With a full slate of nine games coming back it was chockablock full of action, with Tom Stewart almost decapitating a man and the West Coast Eagles actually winning a game, there was a lot to take in! But let's turn our attention back to fantasy footy for a second and identify some risers in form and some others who should be falling out of favour with all fantasy coaches. Let us know your thoughts on who we have down below on all of our socials - twitter, facebook, instagram, discord.
Risers
Aaron Hall
Everyone’s favourite defender from the 2021 season returned from injury in round 13 before the kangaroos impending round 14 bye. Hall was very much eased into action against GWS, where he only so 74% of time-on-ground, a figure you can soon expect to sit around the high 80s to early 90s percent range. Even in round 15 against Adelaide Hall saw a TOG percentage increase to 82%. He only needed 82% TOG to amass a massive 155 points as he resumed his role as quarterback out of halfback for a Kangaroos team who needs his distribution dearly. I’d be starting to consider starting any Aaron Hall card you might have!
Luke Jackson
Use Luke Jackson’s round 15 performance as sole ruckmen as a pre-cursor to life without Max Gawn in the future, or as what life might be like with a role-friendly trade? For me, Max Gawn is the best ruckman in the league by some way, it just so happens the Demons also have the most exciting prospect at the position outside of maybe Tim English as well… doing it tough. His 138 GDS fantasy performance suggests that while Jackson has the ruck job for himself, he is an absolute must-start going forward.
Hugh McCluggage
Averaging a cool 142 GDS fantasy points in his last 3 games, it’s honestly about time Hugh McCluggage started delivering the goods this season. He took his game to another level last year averaging 17 kicks, 5 marks and led the league in goal assists, but somewhat struggled to replicate that form early on for season 2022. McCluggage is now finding some quality and consistent form for the Lions and fantasy coaches around the world. With some great matchups coming up against Essendon, GWS and the Suns, McCluggage could be in for a super productive end to the season.
Fallers
Mark Blicavs
I was the captain of the Mark Blicavs hype train, the president of the Blicavs fan club and one man ruined everything… Rhys Stanley. I’m shaking typing his name. Blicavs is no longer the high ceiling, CBA attending, hit out getting ruckmen with the motor to find his own footy and take contested marks we had only a few rounds ago. While he plays second fiddle to Rhys Stanley as Geelong’s ruckmen, we will see inconsistent scores, you will still get the 100+ games we loved, but you will also see some games that won’t even reach par.
Tim Kelly
You would think that as the tied 5th ranked player league-wide for centre bounce attendances, you would have scored more than 68, 84 and 162 in his last 3 games. Yes, I see the score of 162, though the scores around it don’t make sense for a guy 5th league-wide for CBA’s. That’s been the story of Tim Kelly’s season, some massive boom games but more often than not he’s fallen below scores of 100 fantasy GDS points which isn’t good enough for someone getting the opportunity he has been getting.
Luke McDonald
Luke McDonald was just starting to string some really good games together as he scored 100+ GDS fantasy points in 3 out of 4 games from rounds 8-11. His average from rounds 12-15 though? a mere 71 GDS fantasy points. It's entirely possible that the return of Aaron Hall has quelled his production on field, it's just such a drastic and sudden drop-off, just as he was becoming fantasy relevant again. Here's hoping that McDonald and Hall can build and be fantasy forces together.
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