ROUND seven had a bit of everything, which unfortunately included a lot of 'bullets' with many popular players injured or seemingly having their ability stolen by the Monstars. This caused a huge spike of coaches making appointments for their players for a stint on Moron Mountain. Fortunately, a few players who have been a headache all year stepped up to help fill the void and reward the loyalty.
Fantasy Pig
Elliot Yeo has been a huge disappointment to this point in the season, averaging just 86 on the back of a career-best year. Affectionately known in Fantasy circles as the Yeo-Yeo for his ups and downs, the ups have been few and far between until this week when he pumped out the highest score of the week with 146. He took full advantage of the Suns who are starting to leak a lot of points with 28 touches, seven marks, a goal and an impressive 12 tackles.
Honourable mention: Josh Dunkley was the form player of the competition in the backend of 2018, prompting many coaches to start with the young star in the forward line. Well, he didn’t last long in many teams, looking a shadow of what we expected and in a role that wasn’t conducive to the consistent high scores that were required to justify his asking price. Out of nowhere, he attended the most centre bounces for the Dogs against the Tigers and reminded us of his ability with a season-high 145 from 35 touches, eight tackles and eight marks. Why he has been bumped out of the midfield by Tom Liberatore to this point in the season is beyond me, but I dare say we will be seeing a lot more of him in there from now on.
NINE THINGS WE LEARNED Sorry, Eagles, we're not convinced
Rage Trades
Tom Liberatore unfortunately heads this section for the second week in a row after many coaches opted to give him one more chance against the easiest team to score against and taking the opportunity to remove a rookie from the ground instead. Well, his lacklustre performance had to be seen to be believed. Libba is a far cry from the hard-working tackling machine we saw at the start of the year, laying just one and his work on the outside has all but dried up to non-existence. He has to be traded this week.
Honourable mention: Patrick Dangerfield was hampered by injury with an ankle complaint, which was closely followed by an knee complaint, which made tough going for the most selected player in the competition. The circumstances caused a shift to the forward line which was hard to watch for the large number of coaches that gave him captaincy responsibility. He eventually played 80 per cent game time for eight touches and 40 points. Hopefully he is good to go next week.
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Piglet
Jay Lockhart stepped up in a time of need for many coaches that needed spots filled after some challenging omissions on Thursday night. He had a breakout game against the Hawks with 20 touches, eight marks, four tackles and a goal to knock out the first 100 of his career.
AROUND THE STATE LEAGUES Who starred for your club?
Top 10
1. Elliot Yeo 146
2. Josh Dunkley 145
3. Andrew Gaff 144
4. Dayne Zorko 136
5. Luke Shuey 128
6. Steele Sidebottom 128
7. Josh P. Kennedy 127
8. Scott Pendlebury 126
9. Aaron Naughton 125
10. Stefan Martin 125