Captains are here! With eight games across five days you have plenty of options to get your VC and then the all important C in order. Check out my top-5 picks for the week ahead.

WHAT IS DT TALK PATREON?

Over in our Patreon, you can read the full and extended article each and every week. Over there, I go through 30-plus of the best players (on Tuesday) and analyse their match-ups, taggers, what their opponents give up, past performances, weather conditions, history at the ground and much more. This game by game and player previews occur on Tuesday, followed by my final top-10 which are announced on Thursday at 7:00pm, in the exact order that I would pick them. I’ll also let you know my VC and Captains for the week.

For $5 or $10 a month can also find….

• Roy’s Rollin’ 22 (updated weekly)
• Cal’s Scale of Hardness (updated weekly)
• Pint Cast (Q&A Wednesday podcast)
• Calvin’s Captains – extended version (Tuesday)
• Calvin’s Captains – Top 10 (Thursday)
• Jaiden’s epic spreadsheets (awesome resource)
• Sunday night LIVE show – including green vest punishments
• Exclusive competitions ($$$ up for grabs)

So if you’d like to check that out, click on the links. We appreciate your support!

In the meantime, here are my top-5 players for the week ahead.

CALVIN’S TOP-5 CAPTAINS

No. 1 – English v WCE
@ Marvel , SUN 1:00pm 

Williams gave up the most points to oppositon rucks last year and so far this year, Briggs 111 and Soldo 98 have both been solid enough, and even in the pre-season, we saw O’Brien have 118. English had 146 in round 23 last year against Williams  and in his last three games at Marvel he has scored 146, 131 and 98.  His ton-run will continue again, and it could be huge.

No. 2 – Gulden v RICH
@ the MCG, SUN 4:00pm 

Butters 117, Rozee 116 and Drew 109 all carved up the Tigers last week and I’m tipping Gulden will as well coming off 117 and 111. He scored 126 and 91 against them last year and could be absolutely huge on Sunday bringing home the bacon with a late C.

No. 3 – Bontempelli v WCE
@ Marvel , SUN 1:00pm 

Bont playing at Marvel with previous scores of 140, 151 and 128. We all know the Eagles give up plenty and last week Green 120 was one of six Giants to hit 100-plus. The week before that, Rozee 111 and Butter 107 had their turn. Bont scored 140 against them last year with 32 touches and 10 tackles. His scores this year have been below par, fingers crossed he gets back to beast-mode here.

ANKLE UPDATE…. if you haven’t heard, Bont hasn’t trained all week and has spent time in the rehab group for his ankle he injured in Q1 last week. He will stay in my top-5 until we get a further update on the great man who will train tomorrow. The thing is, he played out the game. Came on for the last 5mins despite the massive result. I have the feeling he will be 100% fine.

No. 4 – Gawn v PTA
@ Adel Oval, SAT 7:30pm 

Rucks v Soldo this year….Williams 64 and Nankervis 89. Not a great reflection but then I dug deeper. Gawn played Richmond late last year, without Grundy and without Nankervis. This meant, Gawn went against Soldo. Gawn had 131. He has started the year with 107 and 137. I like what I’m seeing.

No. 5 – Serong v ADEL
@ Optus, FRI 7:30pm AEDT

Backed up his 161 with a solid 125 last week and plays the Crows here, a team Geelong had 4×100+ against last week. Serong returns home and even had 106 on the Crows in 2023. Must be in the top-5 again this week as the #1 player in the game. Adelaide were a ‘red’ team for MIDs on the scale last year though.

Last minute thoughts…

Zach Merrett – tagged by Windhager last yearand still managed 103. Could happen again.

Rory Laird – tagged by Aish to 84 last season. Highly doubt it will happen here.

Adam Treloar – Joined the party last year against the Eagles with 143.

Rowan Marshall – Bomber rucks are tough to score against. Rowan only managed 100 last year.

ADELAIDE/PERTH SHOWS

Yep, if you haven’t heard we are coming to Adelaide and Perth. If you have never been to one of our LIVE shows then you need to get along for some Fantasy fun and beers. Tickets are selling fast for these one off shows so click below to secure your tickets.

FINALLY… THE HATERS

I saw some comments from last week in here. The message is simple… You don’t have to be here. Don’t be negative and throw cowardly cheap shots from your keyboard. We don’t want you here… simply just fuck off and go somewhere else. Cheers, Calvin.

Everyone else… have a wicked Easter break! I really appreciate you checking this out and for your years of support! Cheers Cal