It’s that time of the week again and I’m back to run you through some of the best AFL Fantasy captaincy options for round 19.
Let’s not waste any more time because I have something very special to announce.
A royal swine is crowned
A ‘Fantasy Pig’ is a term that used to describe AFL Fantasy royalty.
It refers to a player’s ability to feast on points, way beyond what would be deemed necessary.
A pig is greedy when it comes to points, is never full, and never stops feeding.
Over the years, Dane Swan has been the only player who has consistently shown these qualities.
He has embraced the title and talked about it with us when we met him at the start of the year.
“I’m pretty comfortable in my pig pen,” he said “I certainly hope I can keep going with some piggish type scores.”
While the year hasn’t panned out as Swanny would hope, it’s time to hand a second player this prestigious mantle.
Congratulations Tom Rockliff [MID, $666,600]. Last week, Rockliff smashed out a huge score of 190 against the Suns, and is coming off recent scores of 137, 122 and 172. He is a true Fantasy Pig.
This week our newly crowned pig meets the Demons, who he scored 120 and 125 against last year. Behind the Suns, Melbourne are his second favourite team to score Fantasy points against - he carries a lowest score of 119 against them in his last five games. Wowzers!
Last week, Port Adelaide managed six scores over 100 against Melbourne, meaning that our new favourite swine will be like a pig in mud this week, and with his new title, he’ll raise his game to even greater heights. Could he even give the 200-point barrier a shake?
We now have two pigs in the pen, and this little piggy sits firmly at number one in my top five for this week.
JPK + SCG = BIG scores
On Friday night at the SCG, Josh P. Kennedy [MID, $574,452] will be BIG. He has averaged 120 at his home ground this season and is coming off scores of 130 and 136 there in his last two games.
Kennedy's best previous score for the year (139 points) came when he met the Bombers in round nine, and he has been in awesome form scoring 101, 130, 96, 136 and 107 in his last five games.
After averaging 105 in his last four games, Lance Franklin [FWD, $504,076] is just another Swan who is running hot. He loves playing against the Bombers and has scored 115 and 120 against them in his last two encounters.
Taking on the Swans on Friday will be Dyson Heppell [MID, $519,518] who will aim to re-gather some Fantasy form, after averaging 87 in his last three games. He did score 126 when these teams met earlier this year and will find it much easier this week if he isn’t targeted by taggers like Craig Bird, or Kieren Jack.
Geelong-time in coming
We’ve been waiting for it, and finally Joel Selwood [MID, $523,316] is in full flight. He has scored 140 and 121 in his last two games and meets the Kangaroos this week, a team that allowed five Carlton players to score over 110 last week.
Selwood dominates against the Kangaroos and carries a lowest score of just 96 against them in his last eight games.
Steve Johnson [MID, $561,845] doesn’t look like slowing down this week either, after averaging 135 in his last three games.
He scored 112 against North Melbourne when he last played them in 2013 and looks a safe bet again this week to continue his hot form under the roof at Etihad Stadium.
Just quickly...
Here are few more of the popular options I have looked at for round 19. If I have missed your favourite, please let me know on Twitter (@CalvinDT).
Kade Simpson [DEF, $435,117] v Fremantle at Patersons Stadium: Now, this game is on Thursday night meaning we do have a loop-hole consideration this week. Simpson is a top option if you play this angle, as he has scored 119 and 140 in his last two games against the Dockers. He had 120 last week and already has two scores over 140 under his belt this year, proving he can go big on his day.
Michael Barlow [MID, $542,353] v Carlton at Patersons Stadium: Barlow has only managed 97 and 89 in his last two games this year, but loves playing against the Blues. Over his career, he has met them on four occasions with scores of 106, 105, 117 and 121. Pretty impressive.
Dayne Beams [MID, $506,861] v Port Adelaide at the MCG: Beams scored 113 last week, his best score in his last six games. He averages 108 against the Power over his career, but needs to show more consistent form before we give him the responsibility of wearing the big ‘C’.
Matt Priddis [MID, $557,744] v Adelaide at Adelaide Oval: After his highest score of the last three years (147 against Richmond), Priddis is well and truly on the radar this week. He scored 93 and 120 last year against the Crows and goes for his ninth straight 100+ score this week. He’ll be good and should consider himself unlucky not to crack my top five this week.
Trent Cotchin [MID, $529,087] v Greater Western Sydney at the MCG: After being tagged by Mark Hutchings last week, Cotchin’s run of five straight 100+ scores came to a crashing end with 54 in the rain in Perth. He’ll be tagged heavily again this week by either Toby Greene or Tom Scully which makes him way too risky to pick.
Tom Hawkins [FWD, $382,513] v North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium: No I haven’t gone crazy and I’m not drunk on my pirate rum. But I think Hawkins will be big this week. Last week, Jarrad Waite (135 points) and Lachie Henderson (114 points) kicked 10 goals between them against North Melbourne and I’m tipping the Tomahawk to have a big Saturday night.
Brandon Ellis [MID, $524,835] v Greater Western Sydney at the MCG: Ellis is a huge smokie this week. His form has been down, but he scored a season-high 127 against the Giants earlier this year. Watch out for something very similar.
Scott Pendlebury [MID, $544,985] v Port Adelaide at the MCG: Despite averaging 114 in his last five games against the Power, Pendlebury is coming off scores of just 97 and 84. I cursed him in round 17 and sadly, he hasn’t recovered.
Dustin Martin [FWD/MID, $522,455] v Greater Western Sydney at the MCG: Dusty Martin gets my attention this week after he has scores of 111 and 132 in his last two games against the Giants. Steve Johnson (145) and Joel Selwood (140) scored points with ease last week against GWS and Martin shouldn’t have any trouble doing the same this week.
