Calvin’s Captains – Rd. 20

Running Hot

Over the last few weeks, many players are starting to heat up. Kieren Jack has been in smoking form with scores of 140 and 128 in the last 2 weeks and plays Collingwood who he struggles against big time. He had 99 on them when they met in Rd. 9 of this year. This score is his best score against them in his career 9 games. He averages 112 at ANZ in his last 2 games there though and surely will be solid. Ryan Griffen aka ‘Attack Dogs’ has also been running hot with an average of 118 in his last 3 games this year after an impressive 133 last week. He had 109 on the Carlton last year and scored 103 and 111 before that. But is anyone running hotter than DT Talk’s own Tom Rockliff? I think not. He has scored 144, 97, 120 and 134 in his last 4 games this year but only had 82 on the Blues in 2012. He did have 103 and 132 before that though and should be pretty good once again as he graces the MCG for the first time in 2013. Joel Selwood must also be mentioned here despite having just 98 last week. He is still averaging 124 in his last 5 this year and plays back at Simonds this week where he has dominated there in his last 2 runs (136 & 126). He had just 75 on Port when he played them earlier this year but did have better scores of 119 and 129 before that. Expect him to be great again! Have you traded in Dayne Beams yet? Many are trying to get this guy in their teams as soon as they possibly can and you can’t blame them after he has had 117, 130 and 134 in the last 3 weeks. He scored 99 and 131 on the Swans last year and is a great bet this week. People would go nuts if I failed to mention Steele Sidebottom under this heading. He topped scored in his game last week with 126pts and has scored 143pts before that. He averages 95 on Sydney in his last 3 and has been very impressive. Yeah he’s been great but a captain option…. Nope.

To be a talented captain picking pirate, you need to know when it’s time to pass the ‘C’ on and this is the week we say… Thanks Swanny, but it’s Gazza’s time.

This week, Swanny plays Sydney and switching to Gaz is a huge call after the great Dane Swan has scored very well in recent weeks with scores of 115, 163 and 130. Huge! It’s even a tougher call to make after the Bulldogs had 5×100+ scores on Sydney last week with 9 players scoring more than 90pts. Amazing really. But, Swan’s history isn’t the best against Sydney as he has scored 85 on them earlier this year and just 106 in 2012. He does average 121 at ANZ Stadium in his last 3 games there and at the end of the day, he’s a top option and should be great again. I hate to turn my back on DT Talk’s DT Pig but… Gary Ablett plays Melbourne, at Metricon in his 250^th games. PARTY TIME! Could the planets be anymore aligned? Probably not. Ablett had 134 on the Demons earlier this year with a tag from Dunn who has been sitting in the backline a lot over the recent weeks as Melbourne have elected for Grimes to be running with the opposition’s main players. He will tag Ablett this week…  but whoop de doo! It won’t matter. Ablett had 130 on the Demons in 2012 and will be even bigger than that on his home ground this week. This year, Gaz has played at Metricon 9 times and has scored over 100 in every single game. He carries a lowest score there of just 109 in his last 5 there and to make matters even better for us… this week he plays his 250^th AFL game. In his last milestone game (Vs WCE for his 200^th) he had 32d for 132pts…Party time!

Mega Rough ROK = COD

Will you lose your final this week? If so… are you chasing a POD or a COD (Captain of Difference) to try to squeeze a few extra points back on your opponent? If so… look no further than Ryan O’Keefe. ROK had 136 on Collingwood in Rd. 9 and posted scores of 154 and 132 before that. He kills them. Plus, the game is at ANZ Stadium where he has scored 116, 132 and 125 there in his last 3 runs. BOOM! After a COD then this is your #1 man for the job.

TOP 5 COD’s FOR RD.20 – O’Keefe, Beams, Selwood, Johnson, Rockliff. Should I trademark this ‘COD’ or will every other website and try hard mongo just steal that as well? It’s computer game yeah he he.

Just Quickly…

Steve Johnson Vs Port Adelaide @ Simonds Stadium:  In Rd. 9 this year, Stevie shrugged the tag of Cornes to rack up 33d for a huge 144pts. Before that against Port he has scores of just 83 and 70. Bit of a mixed bag, but we all know what he is capable of. Another good COD!

Brent Stanton Vs West coast @ Etihad Stadium: If you are considering Stanton this week as your captain. Punch yourself in the face. He’s had 0x100+ scores in his last 3 games and should even be looked at as an option to trade out to get in Beams or even my boy ROK this week.

Jobe Watson Vs West coast @ Etihad Stadium: For Jobe, 3 games ago he played the Eagles before spending a significant amount of time on the sidelines. He had 113 last week in his comeback and back 6 weeks ago, he had 122 on the West Coast and even posted 114 on them before that. Scott Selwood will tag him this week though after missing their match earlier this year.

Patrick Dangerfield Vs Kangaroos @ AAMI: No thanks. 0x100+ in his last 3 this year and 0x100+ scores in his last 5 at AAMI isn’t cutting it here.

Michael Barlow Vs GWS @ Patersons Stadium: Barlow has only played the Giants once and scored 103 on them that day. His lowest score is only 97 in his last 8 games this year but going against the GWS is a gamble. Just ask Pendles and Watson.

TWITTER FOLLOW: @CalvinDT – for updated captain info and to ask any questions! If I ever update my top 5 I will always announce it on Twitter.