Weekly wrap: Round 18 studs & duds

You’d be forgiven for wanting to hit the delete team button after the chaos that ensued in the build-up to Round 18.

In fact, I too almost gave in to the temptation of going through the rest of the 2023 AFL season without having to stress about my underperforming team.

For many sides, Dunkley out, Serong out, Warner out, Green out, Lloyd out, AND DCam out…

Saturday morning rolled around and after Jaspa Fletcher’s very solid 80 night before, coupled with the news of Tom Mitchell starting the Collingwood game as the substitute AND the uncertainty surrounding Ryan Maric’s spot in the West Coast team, I decided a trade was in the offing.

Titch made way for Cooper Harvey, meaning that I could get Maric up to any forward premo.

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With scores of 120, 129, 139, 124, and 127 in the last six weeks, I understandably landed on Nic Martin as the best player available…Oh BOY what a blunder that was.

This week, Elite Dadds scored 2299 which moved me down 215 spots to 3508^th.

I’m out of trades, and my patience isn’t too far behind either.

Oh well, let’s get into the wrap!

Sydney v Western Bulldogs

• Errol Gulden (117) has a five-round average of 132
• Callum Mills (84) never really kicked into gear
• Tim English (173) got his owners off to a terrific start, particularly those who had the VC on him
• Tom Liberatore (149) continues to build on his career best SuperCoach average which currently sits at 117
• Marcus Bontempelli (131) went at a surprisingly low 58% disposal efficiency
• Bailey Dale (50) has been severely impacted by the return of Ed Richards (125)

Melbourne v Brisbane

• Max Gawn (215) is BACK!!! It’s no surprise that the arrival of Brodie Grundy at the Dees has damaged both of their SuperCoach relevance in 2023; but with Grundy dropped to the Magoos last week, we saw just how good Gawny can be as a solo ruck. Provided Grundy continues to develop his forward craft in the twos for the rest of the year, Gawn could be a massive POD for the run home
• Christian Petracca (113) got absolutely robbed by Champion Data after collecting 26 touches and 4 goals. The fact that he’s relying on four snags to reach 113 points isn’t a good sign for his owners
• Angus Brayshaw (93) is racking up a tonne of CBAs with Clayton Oliver out of the side. He has a three-round average of 100 as a result

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• Taj Woewodin (54) is on the bubble this week
• Will Ashcroft’s (102) incredible end-of-season run continues. He’s now eclipsed the $500k mark and looks like a genuine keeper at this stage with a three-round average of 120. He has three more games at the Gabba this season, a place he’s averaging 106 at
• Jaspa Fletcher (80) put up one of the all-time clutch rookie performances for my side on the weekend
• Lachie Neale (75) wasn’t tagged, he just sucked

Collingwood v Fremantle

• Nick Daicos (130) was tagged early on by James Aish (93), who limited him to just 26 first quarter points. In true Nick fashion though, he shrugged off the tag and ended the game with 36 touches and a goal
• Jordan De Goey (101) had 26 disposals
• Tom Mitchell (48) started the game as the sub and didn’t come on until after half time. Luckily for me, Jaspa Fletcher’s heroics meant I could afford to trade Titch after the news came out on Thursday

• Andrew Brayshaw (114) bucked the trend of Collingwood heavily restricting opposition midfielders
• Luke Ryan (102) tonned up again but may see a fair bit of Ryan Clarke when he comes up against the Swans this weekend
• Sean Darcy (89) was on track for a monster score until he badly hurt his ankle
• The injury to Darcy may open the door for Luke Jackson (93) to return to his solo ruck role that saw him average 124 across Rounds 13-15

Gold Coast v St Kilda

• Jarrod Witts (126) now has back-to-back 120+’s
• We all thought Sam Flanders (125) was going to do this at the start of the year. Well, he didn’t… But since coming back into the team, he’s averaged 110 across four games
• Touk Miller (101) was well and truly back in the midfield fray. Common sense prevails!
• Noah Anderson (89) was shut down by Marcus Windhager (90)

• It wasn’t a fluke! Jack Steele (105) has returned. 22 touches and a game-high 8 tackles saw him score back-to-back tons for the first time all year
• Jack Sinclair (67) floated between midfield and half back
• Jack Peris (66) impressed on debut
• I’ve got no clue what happened with Rowan Marshall (58). He scored 99 AFL Fantasy points but put up his lowest SuperCoach score since Round 15 last season

Carlton v Port Adelaide

• Patrick Cripps (107) shrugged off a Willem Drew (94) tag
• Sam Docherty (87) was playing out on a wing
• Sam Walsh (87) started his season off terrifically, averaging 115 through his first five games. Since Round 12 though, he’s averaged just 97
• Dan Houston (176) exploded with 41 touches, 9 marks, and 6 tackles
• Connor Rozee (108) kicked two goals
• Zak Butters (84) had just 69% TOG

Geelong v Essendon

• Tom Stewart (104) had a reasonably quiet night stats wise but did manage to rack up a heap of intercept possessions
• Jeremy Cameron (78) returned and luckily made it through the whole game despite some knocks to the head throughout
• Oisin Mullin (4) came on for the last quarter as the sub
• It was a very poor game from the main Bombers contingent with Darcy Parish (92) and Zach Merrett (69) both failing to ton up
• Jordan Ridley (88) played in a big boost for owners
• Mason Redman (70) continues to disappoint
• Special mention must go out to my trade-in for the round, Nic Martin (58). He’ll need to make amends against the Bulldogs this Friday night

Adelaide v GWS

• Rory Laird (151) went off in the third quarter after a big hit with Harry Perryman (81) left him with a sore shoulder. He came back on in the last quarter 33 touches, 11 tackles, and a goal
• Jordan Dawson (126) could have gone even bigger had he converted his two shots on goal
• Lachie Whitfield (115) tonned up for the first time since Round 10
• After arguably the worst game of his entire career two weeks ago, Josh Kelly (114) bounced back with 28 touches and a goal. He dropped $47.3k and still has a breakeven of 170
• Stephen Coniglio (93) had a team-high nine tackles
• Kieren Briggs (79) got off to a very slow start but picked up after half time
• Josh Fahey (26) came on as the sub in the last quarter

North Melbourne v Hawthorn

• Luke Davies-Uniacke (129) managed to avoid a Finn Maginness (67) tag
• Harry Sheezel (103) was on FIRE early, collecting 20 touches by half time. The aforementioned Maginness paid a fair bit of attention to him after that, limiting him to just two disposals in the third quarter
• Jack Ziebell (41) came on as the sub for the second week in a row
• Cooper Harvey (37) is on the bubble this week
• George Wardlaw (30) was subbed off with hamstring tightness

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• James Worpel (136) took home the three votes
• Will Day (120) has four tons in his last five games
• If you take out his 33 two weeks ago, Jarman Impey (109) has a five-round average of 107
• James Sicily (58) made his return after three weeks on the sidelines but was tagged by both Eddie Ford (60) and JZ throughout the game

West Coast v Richmond

• Alex Witherden (103) has a three-round average of 102
• Ryan Maric (67) was a late inclusion which may have meant that some coaches didn’t have a 0 after all
• Daniel Rioli (129) had an equal career-high 31 disposals
• Ivan Soldo (126) took advantage of no Toby Nankervis
• After two down weeks, Tim Taranto (117) reminded us all of why he’s the second highest averaging forward in the comp
• Dustin Martin (117) has a three-round average of 112
• Sam Banks (52) is on the bubble this week