Calvin’s Captains – Rd. 8

LAST WEEKS TOP 5

Dane Swan 143
Brent Stanton 140
Scott Pendlebury 119
Gary Ablett 106
Tom Rockliff 73

Before I get started… check out my top 5 from last week. Pretty solid (excluding old Rocky there) but the best thing about it is the order is pretty much on the money.  Yeah I know I don’t have Boyd in there for his massive 162pts, but you’d have to be pretty happy with any of those top 3 for your #1 job.

Grand Final Re-Match

This Friday night we will witness a massive match in DT for the week. This match could hold the key to your success over the weekend and it has some of the biggest guns playing. Scott Pendlebury had a nice 131pts in the Grand Final last year despite a rotating tag from Kelly and Corey. He has scored 4×100+ against the Cats in his last 5 games and with an average of 122 in his last 3 this year, he should be great once again. On the other hand, his partner in crime Dane Swan… had a terrible record against the Cats last year with scores of 68 and 84 in his last 2 games against them. But with Cameron Ling on the sidelines, things will now be much easier for him this year. Last week when the Crows played Geelong, Scott Thompson (138pts) was the only guy to crack a ton against them, although 7 others had 90+… and that was in a 50pt upset win to the Crows. Meaning, although they were pumped, the Cats made it tough to score. Swan has played in 3 Friday night games this year for scores of 102, 109 and 117 and has averaged 130 in his last 3 at the MCG with a massive 171 in his last. Taylor Hunt tagged Dangerfield (86) and will most likely go to one of these big Collingwood guns on Friday night. Joel Selwood is another guy certainly worth considering too. He had 119 (28d, 7t, 2g) in the GF last year and has scored 100+ in all of his last 4 games against Collingwood with a low of just 93 in his last 8 games. This week he goes for his 6^th straight ton at the MCG and should certainly be looked at with the big “C”.

Ablett V Boyd

How big will this be? Both players could actually walk out of this game with huge scores next to their names and I’m tipping it will happen. Last week (as predicted), Gary Ablett wasn’t at his best. Yes, he managed 106 but after flying with 62pts at the half, he did slow down. Whether he is wearing a GC top or a Geelong top, Gazza loves playing the Bulldogs and had 118 and 115 on them last year and is going for his 7^th straight 100+ on them this week. He has never played in Darwin but has averaged 121 in his last 3 this year. On the other hand, Matthew Boyd has played in Darwin several times before and averages 112 there in his last 3 games, with the most recent being in 2010 when he posted a nice 133. He played the Suns twice in 2011 for an average of 130 and finds himself coming off that ripper 162 last week against the Roos. My only concern (sorta) is that Boyd has had low scores of 84 and 94 in his last 4 games this year, but I’m brushing that aside. The weather is forecasted to be a high of 32 degrees during the day (yep I checked like a good pirate) and it may get hotter at night when these two lads get on fire. BOOM! Great creative writing!

A Few Other Seamen

Marc Murphy will bounce back this week I reckon after poor scores in his last 2 games (prick). He has had 126 and 144 in his last 2 against the Crows and will be back to his best this week.
Sam Mitchell usually gets the tag from Crowley but has still averaged 110 on the Dockers in his last 3. He had just 63pts when he was at Aurora earlier this year but did averaged 127 there in 2011. The Dockers are one of his better teams though as he goes for his 6^th straight 100+ score on them this week.
Scott Thompson has averaged 100 in his last 3 games against the Blues but has previous scores of 86 and 88 against them. He only has 100+ score against them in his last 4 games and is a little bit of a worry this week.
Brent Stanton has continued his awesome run with 140 last week to average 137 in his last 3 games this year. He had 135 and 69 on Richmond last year and may cop the tag from Daniel Jackson. The Tigers didn’t give up a single 100+ score to the Swans last week and this one will be interesting.
Tom Rockliff plays the GWS and you’d be thinking he’d give them a DT lesson. Maybe. Will he be sat forward though like last week when he had just 73pts? Tough to call. He did crave up poor teams like Melbourne (130) and the Suns (143) earlier this year, so hopefully he’ll be back this week.

 

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