Calvin’s Captains – Rd. 7

What a week! With my top-10 captains averaging 113 for the weekend, my swagger is well and truly up and about. This week, it’s obvious… it’s all about the match-ups.

Player	Opponent Venue Time	Key Stats	Cal’s Comments
1. Max Gawn	@ MCG SAT 4:35pm	#1 man based on form averaging 130 in his last three	Gawn v Max Lynch... yes please. Ladhams scored 107 against Lynch last week and over the years, the Hawks rate as Gawn's favourite team of all time with a career-average of 115. And now with Jackson out due to Covid, hopefully the points will flow even more.
2. Clayton Oliver	@ MCG SAT 4:35pm	Hawks are #1 easiest for MIDS as Mills (162) found last week.	Oliver scored 126, 121 and 145 in his last three against the Hawks and is running on hot form scoring 129 and 111 in his last two.
3. Jack Steele	@ Cazaly's SAT 7:25pm	149 and 106 is what Steele had on the Power last year.	Steele has now averaged 117 in his last three games and loves playing at Cazaly's where he scored 133 last year. Fills ALL the stat lines.
4. Josh Dunkley	@ Marvel SUN 3:20pm	138 last week and #3 man on form over last 3 weeks.	Amazingly... Dunkley's record against the Bombers is horrible with previous scores of 53 and 58. He is here based on form alone.
5. Callum Mills	@ SCG SUN 4:40pm	Scored 121 on the Lions last year and is running hot.	Coming off 162, Mills meets a team that allowed Anderson (118), Ainsworth (112) and Touk (111) to score well against them last week.
6. Christian Petracca	@ MCG SAT 4:35pm	Plays the Hawks, should bounce back.	76 last week was terrible and over his career, Petracca's record against the Hawks is shocking (career-worst team). He scored 90 and 102 against them last year.
7. Patrick Cripps	@ Marvel SAT 7:25pm	Averaging 124 when you take out his injured game.	Geelong had 5x100+ against the Roos last week who are giving up points. Cripper had 88 against them last year but is a different beast in 2022.
8. Touk Miller	@ MCG SUN 1:10pm	Laid 8 tackles for his 111 last week. He's back!	Meets one of his favourite teams here and even managed 130 against them last week. Top-3 Essendon MIDs averaged 112 and 37 touches on the Pies last week.
9. Bailey Smith	@ Marvel SUN 3:20pm	Averaging 127 despite a season-low 92 last week.	Six Bulldog MIDs attended 40% or more of the CBAs last week and Smith only managed 52%. Unpredictable rotations as always.
10.Sam Walsh	@ Marvel SAT 7:25pm	Season-high 117 last week and only getting better	Only managed 72 on the Roos last year but they still rate as one of the easiest teams to score against, rankig fifth easiest.

WHAT ABOUT….

As I haven’t got a video this week (holidays and ran out of time), here are some explanations as to why some players missed the cut. Here is the round 7 fixture so you can check out when to use that all important VC.

Andrew Brayshaw – Gets the Mark O’Connor tag and only managed 96 on the Cats last year. This one is at the Cattery and having a captain there is always a risk. Does play first up on Saturday though so you can VC him if you like.

Keays and Laird – GWS use taggers nearly every week, Bruhn had a go last week and as we have sent his year, Ash also gets jobs. Pass and pass, despite being in Adelaide.

Ollie Wines – St Kilda rank as #2 hardest. Big pass.

Jack Macrae – 52% and 53% CBAs in recent weeks (down 20% from the start of the year). Prefers the MCG and had 88 and 119 in his last two this year.

Darcy Parish – Ankle concerns… just couldn’t risk it.

Zach Merrett – Great return with 115, but we’ll need to see more before we captain him again. Also plays the Dogs who rank as #3 hardest for MIDs at the moment.

Lachie Neale – Only had 68 on the Swans last year and hasn’t hit 100 against them in his last five games. They are easily his worst team to play.

Jarryd Lyons – A huge 128 last week but hasn’t hit a ton in his last four against the Swans.

Tom Mitchell – Melbourne are #3 easiest at the moment and the pig is coming off a nice 109. Scored 144 and 103 on the Demons last year. Should be fine.

Tim Taranto – Only had 65 and 92 in his last two this year and ranked as the seventh most used player at the Giants in CBAs (32%).

Jack Crisp – Could have a day out against the #4 rated Suns. They’re easy and Crisp should lap it up.

Jayden Short – First game (FRI v WCE) and could get you the 120+ you need. He has hit 125+ in three of his last five this year and had a season-high 122 on the Eagles last year and in 2022, they’re much worse.

MY PLAN

Simple for me this week…. Max Gawn (VC – 4:35 Saturday)) into Jack Steele (Saturday night). I also should have either Mead or McEntee not playing in the same game so this should give me the option of taking Gawn. I think Gawn and Oliver are the safest 120+ scores going around this week and should get the job done for us all.