THE BIG news of the week has been the suspension of Nic Naitanui. The Eagle appears in more than 34 per cent of AFL Fantasy classic teams and is among the most traded out for this week as many ruck benches are short of suitable replacements.
A few cash cows are among the other key players missing this weekend. Tim English has been dishing up scores that has seen his price begin to go backwards. His omission means the tens of thousands of coaches who have already pulled the trigger on him ahead of round eight will be happy to go through with it.
Lachlan Fogarty is getting a rest while Darcy Fogarty and Dom Barry have been dropped. A few forward lines would have liked Essendon to have named Matt Guelfi this week, but he remains an emergency for the Bombers.
ALL THE TEAMS: Check 'em out
On a positive note, Tom Rockliff has been named on the ball and we will be watching him over the next two matches to see if he is a worth inclusion following Port Adelaide's round 10 bye.
The return of Marcus Bontempelli, Blake Acres and Trent Cotchin will appease their owners in Fantasy Draft.
The Saints revealed on Thursday afternoon that Ed Phillips (MID, $170,000) will make his debut in Perth on Saturday night. The brother of Tom was selected in the 2016 NAB AFL Draft and is averaging 114 in the VFL so far this season. The 20-year-old was selected following his 37-disposal game for Sandringham last weekend that earned him 133 Fantasy points.
Isaac Cumming (DEF, $170,000) is named for the Giants. He has averaged 98 points in his first four matches this year and is a sound downgrade target.
Eagle Brayden Ainsworth (MID, $208,000) will play his first senior match. Taken at pick 32 last year, Ainsworth has averaged 93 points in the WAFL this season. Brendon Ah Chee (MID/FWD, $392,000) suits up for the first time since being traded from the Power. He could be a sneaky look if you're after a free agent pick up in a deep Fantasy Draft league.
Keep an eye on the Sunday teams as Tiger Ryan Garthwaite (DEF, $170,000) and Roo Paul Ahern (MID/FWD, $170,000) may make the cut for their respective teams. The latter is definitely an option if selected.
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Get them in
Charlie Spargo (FWD/MID, $276,000) has already risen $62K but such is the impact he has had for the Dees, coaches are happy to bring him in at an inflated price, making him the third most popular target of the week. He has earned great job security and will be a handy player until he can be offloaded when his bye comes around.
James Sicily (DEF/FWD, $594,000) has been back to his best the last two weeks and is the bargain premium of the week as a result with a BE of just 48. To find a defender or forward capable of scoring over 110 in back-to-back weeks is almost impossible, but that's just what Sic Dawg has done while dominating across half-back. The risk vs reward is a huge consideration here with tags, suspension and a horrendous weather forecast for his game against the Swans this week
Dayne Zorko (MID, $576,000) Is he back? Who knows, but what I do know is Dayne Zorko is capable of averaging over 115 in a season as well as scoring 176 in a single game as he did against the Pies on the weekend. The risk of scoring in the 50s is still there, and it will happen again this year but after dropping $229K and with a matchup against the Dogs in which he scored over 150 last year at Etihad, bargain hunting coaches have made him the seventh most traded in player this week. He has a BE of 58 and is owned by just five per cent of the competition.
WATCH: Roy's Fantasy trades
Move them on
Jeremy Finlayson (DEF, $414,000) has been an absolute legend in our backline but he has struggled for the undermanned Giants over the last couple of weeks, which has prompted coaches to make him the second most traded out player this week. His price rise of just $5K last week is justification that he is ready to use as part of an upgrade.
Nic Naitanui (RUC, $497,000) has proven to be a great underpriced option in the ruck, increasing by $80K since the start of the year. His suspension however, gives coaches a perfect excuse to move him on to one of the genuine premium scorers like Brodie Grundy, Max Gawn or Stef Martin. He is the third most traded out player this week.
Tim English (FWD/RUC, $425,000) has fully fattened and in fact dropped $2K last week after his second disappointing performance in a row. He is the most traded out player this week and he has certainly done his job after the unexpected money maker has risen by $238K this year and is now a prime player in a traditional downgrade/upgrade trade. His BE is 76 and he hasn't reached 40 in the past fortnight.
Calvin's captains
1. Jack Macrae - The No. 1 man based on form has been huge in recent weeks with scores of 151 and 145. There are no signs that he will slow down against the Brisbane Lions who gave Collingwood seven 100+ scores last week. Under the Etihad roof, Macrae has averaged 131 there from four games and will be massive again.
2. Tom Mitchell - Against his old team Sydney in 2017, Mitchell recorded his worst score for the year (83) and his third worst (109). Now with that said, our pig is coming off scores of 119 and 147 and therefore sits solid as a rock in my No.2 position this week.
3. Patrick Dangerfield - Collingwood is the easiest team for midfielders to score against, and they even allowed Zorko (176) and Beams (120) to play back into form last week. Danger scored 126 in his last game against them and although he is spending more time forward than we would like, he still found the ball 27 times for 109 against the Giants.
WATCH: Calvin's captains for round eight
4. Max Gawn - Big Maxy scored 111 last week, his lowest score in his last five games. He drops on the order this week because no ruckman has score triple figures against Gold Coast's Jarrod Witts this year. That will most likely change this week.
5. Stefan Martin - With English being dropped, the Bulldogs will be running with just Tom Boyd this week. Expect Martin to carve this one up after averaging 110 against them last year.
