Calvin’s Captains – Rd. 7

Stan(mega)ton

How about that? Brent StanMEGAton might make him sound like a transformer but after a huge 193pts last week he can be anything he wants. He had a huge 32 kicks (39d), 17 marks, 8 tackles and 0.3 goals… and would have cracked the 200 mark if he’d kicked straight. But let’s not get too fussy! This week he plays the Eagles and he had 109 on them in his last game against them with a dirty 34 before that after he was subbed out at half time. Another great thing about this game is that it is at Etihad, the ground where Stanmegaton has averaged 154 there this year.

But the biggest question here is… Will Stanton be tagged? So far this year, Stanton has received a tag in two games from Harbrow and Marty Clarke where he only scored 93 and 77 points. In the other 4 games he has basically ran around by himself dominating big time averaging 159pts. This is a big difference from the average of 85 from the games when he received attention. Last week, Stanton had 36 uncontested possessions and 17 uncontested marks. So will be get someone on him this week? Ha ha, probably not. Last week McGinnity and Adam Selwood went to Brent Harvey (66pts) until Selwood broke his hand leaving McGinnity as the tagger. This week, surely he will go to Jobe Watson leaving Stanton free again. For the sake of Stanton and Stanton coaches, let’s hope so cause another big score might be on the cards.

We Hate it When it Raines

Yep, he’s back! Andrew Raines is back this week and will most likely go to Scott Pendlebury like he did last time these teams met back in Rd. 22 last year. That day, Raines held Pendles to just 94pts despite his 30d. Before Raines came onto the scene, Pendles had scores of 119, 129 and 135 on the Lions and if Raines goes to him, we need to be very careful as Raines has already claimed two other superstars of the competition recently in Ablett (97pts) and Selwood (69pts).

Which leaves Dane Swan to run-a-muck, like Stanton (193), Heppell (137) and Watson (134) did last week against the Lions, where they averaged 36d between them. If Swan avoids the Raines tag, he could be at his DT Pig best. Check this out… last week Stanton and Heppell combined for a massive 31 marks, 3o uncontested with Stanton claiming 17 uncontested himself. If Swan has room, he will be cashing in on this big time along with 35+ touches. Swan has had previous numbers of 119, 125 and 122 on Brisbane in his last 3 games (avg. 122) with that 125 occurring last time he was at the GABBA.

Which way will it go? History says it will rain on Pendles as he did a good job on him last time they met, but who knows!

Gazza Back?

Seriously? Who bloody knows. Let’s look at what might happen if the great man does return. Firstly, he hasn’t done much in the last 2 weeks. Resting and pushing out a few kilometres on the bike. He will be slightly under-done. But with that said… he has averaged 134 in his last 3 games this year and he only plays the GWS, a team he will smash. McDonald might have something to say about that though as he has been putting his hand up in recent weeks to tag the big guns of the competition. In the last few weeks he has had Marc Murphy (94), Griffen (124) and Scott Thompson (109). Although they have been pretty solid… we still have to give him some credit for the job he can do.

Last year, Gazza missed 4 games due to injury and the bye and no more than 1 game at a time. When he returned, it is safe to say that he did struggle a little. Check out his scores when he returned…

Rd. 2 = 96pts
Rd. 5 = 83pts
Rd. 10 = 92pts
Rd. 21 = 106pts

It’s so hard to say. If he does play you’d assume that the best player in the competition will carve up the worst team. After all, he does have a few Brownlow votes to catch up on.

My Other Crew

Marc Murphy – Usually gets the Clinton Jones tag, but now St Kilda have a new coach I’m hoping things are different. Mitchell had 112 (29d) on Jones last week and Marc had just 105 in his last against him which happened to be his highest score against them in his last 5.
Matthew Boyd – plays the Kangaroos and had 102 on them last year with 145 and 108 before that. He only had 94 last week, but he is at Etihad once again where he has averaged 119 this year.
Sam Mitchell – had 113 against the Demons last time he played them which was his highest score against them in his last 4 games. Last week, Geelong had 6×100+ scores on them which came from Stevie J, Duncan, Chappy, Pods, Enright and Corey. Not many guys there are pure midfielders in that group due to the tags the Demons put on through Magner and McKenzie. Flip the coin cause Cyril, Hodge and Mitchell are all in the mix to receive the tag once again. Sam does love the MCG though with an average of 120 there in his last 3 games.
Joel Selwood – He will return this week to play a team he had just 84 on last time he met them in a game where he wasn’t tagged. Sydney had 5×100+ on the Crows last week so you’d think he’d be ok over at AAMI Stadium where he has averaged 102 in his last 3 games there.
Tom Rockliff – Has had 123 and 104 in his last 2 games against the Pies and averages 111 at the GABBA this year. Although he only had 77 last week, he’ll be good as Griffen (149) and Cross (124) had no worries scoring against Collingwood last week.

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