Arggg me hearties – as I still recover from a huge trip to Perth – here are my top-5 captain tips for the round ahead. Calvin’s Captains can be found as the full artcile which is 1600 words of research and details over on our patreon space so if you’d like to check that out – that would be epic. The full version will also come out free to our patreon members next week (May 14th) so make sure you are involved in that as it won’t be posted on DT Talk in detail.
Good luck and let’s nail some rippers.
🏴☠️ 1 – Ash v ESS
@ ENGIE, SAT 4:15pm
✅ MIDs v Ess – Ashcroft 121, Bailey 117… 153, Daicos 135 and Crisp 127
✅ Ash 61% CBAs last week
✅ Had 107 and 137 v Ess last year
⭐ Averaged 115 since round one
🏴☠️ 2 – Whitfield v ESS
@ ENGIE, SAT 4:15pm
✅ Defenders v Ess – Wilmot 134, Zorko 123 and Coleman 103
🐽 Whitfield 11 kicks in last week
⭐ Avg. 112 in his last five games and posted
✅109 last year
🏴☠️ 3 – Nasiah v GCS
@ TIO Stadium, SAT 7:10pm
⭐ Had 134 against the Suns last year
✅ Suns #3 easiest for MIDs
✅ Coming off 104 and 119
🤷♂️ Game in Darwin
🏴☠️ 4 – Roberts v GWS
@ ENGIE, SAT 4:15pm
🐽 King of junking it up
✅ Last week v GWS – Noble 144, Uwland 112, Jeffery 109, Andrew 96
✅ They all took double figure marks
🏴☠️ 5 – Zorko v CARL
@ GABBA, FRI 7:30pm
✅ Returned for 123
✅ Scored 104 (at Marvel) v Blues last year
✅ Blues give up plenty to DEFs
🏟️ 116 and 142 at GABBA this year
💥 IMPORTANT FINDINGS 💥
Obviously – when I do my top-picks, I look over all of the guns across all games. Here is some things I found along the way that might interest you.
Tristan Xerri – 131 and 145 since his return from suspension… and dominating. Grundy can be tough though and he only managed 78 in this game last year. Max Gawn 101 was good last week (75 in scored half) in a shared role and Xerri has this one to himself. Comes with slight risk.
Brodie Grundy – Grundy scored 129 and 83 on the Roos last year… but the 83 was against Xerri and the 129 was against Teakle and on that day he won the hit out count 62 to 5. Marc Pittonet 85 was the best ruck against Xerri so far this year. However… a VC… I will tick off.
Nick Daicos – copped the Mullin tag last year for 92, and will cop it again. I hold some faith, despite what Mullin has done to Rankine 21 and Bont 28 this year. Geelong are his second-worst team to score against but has hit 120+ in all but one game this year and that one was in the heavy rain.
Max Gawn – 113 (against Williams) and 158 (against Flynn) is what Gawn did to the Eagles last year. Shared role is the concern but after what he did in the last half last week with a huge 75 – the role will mainly be his you’d think. Averaging 95 in his last three – I’ll still be passing on Max, that late in the round.
Harry Sheezel – Sydney #1 hardest for MIDs…. could even cop James Jordon after copping the Mullin one last week. Had 102 and 125 in this game last year. Pass.
🏴☠️ 1 – Tristan Xerri 131 💥
🏴☠️ 2 – Marcus Bontempelli 106 🤏
🏴☠️ 3 – Nick Daicos 124 ✅
🏴☠️ 4 – Luke Jackson 129 💥
🏴☠️ 5 – Bailey Smith 71 ❄️
🏴☠️ 6 – Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera 104 🤏
🏴☠️ 7 – Will Ashcroft 129 💥
🏴☠️ 8 – Brodie Grundy 121 ✅
🏴☠️ 9 – Zak Butters 112 ✅
🏴☠️ 10 – Lachie Neale 109 🤏
Recent Comments
on Fry’s Cash Cows – Rd. 9: “Nvm I can because of serong not playing. Who should I bring in for under 300 k any position. Thinking…” May 7, 18:20
on Fry’s Cash Cows – Rd. 9: “I would rank them in that exact order you listed them mate” May 7, 18:01- on Fry’s Cash Cows – Rd. 9: “I don’t think so mate – too early in the season for a $230K red dot” May 7, 18:00
Podcasts
Calvin's Captains
Calvin’s Captains – Rd. 9
Team Sheets
AFL Teams 2026: Round 9
The Thursday Scramble
The Thursday Scramble: Round 9
Draft Game
The Stream Team – Round 9
Cash Cows
Fry’s Cash Cows – Rd. 5
Cash Cows
Fry’s Cash Cows – Rd. 7
Cal's Scale of Hardness
Cal’s Scale of Hardness – Rd. 7
Cash Cows
Fry’s Cash Cows – Rd. 8
Bugger! 3/5 in the same game.
Eeny, meeny, minny, mo.