The Phantom’s Round 13 Review: Dunkley, Clarke and Naish the highlights in a tough weekend for SuperCoaches

With many SuperCoaches already struggling to field the required 18 players, low scores from a number of popular names meant it was a tough Round 13 for some. The Phantom looks at the highs, lows and what to do from here.

• Every Round 13 SuperCoach score
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Well, that felt like it went forever.

I thought watching Reilly O’Brien — after trading him out two weeks prior — tally the most SuperCoach points of any ruckman since 2017 at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night was tough.

But then I watched Alistair Clarkson start All-Australian defender James Sicily as the Hawks’ deepest forward — hours after I traded him in — on Friday night.

Sicily moved back into defence in the second-half and was the top-rank Hawk on the ground after half-time.

While it saved his score, in a way, it made the first-half performance even harder to digest.

But it turned out to be somewhat enjoyable viewing, compared to what I watched on Saturday night.

Patrick Cripps recorded his second-lowest score of the year against the Bulldogs in Round 13.

In the clash between Carlton and the Bulldogs, Patrick Cripps (78), Nic Newman (64), Sam Walsh (50), Michael Gibbons (34), Tom Liberatore (30) — who has been cleared of any ACL damage but will still have arthroscopic surgery on his injured knee — and Ryan Gardner (22) scored just 278 SuperCoach points between them.

While they would’ve pipped Sri Lanka, just as the Aussies did at the Cricket World Cup, that’s not saying much.

And, of course, I had Cripps as captain, after overlooking Rory Laird’s 121 points as VC.

That’s another lesson altogether.

However, I did watch a few things I did like over the weekend.

After shutting down Cripps before the bye, young Bomber — and Round 14 bubble boy — Dylan Clarke impressed again on Friday night.

The 20-year-old, playing his third senior game, quelled the influence of prolific Hawthorn midfielder Jaeger O’Meara, who finished as the 38th-ranked player on the ground with 43 SuperCoach points.

O’Meara tallied 24 disposals but 10 of those came in the last quarter when the game was all-but over.

And with Clarke by his side, only 13 of them hit the target.

Like he did against the Blues, Clarke, who averaged 27 disposals and 110 SuperCoach points in the VFL last season, tallied 23 disposals and 76 points of his own against O’Meara.

Clarke’s 12 contested possessions was the equal-second-most on the ground and only Dylan Shiel and Kyle Langford (6) won more clearances for the Bombers than Clarke (5).

Clarke has the lowest breakeven of all the Round 13 bubble boys and, while the elevated rookie-price of $147 will put some off, he’s the best downgrade option ahead of Round 14.

If he can keep his spot that is, with coach John Worsfold still trying to cast doubt over his Clarke’s place in the side.

“We’ve played some wonderful footy without using a specific run-with player and we’ve now seen a couple of weeks where that’s worked for us,” Worsfold said after the win over the Hawks.

“But it wasn’t working for us in the first half even though O’Meara might not have been getting a lot of the ball, Hawthorn were controlling the football way too much and walking through us.”

So if that’s because we’ve got one player out of our system, we have to assess that.”

Come on, Woosha.

Bomber Dylan Clarke impressed again playing a run-with role on Hawk Jaeger O’Meara

Young Tiger Patrick Naish was one of the positives in his side’s loss to the Crows.

Tiger defender Patrick Naish isn’t far behind after following up his 78-point performance on debut with 19 disposals and 67 points against the Crows.

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick singled out Naish post-match saying the 20-year-old was “good again” but with a number of stars due back after the bye, his spot is far from guaranteed.

Trent Cotchin, Shane Edwards and Kane Lambert are all likely starters in Round 15, while Jayden Short is also an outside chance to return from injury.

On form, there’s a few others who should go out before Naish but it’s hard to be certain.

Josh Dunkley went big in Round 13, posting 173 SuperCoach points against the Blues.

While there were plenty of lowlights on Saturday night, Bulldog Josh Dunkley, who had passed three figures by half-time, was far from that.

Playing as a permanent midfielder again — and that’s where he belongs — Dunkley finished with 41 disposals, 16 contested possessions, 10 tackles and 173 points against the Blues.

If you don’t have him, although it’s an expensive trade, you’ve got one week before his price soars about $600k.

If you’re short on cash, teammate Caleb Daniel, as he was last week, is still terrific value at less than $515k, after posting his eighth SuperCoach ton of the year in Round 13.

Back to the disappointment.

After 141 points in the win over the Lions in Round 12, Walsh crashed back to earth, tallying just two contested possessions, against the Bulldogs.

There wasn’t another big price spike on the back of last week’s score, as owners were hoping, with Walsh’s price falling back below the $440k mark.

If you’re holding, continue to expect some inconsistent scoring.

But with the Blues having the week off, the time is right to trade, especially with Lion Lachie Neale available for $29k less than his starting price, coming off the bye.

Anyway, I’ve had enough of talking about Round 13.

Thankfully, it’s now over.

And we can look ahead to Round 14 when Adelaide, Carlton, Gold Coast, GWS, North Melbourne and Richmond have the bye.

On second thought, it might be another long week

THE PHANTOM’S ROUND 13

Score: 1575

Studs: Josh Dunkley (173), Jack Macrae (150), Brad Crouch (129), Travis Boak (121), Rory Laird (121).

Duds: Patrick Cripps as captain (78), Nic Newman (64), Sam Walsh (50), Michael Gibbons (34), Tom Liberatore (30), Ryan Gardner (22)

Originally published as The Phantom’s Round 13 Review: Dunkley, Clarke and Naish the highlights in a tough weekend for SuperCoaches