Calvin’s Captains – Rd. 9

Here we go again. This week is a little tricky to make sure you have all your ducks in a row. Last week wasn’t my best effort but with that said… they did ok despite Warnie sledging.

Last weeks top-10: Mills 76, Brayshaw 134, Dunkley 62, Neale 113, Gawn 67, Crisp 111, Steele 98, Oliver 119, Short 94, Smith 100.

VIDEO CONTENT

• Taggers
• My top-10
• Who missed the cut
• Max Gawn
• My Plan

MY PLAN

It’s tricky and as always, my plan is based around the players who are NOT playing. Therefore, at this stage I will be going Macrae as my VC option on Friday night, which gives me access to non-playing players on Saturday (Ess – Baldwin, PTA = McEntee). If all this fails, then Petracca is my guy. He will carry the C in the final game of the round and although it makes me a little nervous, the match-up is too juicy to ignore.

Player	Opponent Venue Time	Key Stats	Cal’s Comments
1. Clayton Oliver	@ Optus SUN 5:20pm	#2 on form averaging 125 in his last three	Easy match-up as the Lions found last week with McCluggage (141), Zorko (132) and Neale (113) cashing in. Oliver has hit 120 in half his games and should be massive.
2. Andrew Brayshaw	@ Metricon SUN 1:40pm	134 last week and meets the Suns who are #3 easiest this year	Had 118 on the Suns last year (at MS) and his running hot at the moment. Brayshawn has hit 110+ six times this year and 120+ in four.
3. Christian Petracca	@ Optus SUN 5:20pm	Coming off 118 and 111, this match-up is gold.	CP only has 2x120+ score this year but surely he gets one here. Against the Eagles in the last three weeks they have given up 6x130+ scores and 14x110+.
4. Lachie Neale	@ Adelaide SAT 7:40pm	Averaging 117 in his last three coming off 113 and 142.	Cripps (130) and Cerra (106) hit 100 against the Crows last week and although he didn't play the Crows last year, he is averaging 125 against them in his last three.
5. Rory Laird	@ Adelaide SAT 7:40pm	122, 118 and 110 in his last three - Heating up!	Scored 118 on the Lions last year and finds himself back at home on Saturday night. Getting the job done and plays bulk MID time and is #5 based on form.
6. Patrick Cripps	@ Giants SUN 3:20pm	Excluding injury, Cripps has hit 120+ in his last five.	#1 player on form averaging 126 in his last three. Ash has to tag him here, who can take down the big MIDs as he has already this year. Cripps has 0x100+ in his last four on the Giants and is here on form alone.
7. Travis Boak	@ Hobart SAT 2:10pm	Averages 118 in his last four v North	Easy match-up and has form on his side. Boak has hit 110+ six times this year and had 109 against them last year. He'll smash them!
8. Jack Macrae	@ Marvel FRI 7:50pm	Pies are one of his favourite teams with a career average of 119	Macrae has hit 100+ in his last 9 games v Collingwood and is coming off 110 last week. His CBAs are a concern still. He had 76% last week, but Bont didn't play.
9. Josh Dunkley	@ Marvel FRI 7:50pm	62 last week... his lowest for 2021 by 41pts.	Gotta look past his 72, and focus on the 2x130+ he had prior. Still a great VC option, based on his form this year and his ceiling.
10. Jayden Short	@ MCG SAT 1:45pm	Easy match-up and coming off 94, 123 and 127	Great match-up and spending 50/50 DEF/MID. Hawks are still easy as and he had 102 and 85 on them last year. Form = tick and match-up = tick

WHAT ABOUT…

Jack Crisp – Bulldogs are #1 hardest in the last five weeks, this will be tougher than the 111 and 130 he is coming off.

Jack Steele – Geelong #1 hardest this year turns me off.Steele dropped under 100 last week for the first time this year and over his career, the Cats are one of his worst teams to score against.

Darcy Parish – Tag coming from Rowbottom who went to Touk last week? Parish has not hit 100 against the Swans in his career 7 games.

Zach Merrett – Suns scored well on the Swans last week with Swallow (120), Fiorini (118) and Ellis scoring well. Zach is coming off 94 and 92.

Callum Mills – Hates the SCG where he averaged 99 last year compared to 124 away. Had only 76 last week.

Touk Miller – No tag here unlike last week as Touk managed just 92, after weeks of 140 and 111. Freo are #2 hardest in last five though.

Tom Mitchell – 51 last week…. nah

Jake Bowey – Only an option if they get him confused with Oliver – what idiot would do that?

Bailey Smith – 100, 100 and 92 are his last three scores. We need better but still a great VC option.

Max Gawn – Was sitting at No. 6 on the list but with all the talk around scans etc and Max being sore. It’s risky, especially as the final game of the weekend.