For a pirate that picks captains… it was a weekend to forget. Hopefully everyone managed to avoid the shit that I dished up and hopfully you got involved in the likes of Daicos, Dawson, Gawn or even a bit of Luke Ryan.

No. 1 – Rowan Marshall = 63 (My Capt)
No. 2 – Zach Merrett = 109
No. 3 – Dayne Zorko = 80 (My VC)
No. 4 – Nick Daicos = 133
No. 5 – Nic Martin = 102
No. 6 – Jordan Dawson = 123
No. 7 – Max Gawn = 152
No. 8 – Caleb Serong = 101
No. 9 – Zak Butters = 86
No. 10 – Luke Ryan = 144

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 at 7pm, followed by my final top-10 which are announced on Thursday at 7pm, in the exact order that I would pick them. I’ll also let you know my VC and Captains for the week.

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CALVIN’S TOP-5 CAPTAINS

No. 1 – Daicos v WBD
@ Marvel, FRI 7:40pm

Nick Daicos is in hot form with previous scores of 133, 115, 131 and 122. Last year against the Dogs he spent the day going head to head with Bontempelli (at Marvel) and scored 112 from 29 touches and one mark. He has a great record under the roof and even posted a 131 against the Eagles there earlier this year. Last week against the Bulldogs… Gulden 119, Warner 115 and Heeney 100 all hit tons which makes me think that Daicos is going to be great once again.

No. 2 – Marshall v WCE
@ Optus, SAT 4:35pm 

I’m happy to forgive the big man who is now coming off 63, 171 and 164. Marshall scored 52 in the second half last week afte,r Max Gawn gave him a big bath early on. Marshall should bounce here against an opponent he scored 130 against last year over there in Perth. Recent rucks to battle Williams have been ROB 82, Max 86, Cameron 91, Goldy 82 and Witts 135.

No. 3 – Gawn v FRE
@ Traeger, SUN 1:00pm 

The Docker combination of Darcy/Jackson is a tricky one to read. Darcy is back and he was the main man in the middle last week with 63% of the CBAs compared to LJ who had just 38%. Last week, Cameron 117 (SD/LJ) took on both of the boys and before that we saw… Marshall 171 (just against LJ), Grundy 83 (LJ), Nank 70 (SD/LJ) and English 141 (SD/LJ). Max has scored 130+ in 50% of his games this year but is that calf a concern? I don’t think so.

No. 4 – Ryan v MELB
@ Traeger, SUN 1:00pm 

Luke Ryan you have my attention. 144, 126, 105 and 161 are decent efforts and in this game last year he had 102. Melbourne can give up a few points to defenders and especially to players like Ryan who can get very hungry. NWM 108 (4m), Hough 93 (9m) and McGovern 90 (8m) were the last bunch to take on the Demons and Ryan should have another big score this week, especially when he is in this frame of mind.

No. 5 – Steele v WCE
@ Optus, SAT 4:35pm 

I’m a big fan of Steele this week and he should be huge. Coming off scores of 122, 77 and 131 what I’m looking for here is “thirst”. Steele took a thirsty 10 marks last week (third time in his career) and if he is doing that again, a big score is on the cards. Last week against the Eagles we saw Sholl 124 (9m), Dawson 123 (9m) and Laird 101 all hit 100+.

ALSO CONSIDER…

Jordan Dawson v Haw – 123, 117 and 118 are all elite scores and they have come in Dawson’s last three games. He scored 103 against the Hawks last year and avoided any attention as Nash spent some time with Laird and Rachelle.

Max Holmes v Rich – Essendon hit 5×100+ scores on the Tigers last week and they have now given up 11×120+ in the last four weeks. Holmes hits them in hot form coming off 116, 106, 101 and 120. Boom!

Bailey Dale v Coll – Big smokie here after considering what Ryan 144 and Clark 128 racked up against Collingwood last week. He is coming off a nice 103 and has a ceiling that might be worth chasing with a VC.