THE GIANTS will be going into Friday night’s clash with Geelong at GMHBA Stadium missing key personnel. In-form veteran Brett Deledio was ruled out earlier in the week due to hamstring tightness while a toe injury will see Jeremy Cameron on the sidelines as well this week.
Popular first-round Fantasy Draft selection Josh Kelly and RUC/FWD Rory Lobb are still 1-2 weeks away.
More than 18 per cent of Fantasy coaches jumped on Matt Guelfi, who has played three games at an impressive average of 69.7, but he has been rested by the Bombers. He’s made $113,000 already, but there is more to come due to his breakeven of -9, so coaches are advised to hold.
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Hawthorn’s mature-aged defender David Mirra won’t be suiting up this weekend in a blow to almost 26 per cent of the competition. While most will have him on their bench, the emergency cover the 27-year-old who is averaging 59.3 points offers will be missed by his owners.
Some of the big names missing that will affect Fantasy Draft coaches include Blake Acres (managed), Charlie Curnow (ankle), Tom Lynch (knee) and Brayden Fiorini (leg). In what will go down as one of the most frustrating early picks in Draft this year, Michael Barlow has been omitted after cracking the Suns’ team for his first game of the season last week.
Gold Coast has given the nod to Charlie Ballard (MID/FWD, $188,000) and Brayden Crossley (RUC, $170,000) to make their debut on Saturday afternoon. Ballard is averaging 70 in the NEAFL this year while Crossley is going at 100, backing up his numbers as a junior where he averaged 119 Fantasy points per 120 minutes in the Under-18 Championships.
Lachie Keeffe (DEF/FWD, $170,000) won’t set the world on fire when it comes to Fantasy numbers, but the former Pie will play his first game for the Giants on Friday night.
While it might be nice to jump on some fresh meat this week, coaches should look towards a player who has played a game or two first.
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Get them in
Kobe Mutch (MID, $196,000) is the most traded in player this week after coaches were impressed with the young cash cow following his debut performance of 20 possessions and seven marks, which gives him a breakeven of -3. The Bombers aren’t overly impressive at the moment, so his once feared job security shouldn’t be an issue for a while.
Zach Merrett (MID, $650,000) is the fourth most traded in player this week as coaches scramble to get the top eight midfielder in before he is back over 700K. He remains a bargain with a breakeven of 69 and is still a ‘must-have’ player for that price.
Tim Taranto (FWD/MID, $586,000) finds his way back into the top traded in players this week, currently sitting in sixth position. He has only scored under 90 once this year and is averaging over 105 in his last three, where he is laying eight tackles per game in that time. He is underpriced and taking full advantage of the injury toll at the Giants, attending a huge number of centre bounces.
WATCH: Roy's Fantasy trades
Move them on
Nick Holman (MID, $355,000) is currently the most traded out player on the back of a 30 last week which saw his price drop by $8K which is an indication that this cow is fully fattened and it’s time to go.
Jack Billings (FWD, $576,000) had another disappointing performance last week with 64, which contributed to the 90K price drop from the beginning of the season. This is definitely a luxury trade, but one which I fully support.
Tim English (FWD/RUC, $427,000) was disappointing last week, failing to take a mark, which had been one of his strong points in the previous games. Given that the Suns’ give up a heap of points to opposition midfielders and he scores more around the ground than a traditional ruck, I hold hope that he returns to his best this week to trigger a bit more growth.
Calvin's captains
Tom Mitchell - The pig scored 147 last week and looked amazing nearly scoring 50 in two of the four quarters. He had 128 against the Bombers last year and will crack the big 200 mark at some point this year. Could it be in round seven on the MCG?
Jack Macrae - Gold Coast is by far the easiest team to score against at the moment conceding 6x100+ scores a game to their opposition over the last three weeks. Macrae is coming off a huge 145 and should be amazing in this one.
WATCH: Calvin's captains for round seven
Max Gawn - Ranked No.1 over the last three weeks with an average of 135. He’s only up against Tom Hickey under the Etihad roof and is destined for another nice score.
Adam Treloar - Goes for his fifth straight 100+ score against Brisbane this week and has been on fire in his last three games scoring 147, 132 and 125.
Rory Laird - Carlton give up a truckload of points to their opposition and with the possibility of Ed Curnow going to his former team mate Bryce Gibbs, Laird is the man to consider. Macrae (145) and Bontempelli (122) scored freely against the Blues last weekend and so will Laird on Saturday night.