Get Off The Bench: Round 20

Another huge week in scoring, I think my predictor in DT Gold had me at about 2100ish before the round and I thought to myself, it is multi bye week… tell him he’s dreaming, but to finish with 2449 I couldn’t believe it, and it was one of my fringe guys that surprised me most.  On Thurs when I heard Ben Jacobs was out, I thought, well here is a donut… but wait, Andrew Gaff can come on for him, well that will have to do and I will be happy with 50pts.  But to get 119 out of the little fella, I was wondering…. where the hell was this early on when I selected this guy as a cash cow!!!

So this week we are without Matty Boyd, Cross and ….  well I don’t think many teams will have too many other dogs, maybe Murphy and Higgins, but they have been out with injury anyway.  The only others that maybe have snuck into a team would be Gia or Morris.  On top of this we get hit with no Gazza, Colin or Enright.  So the midfield is where most issues will arise this week, but just in case your team is as bad as mine and you need to fill a hole up forward or down back, we will have a look at them all.

The guys that will drag you over the line into the finals….

A lot of people have doubted my faith in Andrew Krakouer over the last few weeks and he just keeps getting better and better, his last 4 read 79, 83, 90 and 108.  This week he is at AAMI against the Power, he scored 96 against my side in round 1 and that was with a red vest!  I expect to see him crack the ton fairly comfortably when I see him first hand on Sat night.  Simon Buckley will also be at AAMI and he has had 93 and 80 in his last two games at senior level.  As long as he can avoid a vest I think he should be up for a similar score.

Dyson Heppell arrested his slide this week with a 97.  A score we would normally associate with him.  The talk of him getting a rest still continues, but with Essendon running out of players and rumoured to be keen to sign Warnie to a short term deal to help them field enough numbers to get through the season, I think he will play.  He scored 80 against Sydney in round 2 at ANZ and should get between that and 100 again this week.  Crameri hit a hurdle this week with 66, but his 4 previous were over 80 so given it was against the Pies I will cut him some slack.  He should rebound and he hada Red50 last time he played Sydney.

Mzungu had another solid game and it appears that the 70 – 80 range is what we can expect from this guy each week.  However, given he had a very wet tough game on Sat night, backing up 6 days later at the rock solid Etihad may see him dip a bit this week.  I think he will be at the lower end of that scoring range on Friday night.  Lower had another struggle of a game, but once again I will let him off with the conditions and the fact they were getting fairly comfortably beaten.  He had 68 on Sat night, and he had an 83 when they played the Saints at home in round 10.

Despite a green vest on Sat avo at the massacre at Geelong, Allen Christensen still managed to get 76 points.  This shows that this guy can flat out play.  Or it means that Melbourne didn’t notice that he had been subbed on.  Either way, he is great and shouldn’t get the vest this week and should knock out another ton against the Gold Coast at the Cattery.

Speaking of Gold Coast, their solid core of Swallow, Stanley and Smith all performed to what their par scores are these days.  The only other Sun to note is McKenzie who scored his lowest since rd 13 with a 64.  I don’t think the Suns will do too well at Skilled, but I think these guys should all be in line for their averages this week and are all a fairly safe bet.  Iles is back and he has been playing fairly well of late.  Hopefully he can come back to the 80’s and above that he has been scoring.

Isaac Smith bounced back to show the coach he doesn’t want the green vest again with a nice 90 in the wet and teammate Puopolo also came back from an ordinary score the previous week with a 73.  I think back down at Aurora this week against the Kangas, these guys will do very well again.  Hale also did well in the wet with 84 and ruck partner Bailey managed 69 wihcih is about what I woudl expect from him, but Breust had his worst score since he shed those green vests with only 48.

All Melbourne players struggled, however, at least they didn’t follow the lead of vice captain Moloney who got a row of duck eggs before being red vested!  The only significant form drop was Martin and I expect him to bounce back this week against Carlton.

Pedersen performed well again for North but didn’t get a massive score, he had a 67 which follows on from his previous two which were in the 80’s.  A guy that most people won’t have but is worth a mention is Dean Polo who in his last 3 has 93, 100 and 83.

Andrew Gaff must now be a fairly safe bet after his last two blistering games, however, interestingly his two tons have come at Etihad with his 53 in the middle coming at Pattersons Playground, all I can put that to is that he was in the Derby and may have been overawed with the occasion.  I think against Richmond he should light it up (sorry @Doutheez).

Andy Otten is one guy that should get a mention here, he has been farily steady of late with 70’s and 66’s but against Brisbane I expect he should lift back to the 80’s.

These guys are more than likely to send you to the Tit-ed Cup!

Jack Darling may have paid Coxy to aim for Kennedy with that Tennis Ball so he could get more service up forward!  He certainly stood up with an 88 after his last couple of red vest performances.  This was the once certain DT starters best score since his 98 way back in round 6!!  Certainly makes me reassess where this guy stands in DT land!

Nick Smith and Sam Reid from Sydney have both had servicable years, but I think their scoring has been too up and down for them to be considered good safe options.

Reece Conca has struggled in the back half of the year and I think a score in the 40’s is about what I expect for him this week.

Lobbe may have seen his good scoring run come to an end.  I think that Collingwood will stretch him around the ground and I think a 40 – 50 score is par for him this week.

C Rich  and Harper should play for the Roos this week, but not for your DT.  Their consistency just isn’t there and mid 50 scores is what I would hope for from them.  Same goes for Nicholson and Howe from Melbourne.  They just won’t pump out a big one in the round where you need it most.

Thomas Lynch from GCS, please get out of my team!  Well he would be if I had the trades and he was worth enough.  27 from him last week is only his second worst in the last 4 and is more than half of his best tells the story.

Nick Duigan continues his fall from grace also with a 58, however, this is his second best in the last 4 and against Melbourne he should do much better, but you never know.

Ever since I pumped up Patrick Karnezis he has been steady in the 60’s and should get that for you, but even though he is consistent, you need more than that for your final round score this week.

If you are lookint at any guys outside of the ones above, feel free to discuss them below, but I would be very surprised if you are considering anyone else.

Best of luck to make the top 8.  I find myself in the same position as Molly and Monty in the Allstars league in my work league, I am in 8th and need the win to make it, but am ranked 4th overall on points.  This game can be cruel at times!  Keep an eye on late changes on Friday night before trading and locking in your team.  If I hear anything I will let you know on twitter @pkd73

Defenders

1. Heppell
2. Stanley
3. Buckley
4. Polo
5. Puopolo
6. Lower
7. Martin
8. Otten
9. Pedersen
10. Reid, S

Midfielders

1. Krakouer
2. Christensen
3. Heppell
4. Swallow
5. I Smith
6. Mzungu
7. Iles
8. Gaff
9. Buckley
10. Crameri

Rucks

1. Z Smith
2. Hale
3. Bailey
4. Lobbe

Forwards

1. Krakouer
2. I Smith
3. Mzungu
4. Darling
5. Hale
6. Breust
7. Harper
8. Karnezis
9. Lynch (GCS)