port Adelaide midfielders, included them in your VC/C combination this week.

And if you’ve got both, I’d go with Rockliff.

THE OTHER BEST PICKS

Max Gawn (Melb)

v West Coast, Friday night

It’s over in Perth, which is always a tough challenge for any side – especially a struggling one – but it’s likely to be the returning Tom Hickey, if he passes a fitness test, and Nathan Vardy in the ruck for the Eagles. And Gawn, who has posted seven SuperCoach tons on-the-trot – four of them in excess of 125 - should comfortably have their measure. The potential return of Braydon Preuss shouldn’t impact his score a great deal.

Brodie Grundy (Coll)

v St Kilda, Saturday

Since the start of last season, the star big man averages 134 SuperCoach points per game in Collingwood wins at the MCG. And in his past five games at the venue, Grundy has posted scores of 137, 132, 160, 134 and 141. The obvious Round 9 VC candidate.

Lachie Neale (Bris)

v Adelaide, Saturday

Crow Cam Ellis-Yolmen has been doing some defensive jobs in the midfield but he’s not the right match-up for the Brisbane star. While Riley Knight might get a crack, Neale, who is averaging 130 points per game this season, should again be prolific, regardless of the result.

Tim Kelly is a great point-of-difference vc option in Round 9.

Tim Kelly (Geel)

v Western Bulldogs, Saturday

On form, it’s hard to look past the classy 24-year-old as the best option from the Cats this week. Kelly, who is coming off a super-impressive 36-disposal, two-goal, 162-point performance last week, boasts the fourth-highest three-round average in the competition. A great point-of-difference VC option, if you’re overlooking Grundy.

Patrick Dangerfield (Geel)

v Western Bulldogs, Saturday

While The Phantom does prefer Kelly, Dangerfield – hindered by injury or not – always has to be in the conversation at home. The star midfielder hasn’t reached three figures for three consecutive weeks – something which hasn’t happened since 2014 – but he’s posted scores of 173, 151 and 118 in his past three matches against the Bulldogs.

Zach Merrett (Ess)

v Fremantle, Saturday night

After two scores of less than 94 in the previous two rounds, the Bomber ball-magnet bounced back with 129 points against the Swans. And Merrett’s average of 118 points in his past three matches against this week’s opponent (Fremantle) is the second-highest in the game.

Nat Fyfe (Freo)

v Essendon, Saturday night

No player in the game has scored more SuperCoach points than the Fremantle skipper in the past three matches. Fyfe has now scored 110, 128, 124 and 133 since returning from concussion and there’s no player at Essendon – or in the competition, for that matter – that can stop him. A great captain option if Grundy fails to score well earlier in the afternoon.

Giant Josh Kelly scored 205 points in his last match against the Blues.

Josh Kelly (GWS)

v Carlton, Sunday

The last time these two sides met, Kelly finished with 41 disposals – 29 of them kicks – 22 contested possessions and 205 SuperCoach points. Yes, 205. The Giants did win by 105 points but Kelly is coming off an impressive 154-point performance in a big loss to the Hawks last week.

Leave him out this week…

Patrick Cripps (Carl)

v GWS, Sunday

While Cripps is a different beast altogether, Giant tagger Matt de Boer is circling. And that’s enough to scare me off this week.

THE PHANTOM’S CALL

Rockliff will be in my combination this week and, ideally, it would be as VC into potential new recruit Josh Kelly. But it would be a mistake to leave out Brodie Grundy so I’m leaning towards Grundy as VC and Rockliff as C.

BY THE NUMBERS

Round 9 SuperCoach Captains By The Numbers