Bandit’s skippers: Round 13 captain’s to target and avoid

A tough start to the bye rounds for many coaches with lots of popular guns not quite living up to expectations.

Coaches who had an armband on Petracca (159), English (156) or Merrett (137) would have found themselves ahead of the pack, with the likes of Stewart (127) and Daicos (123) also viable options.

A few players weren’t quite at their absolute best, with Bontempelli (113), Laird (112), Taranto (111), Dawson (106) and even Butters (105) not quite having the performances that many coaches would have hoped for, especially if you were fielding just 18 players or less.

With just Geelong and Gold Coast having a break this week, it’s important to get a good captaincy score on the board when lots of teams will likely have at least 20 players on field in Round 13, if not more.

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Rowan Marshall

Gets a good match up against the Swans this week who have a habit of giving up big scores to rucks. Marshall in particular has dominated against them in the past and looks like a solid left-field pick in the first game of the round.

Last 3 v SYD: 64, 156, 123

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Tim English

Plenty of ruck flavour early in the round as English gets the easiest match up of the week against Port Adelaide who subbed off Lycett in the third term against Hawthorn last week. Should dominate and looks a safe VC option.

Last 3 v PORT: 139, 49, 93

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Marcus Bontempelli

The one concern I have with Bontempelli at the moment is that his last month hasn’t been as good as his early-season form where he was punching out 130+ scores for fun. He also tweaked his knee against Geelong – could that limit his influence for a couple of weeks? I’m leaning more towards English this week if you want to pick a Bulldogs player.

Last 3 v PORT: 145, 67, 128

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Lachie Neale

Will be a popular trade in coming off his bye week and with good reason – Brisbane has a very nice run coming up with just one of their next five games against a current top eight side, being St Kilda. Playing Hawthorn at the MCG this week could be the catalyst for a big score.

Last 3 v HAW: 100, 70, 157

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Josh Dunkley

Dunkley is red hot at the moment, with scores of 146, 149 and 153 in three of his last four games. Just doesn’t throw up bad games and looks like a good POD choice from a captaincy perspective again this week.

Last 3 v HAW: 127, 110, 61

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Rory Laird

Has dominated the Eagles in recent times and I can’t see that changing this week after the Crows put in a disappointing performance against Gold Coast. They’ll want to hit back hard at home and Laird should score well as a result.

Last 3 v WC: 145, 136, 120

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Zach Merrett

The Essendon skipper has been in great touch recently with a five-round average of 122. Got off to a flyer last week against North Melbourne before Liam Shiels went to him and limited his influence in the second half of that game. Do Carlton send a stopper to him? I suspect they probably will.

Last 3 v CARL: 90, 107, 78

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Nick Daicos

Would be a very left-field pick this week given the safer options playing before him in the round, but his record against Melbourne is very good. Daicos was sensational against West Coast and might be thrown more into the midfield this week with De Goey out. Could that lead to a bump in scoring?

Last 2 v MELB: 129, 112

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Christian Petracca

He’s been dominating the last couple of weeks with Oliver out but let’s sing his praises so far in 2023 – he hasn’t dropped below 97 all year and has six scores of 119 or more, including a scintillating 159 last week. Can he do it again with Oliver returning?

Last 3 v COLL: 136, 99, 96

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SC BANDIT RECOMMENDS

VC: Marshall / English

C: Neale / Dunkley / Laird