Welcome to another edition of the great… Cal’s Scale of Hardness.

You can get weekly updates (and 10 rounds at a time – or by downloading the full season document) of the Scale of Hardness over on our Patreon page. Along with weekly…. extra podcasts, a LIVE Sunday night show, Calvin’s Captains, Roy’s Roll’ 22, Jaiden’s epic stats and a shitload more.

Honestly, out patreon work is rocking at the moment. We’re doing stuff we’ve never done before and we’re loving it, and those who are on board are as well. Check it out and your support is greatly appreciated.

As I worked through the scale this week I found many interesting things and thought I’d share them along the way. Please check out the beautiful colours and use this to help you through this tricky bye-period and beyond. I’ll warn you now… there are some absolute gems.

DEFENDERS

Easy run: Fremantle (unreal run), Brisbane… West Coast (after their bye)

Hard run: Kangaroos, Essendon and Collingwood (after their bye).

Look at that green. Fremantle have such a juicy run on the cards and they have two guys that we need to target. Hayden Young (79 last week) and Luke Ryan (81 last week) didn’t set the world on fire last week, which sucks, but should finish the year strong. Both could average 95ish from here on in.

Can I interest anyone in a little Keidean Coleman (DEF, $514,000) action? Last year he played two games without Daniel Rich and averaged 99. Yeah yeah… long shot I know but should be out of the vest now and at this time of the year, we all do crazy things.

St Kilda still rank as the #1 easiest for the year and #1 easiest over the last five rounds.  Adelaide are still tough. They have been all year and in the last few weeks as well… and it’s because they don’t give up uncontested marks. In fact, they give up 32 less than St Kilda do a game. That’s a lot of points right there.

MIDFIELDERS

Tagger Alert – Oh boy… Liam Shiels and Marcus Windhager are concerns this week. I strongly believe they will tag this week. Shiels will go to either Treloar, Macrae or Smith (not Bont) whereas Windy will most likely target our beloved Tim Taranto. Check out my captain notes from more information around this. I’ve changed my captain list several times this week, but am happy where it sits right now.

Easy run: St Kilda

Hard run: Geelong

St Kilda… the run for them is amazing. But who do you trust? Jack Steele would normally be the top option but his recent ‘knee issues’ are a massive concern. Which is why, I’m a huge Brad Crouch fan at the moment. He has runs on the board, a juicy price and a draw to suit the trade.

West Coast have taken over St Kilda as the easiest for MIDs and that’s no surprise to anyone. They now rank #1 easiest this year and #1 easiest recently. Funnily enough, over the last five weeks, St Kilda now rank 10^th easiest. It’s a massive slide, but one not to panic at… usually this levels out and is obviously based up on the match ups they have had over the last few weeks.

RUCKS

Expect big games this week from Rowan Marshall as I have mentioned in my captain notes, the last three rucks to play against Nank have all hit 100, averaging 112. Their names are Lycett, Jackson and Briggs… and you know that Marshall is a fair bit better than them… and when I say a fair bit, I mean a truckload.

SCALE’S TOP-3 TRADE TARGETS

Based on the scale and the fact they have had their bye… here are three dudes you should be seriously considering!

#1 – HAYDEN YOUNG (DEF, $788,000)

Cheaper than what he was last week after scoring just 79, but the scale backs him in. He has more green coming up than I have seen this year. Don’t be put off by his last game. A huge option still.

#2 – BRAD CROUCH (MID, $825,000)

Not that long ago, people were happy to jump on Crouch at the price of $962k. He is coming off 123 and 114 and MUST seriously be considered based on price, form and draw coming up.

#3 – LACHIE NEALE (MID, $852,000)

He’s going up in value each week and even had a season-high 124 last week. Sydney look tough, but he did have 142 against them last year and last week St Kilda had 5 guys hit 105+. Get on!

HEY PERTH!

We love coming to Perth and this year we are doing two shows for the legends in the west. If you’re coming to one, that’s wicked. It’s you’re coming to both, then you will be a little hung like we will be on Saturday but your support is always greatly appreciated. It will be fun night so get along and have a beer or eight and chat shit with us for the night…. and warm up those vocals for the biggest Green Vest we have ever done!