ON SATURDAY morning, there was panic as the three games fixtured in Queensland were postponed.
Fantasy coaches had flashbacks to 2020 where averages were awarded for Essendon and Melbourne players when their match was abandoned on the day of the game. Thankfully the games were able to be rescheduled to be played on Sunday, setting up a massive day of Fantasy scoring.
Round 20 was a high-scoring round with 2651 points racked up by Daniel’s team “DreamKillerz” to be the weekly winner in Fantasy Classic. This was the highest round score for the year.
Points flowed across the weekend, but none more than in the Hawthorn v Brisbane clash at University of Tasmania Stadium. The two sides combined for 3,370 points. Collingwood caused an upset defeating the Eagles. Nine players scored over 100 as the Pies collected 1938 points; the second best team total for the year behind Port Adelaide’s round six tally against the Saints.
Despite the high scores, there were plenty of stinkers which had a big effect on the first week of Fantasy finals. Winners of the qualifying finals will enjoy a week off while the losers take on the victors from the elimination finals in round 21.
THE TRADERS' 2021 SCORES
— AFL Fantasy (@AFLFantasy) August 1, 2021
ROUND 20
1?? @CalvinDT 2270
2?? @WarnieDT 2239
3?? @RoyDT 2226 ??
OVERALL RANKINGS
1?? @CalvinDT 2,137th ??
2?? @WarnieDT 3,402nd ??
3?? @RoyDT 5,403rd ??#AFLFantasy
Fantasy Pig of the week
Racking up his ninth score over 120 for the year, Jack Steele (162) is the safest captain option for Fantasy teams due to his super-impressive stat lines each week. He leads the league in tackles by a significant margin and added another 14 against Carlton, which accounted for 56 points of his round-high score. Crunching the numbers, if Steele can top 150 for the next three rounds, he could be the first player to be valued at $1,000,000 in Fantasy Classic.
Honourable mentions
There were many great performances in the super-high scoring round. Andrew Brayshaw (156), Jarryd Lyons (153) and Callum Mills (152) all cracked the 150 barrier. Mills was impressive after his fortnight isolating. Similarly, Rowan Marshall (139) had missed the last two rounds and certainly justified being the most traded in player for round 20. Adam Cerra (138) has stepped up in Nat Fyfe’s absence with his two best scores of the season in the last two weeks.
TOP SCORERS – R20
- Jack Steele 162
- Andrew Brayshaw 156
- Jarryd Lyons 153
- Callum Mills 152
- Chad Wingard 147
- Jaeger O’Meara 146
- Zach Merrett 142
- Rowan Marshall 139
- Adam Cerra 138
- Christian Petracca 136
- Touk Miller 135
- Dayne Zorko 132
- Brodie Grundy 129
- Reilly O’Brien 129
- Tom Mitchell 128
- Zach Guthrie 128
- Jack Silvagni 126
- Jack Crisp 125
- Jordan De Goey 125
- Zac Jones 124
Cash cows of the round
The best player with a starting price under-$270k will be awarded the Michael Barlow Medal as the best cash cow of the year.
The votes for round 20:
5 – Trey Ruscoe (102) Collingwood, FWD
Playing a role in defence since being recalled to the Pies’ team, Ruscoe has looked composed with the ball in his hand and his teammates are certainly happy to give it to him! The second-year player took nine marks to go with his 22 disposals in Collingwood’s win against West Coast at the MCG. His 102 was added to 77 and 66 in the fortnight prior.
4 – Connor Nash (95) Hawthorn, FWD
Attending half of the Hawks’ centre bounces, Ireland-born Nash finished the game with nine tackles.
3 – Jack Payne (92) Brisbane Lions, DEF
It looked like his day was done in the third-quarter, but Payne returned to score 37-points in the last.
2 – Ned Reeves (85) Hawthorn, RUC
Shouldering the majority of the ruck load, Reeves laid seven tackles to go with 31 hitouts.
1 – Trent Bianco (84) Collingwood, DEF/MID
The Pies took plenty of marks and Bianco got involved with nine. He also booted two goals.
LEADERBOARD: James Jordon 26, Errol Gulden 18, Tom Powell 15, Chad Warner 13, Jeremy Sharp 13, Matthew Flynn 12, Deven Robertson 11, Caleb Poulter 10, Miles Bergman 10, Nik Cox 9, Sam Flanders 9.
Rage trades
Jeremy Sharp (34) – Look, we didn’t expect tons every week … even though his 123 and 112 the last fortnight were epic … but to throw up a 34 when plenty of coaches decided to make him M8 for the rest of the season cost plenty their league match-up.
Jordan Ridley (34) – Had a tough time of it in defence and wasn’t able to have the same influence out of the back-50, taking just three marks and having 10 disposals.
Shai Bolton (49) – A disappointing return (again) after many thought he’d be the best Dusty replacement for the remainder of the year.
Tim Taranto (51) – Absent from the Giants’ midfield, TT has been played as a forward in the last two weeks which has hampered his scoring. He’s failed to lay a tackle since the shift inside 50 and might need to be traded, despite the 108 average he carries.
Dan Houston (55) – It’s time to go.
Tim Kelly (67) – The price has been right for Kelly, but when he’s a unique player in your finals match-up, dropping a score like this really hurts.
Patrick Dangerfield (67) – The centre-bounce attendances were there, but Danger struggled at Blundstone Arena. 13 of his 21 disposals were by hand which limited his scoring.
Marcus Bontempelli (75) – One of the best this season, but strange things happen at Mars Stadium. Bont finished with just 15 disposals; almost half of what he averages this year.
Lachie Neale (75) – Cal’s Scale of Hardness talked up the Lions’ easy draw. Neale was a great target, but he now averages 79 for the last three weeks. Not good enough!
Jack Macrae (81) – The positive is that most coaches have him, the negative is for the 12 per cent of coaches who made him captain.
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