Welcome to the round 18 edition of the world famous… Cal’s Scale of Hardness.

With seven rounds to go, it’s more important than ever that we are nailing the right trades. Therefore, each trade needs to ensure that you are maximising your return for the player you are bringing in. The scale is a resource that allows you to ‘split’ those tricky 50/50 decisions trying to find a player with a ‘great green run’ home or offloading a player who has a tricky draw ‘red draw’ on the horizon.

The next scale will be updated again in round 22… however, you can get weekly updates (and all the 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…

DEFENDERS

Easy run: Hawthorn, West Coast, Kangaroos and Richmond

Hard run: Collingwood, Essendon and GWS Giants

Woof woof bloody woof – yep it’s “Sic Dawg Season”. Now… I talk about Sicily below, but as a past owner, just understand that even though the grass is looking green for Sic… the rollercoaster it can bring is exciting but also very distressing at the same time. The other thing is, as much as I think he will average 125+ for the run home… he will cost you a fair bit at $934,000 so make sure you are prioritising your trades and don’t get too excited.

West Coast Eagles… we have all seen what they are doing with the ball in the back half. As far as Fantasy is concerned… this could be a great place to go shopping.

Liam Duggan (DEF, $886,000) is coming off scores of 116, 113, 69, 137 and 140. Elite numbers by even a midfielder standard….  Same goes for Alex Witherden (DEF, $705,000) at a much cheaper price. He is coming off 105 and 131 and if this game style continues… his 0.6% of coaches will be laughing.

MIDFIELDERS

Easy run: St Kilda, Kangaroos, Brisbane, Hawthorn and Richmond

Hard run: Bulldogs and Adelaide

Plenty of good options with good runs coming up with the Tigers getting their go at the Eagles this week. Last week, the four main Brisbane midfielders all hit 110+ against them (Neale 127, McCluggage 118, Ashcroft 113 and Lyons 110). Draft owners, hit the scrap heap to find a few other hidden Tiger gems waiting to get a run for a one week hit. Players like Jack Graham (75 last week) and Jack Ross (96 last week) will most likely be sitting there waiting for you.

Luke Davies-Uniacke (MID, $733,000) is at a price worth considering after his 122 last week. A tag is on the cards though (mentioned below) so I’d be waiting one more week for exploring that option.

Also… I’d be holding Will Day (DEF/MID, $733,000) over the next four weeks as well. He has runs on the board against some of these teams already this year… as he has played North (128) and St Kilda (101) already … so you don’t have to move him on just yet.

RUCKS

XERRI ISLAND (RUC, $565,000)… wasn’t the best holiday destination at the start of the year, but after his 110, people are now excited to travel there once again. His draw coming up isn’t that bad, but it’s the Goldstein factor that is the biggest concern. Goldy dominated the VFL last week and will appear again this season, even if it’s for a farewell game. If you do travel to the Island, it will still be stressful… just watching as the ships come in week to week to see if Goldstein is on board.

FOCUS PLAYERS

JAMES SICILY (DEF, $934,000) – 2nd most traded in

Why is this run so good for Sicily? Well, it all comes down to uncontested marks. Coming up, he plays teams that rank very highly in giving up these easy +6’s and on his day, Sicily eats them up. This week he plays North (ranked 2^nd for conceding uncontested marks) then he meets Richmond (5^th), St Kilda (1^st), and then Collingwood (6^th). He played North in round three and took 18 marks for 132pts and when he played the Saints in round 11 he took 16 for a huge 165pts. The scale never lies. I seriously see him averaging 125+ on the run home.

JACK STEELE (MID, $802,000) – 3rd most traded in

Off the back of his 146, many believe that Jack is back to being the Man of Steele once again. Fair call! The run coming up for Steele is rather rewarding as well, if he can continue what he started last week. This year he has now scored 146, 128 and 121… the ceiling is there! The thing is, the scale can’t do all the work for you Jack, so keep this shit up.

THE MAGINNESS TAG – line up the victims

If the tag is back, then we need to be very careful moving forward. Maginness clamped Josh Kelly last week to just 6 touches and 30pts which has put all our premium players on red hot alert. Predicted tags on the cards…

NTH = LDU… RICH = Bolton/Taranto… STK = Sinclair… COLL = Daicos

Let’s not forget he did do a number on Daicos in that pre-season game that scared many (including me) from starting with him this year. If he can stay in the Hawk’s line-up, he will be shaking things up on the run home.

Calvin

Do you need a Captain? Then Calvin will help you out. Don't want a Captain? Calvin will tell you anyway. The man who digs deep into stats will help you pick a great captain and give you plenty of Fantasy advice. Follow him on Twitter: @CalvinDT