Calvin’s Captains – Rd. 1

Thanks for tuning in again for another year of Calvin’s Captains. My name is Calvin and I’m the world famous ‘Irish Pirate’ who will guide you each week in your captain selection. Arrgg and I have been doing this for many many years so I’m pretty bloody good and modest as well.

Please note I said “guide” – this means you can’t bitch at me if I get it wrong ha ha, but you can anyway cause I really don’t care. You click who you want!

What I do here is… analyse all the stats taking into consideration who they play and their previous scoring history against them. The ground, previous form, taggers and the list goes on and on. But at the end of the day… I know my shit!

Swan Gone?

You’re either in the 28% of DT coaches in Team Swan or you’re not. In fact, Scott Pendlebury is more selected than Swan this year ranked at #15 in the most selected player category compared to Swan at #21. (as of Tuesday night) – for many reasons of course. Pendles is not getting much of a mention tonight as over his career of 9 games against the Hawks, his highest score is just 108.

As for Swan, don’t write him off.

Last year, many wrote off Swan because of his pre-season (like this year) where he had 125, 94, 77 and 77. Then he came out in Rd. 1 and had a massive 137pts against Port. He continued this run and averaged 130 over the first 5 rounds. But can he do it again?

Let look at who he plays this year in the first 5 rounds and what he scored on them last time he played them in 2011.

Rd. 1 – Hawks (122)
Rd. 2 – Tigers (131)
Rd. 3 – Blues (119)
Rd. 4 – Port (155)
Rd. 5 – Bombers (171)

So as you can see… he might be awesome over the first 5 rounds, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

So how will he go against the Hawks this week?

We’ll… in his last 5 games against the Hawks, his lowest score is just 119pts with an average of 128 in his last 3. Look out cause Swan might make the 72% of DT coaches who didn’t pick him rather nervous this week. One negative here is, the game is at the MCG, a ground where Swan only averaged 114 in 2011, compared to Etihad Stadium where he averaged 133.

All I’m saying is – don’t write him off.

Magic @ Metricon

Oh boy! This will be an awesome DT match and Gary Ablett and Scottie Thompson will have a ball.

Gary Ablett – averages 136 at the Stadium in his last 3 games with scores of 142 and 156 against the Crows last year. Douglas tried to tag him in their first encounter when he had 156pts (41d) and then Van Berlo had a crack the other day and he had 142 (39d). Message here is simple. He is untaggable and should carve the Crows to pieces.

Scottie Thompson – averaged a massive 143 on the Suns last year from his 2 games and had a massive 151 in his last game at Metricon. He had a blinder of a pre-season and there is no reason why he won’t be awesome again.

Wow, A Smokey Rocky Cox

Ummm, probably need to get to the doctor if that’s you… but here we are talking about Dean Cox and DT Talk’s own, Tom Rockliff. Cox played the Bulldogs twice last year and should be considered this week after scores of 155 and 125. Cox averaged 113 at Etihad as well last year which included the 155 against the Dogs. What worries me here is Cox’s effort in the NAB Final where he had 6d. He’s a mega smokey I reckon and after opening Rd. 1 last year with a huge 142… he’s worth considering but unfortunalety misses my top 5 this week (just). Rocky on the other hand plays Melbourne at the MCG. Last time he played them he registered his 3^rd highest score of the year (134pts) and loves playing at the MCG where he averaged 130 there in 2011. Look out for him as well.

So there you go… I will be going Gary Ablett this week, hoping he can continue his dominance over the Crows. In Rd. 1 last year Gazza had just 96, but I think he can do much better this year.

Thanks for hanging out with me in the opening round and I look forward to seeing you all in here next week for another edition of Calvin’s Captains – the best advice in all the land. Arggg

TWITTER FOLLOW – @CalvinDT for more captain tips.