The Phantom’s Final Word: The teams, on-field rookie selections, captains and more
As the start of Friday night footy nears, The Phantom delivers the final SuperCoach word on the teams, on-field rookies, captains and more.
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- The Phantom’s Round 1 Trade Talk
- Every Round 1 SuperCoach score
- By The Numbers: Power fight back at the contest
- Why Crows need quality not quantity in attack
As the start of Friday night footy nears, The Phantom delivers the final SuperCoach word on the teams, on-field rookies, captains and more.
There were some big SuperCoach surprises at selection on Thursday night but, as I’ve been saying all week, don’t panic.
Jordan Ridley was a shock omission at the Bombers despite being the only player on the ground to hit the target with every disposal last week.
The obvious straight swap is for Jordan Clark or Xavier Duursma, if you didn’t start with one of the impressive Round 1 debutants.
With mature-age Demon Marty Hore joining Noah Balta as players dumped after one game, there will be some SuperCoaches being stretched in defence. If that’s you — or you already planned two other pre-Round 3 trades — go early on Clark or Duursma.
But, if you can, give it another week. That way, you can be more sure about who you are trading in.
If you’ve also got Collingwood Darcy Moore and weren’t one of the SuperCoaches who swung him forward and picked up one of the impressive forward rookie-price players for Ridley, wait and do it next week.
Giant Toby Greene missing with general soreness after just one match is a big concern but don’t go trading him out now.
Unless he’s had a setback, it’s unlikely Greene misses two weeks.
You got yourself into this mess!
SUNDAY TEAMS
In a concern for Todd Goldstein owners, former Bulldogs big man Tom Campbell has been named to play alongside Goldstein. He can play forward so fingers crossed he doesn’t affect Goldstein’s scoring.
Elswhere, it’s been confirmed Tom Scully and Jesse Hogan will make their club debuts and, if you’ve got him in SuperCoach Draft, there’s still no Paul Ahern at North Melbourne.
ON-FIELD ROOKIES
DEFENCE
1. Xavier Duursma
2. Jordan Clark
3. Callum Wilkie
4. Connor Rozee
5. Sam Collins
MIDFIELD
It’s always tough to judge the rookies after one week but, while Bailey Scott posted a SuperCoach ton on debut, I’m still backing Sam Walsh and Charlie Constable ahead of him.
1. Sam Walsh
2. Charlie Constable
3. Bailey Scott
4. Zak Butters
5. Tom Atkins
They aren’t as popular but if you’ve got top-price players James Cousins and Luke Davies-Uniacke, start them on-field.
RUCK
No.
FORWARD
1. Darcy Moore*
2. Will Setterfield
3. Willem Drew
4. Matthew Parker
5. Jack Petruccelle
Just to finish on the rookie-price players, when asked about the four Round 1 debutants and their place in the side going forward, Power coach Ken Hinkley, on Thursday said he does not “look at the age of a player.”
“If they have form, you play them.”
*played Thursday night
CAPTAINS
If you didn’t go with Brodie Grundy last night, here are The Phantom’s best VC and C options for Round 2
Rory Sloane (Adel)
v Sydney, Friday night
Adelaide’s co-captain was huge with 155 points against the Hawks in Round 1 and, while he miss last year’s clash through injury, Sloane has scored 140 and 137 in his past two home-and-away matches against the Swans. The threat of George Hewett is there but he hasn’t gone to him in the past. There’s 60 per cent chance of rain in Sydney on Friday night and we know the 29-year-old thrives in the tough conditions. A great point-of-difference VC option.
Patrick Cripps (Carl)
v Port, Saturday afternoon
Cripps is always a great option, given there’s really no one in the competition who can stop him. The Carlton star tallied 21 contested possessions and 126 points last week and boasts a career SuperCoach average of 117 against the Power. If you’re looking at Cripps, try to VC him into a Saturday night or Sunday captain option.
Patrick Dangerfield (Geel)
v Melbourne, Saturday night
Geelong are back at home and Dangerfield loves playing down at the Cattery, averaging 127 SuperCoach points in his past seven matches at the venue. Melbourne will be out to make amends for last week’s loss to the Power but expect Dangerfield, who’s posted scores of 126 and 138 in his past two home-and-away matches against the Demons, to thrive on a red-hot midfield contest.
Jack Macrae (WB)
v Hawthorn, Sunday
While Macrae’s career average against the Hawks is only a modest 94 points, expect him carry on with his ball-winning ways against a Hawthorn midfield who gave up 76 disposals and 292 points to Crows Rory Sloane and Matt Crouch in Round 1.
Tom Rockliff (Port)
v Carlton, Saturday
If you really want to go to left-field with your VC this week, you could consider Rockliff if you’ve got him. He tallied 29 disposals and 92 points against the Blues last year and in his last encounter with Carlton as a Lion he tagged Bryce Gibbs. But in 2016, Rockliff posted scores of 206 and 159 against the Power’s Round 2 opponent. Hmmm.
THURSDAY NIGHT THINKING
A huge night for SuperCoaches on Thursday with Collingwood dominating the scoring.
The Magpies had 10 player score 100 or more points, with another two posting scores of 99 and 93.
On the other hand, Jayden Short (91) was the only tiger to score more than 90 points.
And, after racing to 12 disposals and 40 points early in the second-term, Dustin Martin finished with a disappointing 66 for the match.
The Phantom’s been thinking about a potential Martin to Tom Rockliff trade ever since the half-time siren.
Sure, Levi Greenwood was paying close attention to the Brownlow Medallist but it wasn’t the tightest tag I’ve ever seen.
If Rockliff scores well again on Saturday against the Blues, it might be a sleepless weekend for The Phantom.
Me: Don’t trade your premiums.
— The Phantom (@ThePhantomSC) March 28, 2019
Also me: Dusty could become Rocky? 🤔#SuperCoach
He looked sensational early on...
— Daniel Begala (@danbegala) March 28, 2019
If Rocky goes BANG, he’s in!
Oink, Oink.
Dustin Martin was the = 38th ranked player on the ground after quarter time. #SuperCoach #AFLTigersPies
— Fantasy Freako (@FantasyFreako) March 28, 2019
Greenwood is one of very few gun taggers. Not many beat him.
— Fantasy Freako (@FantasyFreako) March 28, 2019
Dustin Martin's Mid/Fwd breakdown from last night was 44%/56%. One would expect his time in attack to increase with Riewoldt's layoff. #SuperCoach #AFLFantasy
— Fantasy Freako (@FantasyFreako) March 29, 2019
THE PHANTOM’S MENACE
John Worsfold
Hey, Woosha, what do you want Jordan Ridley to do in the VFL? Hit more targets? I would’ve thought 14 from 14 against the Giants was a pretty good effort. Surely, he wasn’t your worst!?
Originally published as The Phantom’s Final Word: The teams, on-field rookie selections, captains and more
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