SuperCoach AFL stats dossier: Full CBAs, kick-ins, time on ground numbers for round 3, captain advice for round 4

Don’t give up on Max Gawn in SuperCoach. Exclusive stats from Champion Data reveal the best and worst match-ups this week to help make the best captain and trade calls.

All roads lead to Richmond and West Coast – but top captain scores could be locked away after Friday night’s Geelong v Melbourne game.

That’s the emerging theme from exclusive Champion Data stats that show how many SuperCoach points each team concedes to their opposition in every position.

The Eagles give up the most points to opposition rucks and mid-forwards, and the second-most to midfielders and general forwards.

SCROLL DOWN FOR MATCH-UP STATS PLUS CBAS, KICK-INS AND MORE

The Tigers give up the most points to opposition key defenders and are in the bottom four in every other position.

Melbourne, meanwhile, joins the club as teams to target when picking a SuperCoach captain by conceding an average of 89.2 points a game to every opposition midfielder – ranked 18th in the competition.

WHO TO TARGET THIS WEEK

Midfielders v Melbourne: Bailey Smith is on the bubble in SuperCoach – get him in ASAP! Max Holmes should be in for another big return, too.

Everyone v Richmond: Expect some big numbers from Brisbane’s SuperCoach stars on Saturday. The Tigers are the third-easiest team for midfielders to score against and Lachie Neale has been putting big numbers on them for years, including 162 last year, 143 in 2023 and 190 at the MCG in 2019. They also rank 16th for conceding points to general defenders – could Dayne Zorko beat his 161 against Richmond last time they met?

Midfielders v West Coast: Last week four Suns mids scored 109 or more against the Demons – lock in a bounce-back game from Finn Callaghan.

Midfielders v Collingwood: This is more surprising, but Collingwood is bottom-four club when it comes to restricting opposition midfielders. That’s good news for Patrick Cripps and Adam Cerra.

Midfielders v Adelaide: The Crows are flying, but they do give up points in the midfield. The Suns have some guns in there, too – Matt Rowell (who has a projected score of 140 in SuperCoach Plus, the highest in the comp), Noah Anderson – and Bailey Humphrey.

Don’t write off Max Gawn. Picture: Michael Klein

Rucks v Geelong: Will Chris Scott persist with Sam De Koning as his centre bounce ruckman? Whichever way he goes, this is a great match-up for Max Gawn to remind us why he’s been the king of SuperCoach for almost a decade.

Rucks v Western Bulldogs: Tim English has given up some big scores this year – Tom De Koning 133, Tristan Xerri 122, Darcy Cameron 112. Enjoy the Luke Jackson ride for at least one more week.

WHO TO AVOID THIS WEEK

Richmond players: Brisbane is in the top-three for restricting opponents in five of the seven positions tracked by Champion Data. This could be nasty.

Midfielders v Gold Coast: The Suns are the second-hardest team for opposition midfielders to score against this year – behind Brisbane. It could be a tougher day at the office for Jordan Dawson, Izak Rankine and Co.

Midfielders v Western Bulldogs: Despite missing some of their biggest names and not deploying a tagger, midfielders are finding it tough to get hold of the Dogs – Patrick Cripps scored 84, Adam Cerra 98, Harry Sheezel 106, Luke Davies-Uniacke 88. Nick Daicos (125) and George Hewett (126) are the only two exceptions. Can Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw break the shackles?

AL’S TOP CAPTAIN PICKS

1. Lachie Neale

2. Dayne Zorko

3. Max Gawn

4. Matt Rowell

5. Luke Jackson

Lachie Neale loves playing Richmond. Picture Lachie Millard

SUPERCOACH DOSSIER: FULL CBA, KICK-IN STATS

The Izak Rankine versus Jason Horne-Francis SuperCoach debate is already settled – and it’s not even close.

The prevailing wisdom in pre-season was that you couldn’t really go wrong picking either of the rising SA superstars in your forward line, with both primed for key midfield roles.

We got that part right, at least.

SCROLL DOWN FOR FULL CBAs, KICK-INS AND TIME ON GROUND STATS

Rankine attended 23 centre bounces on Sunday, 70 per cent of the total for the game – a huge bump from his 38 per cent average last season.

And he is turning the extra midfield exposure into fantasy gold, collecting 30 disposals and 19 contested possessions against the Kangaroos and averaging 115 SuperCoach points over the first three rounds.

Horne-Francis, meanwhile, attended 71 per cent of CBAs for the Power on Thursday night. If we had been promised that number before round 1, JHF would have been an absolute lock. But, unfortunately for his 99,000 owners, the SuperCoach scores aren’t there (average 75.3). But the role is, which provides some hope the scores will come.

Izak Rankine is making good on a pre-season promise of more midfield time. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Every week Champion Data supplies exclusive full numbers for CBAs, kick-ins and time on ground for every player in the round, and highlights the big movers and sliders.

Other key numbers from round 3 include Dylan Shiel attending 14 centre bounces for Essendon after zero in the first two rounds – is the half-back experiment over? – Harvey Langford attending 16 CBAs for Melbourne – No.3 at the Demons behind Clayton Oliver and Jack Viney – and Mitch Knevitt’s CBAs plunging from 20 to two after he was handed the subs vest.

Ryan Maric’s nine kick-ins was the second-most for the round (Steven May had 10), and there were some very encouraging time on ground numbers for some popular SuperCoach rookies – Nathan O’Driscoll (83 per cent, up 12 per cent from last round), Luke Trainor (88 per cent) and Christian Moraes (84 per cent)

Search and sort the tables below for more SuperCoach gold from round 3.

Originally published as SuperCoach AFL stats dossier: Full CBAs, kick-ins, time on ground numbers for round 3, captain advice for round 4