Captain’s Corner: Round 4, skippers to target and avoid

Round 3 was a challenging one for many SuperCoaches on the captaincy front, with most popular options falling flat.

Jack Macrae scored ‘only’ 92 SC points against the Swans, Lachie Neale scraped his way to 105 against North, and Touk Miller was relentlessly tagged by GWS for a score of just 76.

Coaches who bypassed the regular options and went for Clayton Oliver (146), Josh Dunkley (129), Jack Steele (121) or Patrick Cripps (119) would have been fairly happy with their choices, hell you could have even thrown the C on Max Gawn (117) and got a decent return!

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Rather than use the stats from the SC website, I’m going to start using the captaincy stats from Adam Driussi’s Quantum Stat Analysis article which are more accurate.

If you haven’t had a read of his work so far, jump over and have a look at the gold mine of stats he’s producing on the true ownership of players in AFL SuperCoach.

As you can see from the table below, nearly half of the top 100K coaches took Neale as their C this week, presumably after a quieter game from Macrae.

Cripps and Macrae were the next most popular choices, with 11% each of the top 100K and the rest were in single digits.

Let’s suss out some options you can look at for Round 4.

Clayton Oliver

Pumped out a huge score against the Bombers last week and I can’t see Port Adelaide putting anyone head-to-head with him tonight.

He also loves playing at the Adelaide Oval, he averages 137.9 there from eight games, despite a modest recent record against the Power.

Last 3 vs PA: 118, 105, 71

Max Gawn

It would be a somewhat risky play given his moderate start to the season, but I just have a feeling that Max could explode tonight. It looked like he turned a corner last week against the Bombers with 22 disposals and five marks and going up against a lone ruck in Lycett I think is a good set up. Another Demon who has a good history at Adelaide Oval, averaging 125.7 from six games and a lowest score of 102.

Last 3 vs PA: 102, 87, 87

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Lachie Neale

Looks like the obvious VC candidate this week if you’re not interested in anyone on Thursday night, despite tweaking an ankle last week against North. GMHBA Stadium isn’t traditionally a happy hunting ground for Neale where he averages 95.4, but he will likely be the most common VC for the week so he’s a low-risk pick.

Last 3 vs GEEL: 75, 98, 134

Jack Macrae

His record against Richmond in recent times is insane, having gone 107, 162, 107 and 163 in his most recent four games against the Tigers. There’s absolutely no reason to suggest he can’t do something similar again on Saturday and he looks like the safest captaincy pick of the week for mine.

Last 3 vs RICH: 107, 162, 107

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Josh Dunkley

Dunkley has started the season in fine fashion and will likely come up against a pretty under-strength Tigers midfield that got destroyed by the Saints in clearances and contested possession, areas that Dunkley thrives in. Could be a nice left-field option, especially if you’re playing for a head-to-head league win. 

Last 3 vs RICH: 134, 116, 23

Jack Steele

Produced his first score of 120+ last week against the Tigers and meets an arguably weaker midfield this week against the Hawks who have given up enormous numbers in that area of the ground despite winning two of their three games to date. Steele is another guy who I think could explode this week if the Hawks don’t find a way to sit on him.

Last 3 vs HAW: 91, 111, 105

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Touk Miller

Miller’s recent record against the Blues has been huge, but there is a little cause for concern after last week where GWS tagged him relentlessly and really stifled his output from a SC point of view. Do the Blues opt to send a Hewett or Kennedy to him this week, or do they just back their midfield group in to beat the Suns? It will be fascinating to see but if I was an owner, I’d probably want to see a bounce-back game first before putting the C back on him with confidence.

Last 3 vs CARL: 132, 155, 102

Patrick Cripps

Despite running riot early against Hawthorn last week, I thought the Hawks adjusted on Cripps pretty well in the second half of that game and he didn’t have anywhere near the influence around stoppages that he’s had in previous weeks, evidenced by the fact that he had just 12 contested possessions compared to 23 the week prior. No reason to jump off him this week though, I just can’t see anyone from the Suns going with him.

Last 3 vs GCS: 99, 73, 123

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SC BANDIT’S RECOMMENDATIONS

Vice-captain: Oliver / Neale

Captain: Macrae / Cripps

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