The ruckman no one is talking about? Two young studs showing fantasy coaches what they're made of? Is this defender anywhere near the top 6? There are so many questions coming out of round 16. But let's turn our attention back to fantasy footy for a second and identify some risers in form and 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 social channels twitter, facebook, instagram, discord.
RISERS
Sam Flanders – FWD, Gold Coast Suns (112 points)
Ladies and gentleman… after all the preseason hype… Sam Flanders has arrived! For the second week in a row now, the Gold Coast Suns young gun has put in a more than serviceable shift for owners. Flanders suffered an injury earlier in the season and has only featured in six senior matches so far this year, but he has finally worked his way back into the Suns senior side after treating the VFL like a junior footy tournament for weeks now. He looks like a brand new man since becoming back after notching up scores of 108 and 112 GDS fantasy points in back to back rounds, the latter score was against the hardest opposition in the league being Collingwood as well! I’ll be keeping a keen eye on Flanders over these next few rounds (especially when Touk Miller comes back) to see if he’s a genuine viable option for our forward lines, if he is, you will have an incredible point-of-difference on your hands!
Liam Henry – FWD, Fremantle Dockers (136 points)
Another lightly run young star, who has had an insane fortnight hails from out west this time and it’s Fremantle’s young weapon Liam Henry! Henry failed to have too much of an impact early in the season and was forced to bide his time, but since returning in round 13, Henry has seen his role change slightly and has become one of the more exciting prospects for fantasy in these last couple of rounds. Playing as more of a deeper winger/half back flank role, Henry has posted up back to back scores of 142 and 136 GDS fantasy points! The most pleasing thing about the scores is the eye-test, he looks a completely new man! We know that wing roles can burn is in fantasy footy, but as an extreme point-of-difference option, I think you can do a lot worse!
Bailey J Williams – RUCK, West Coast Eagles (132 points)
We have spoken a lot about ruckman this year, the obvious guys like Tim English and Rowan Marshall get a lot of the talk, and rightfully so. A tier below them we have Kieren Briggs, Darcy Cameron and Toby Nankervis but a player that has been slipping way under the radar is West Coasts big man Bailey J Williams who has performed amicably in a side that couldn’t buy one. His round 16 performance was especially awe inspiring. Coming up against one of the best ruckman league wide in Rowan Marshall, no one would have blamed Williams for putting the tools down but boy did he put the sword to him! 14 disposals, 5 marks, 7 tackles, 39 hit-outs and even a goal took Williams to his career-best score of 132 GDS fantasy points. I understand Williams will have to do a lot to get into your sides this year, but if there’s ever a match up we can’t miss out on or even as a dynasty prospect, he’s a player card you will want to have on hand.
FALLERS
Nic Martin – FWD, Essendon Bombers (76 points)
Nic Martin… ouch! The prince of the bye-rounds would have burnt a few this week, I can’t imagine too many coaches jumped off the Martin hype train… and ouch! I was one of those coaches, I kept him in thinking he’ll go for scores of 130 consistently for the rest of the season but damn, a score of only 76 GDS fantasy points while scoring a goal in the match is not a score I thought we would be seeing! Martin played very, very deep this week but his role didn’t seem to alter too much to warrant any drastic moves. He’s a watch and monitor but in no circumstances move on from his player cards, he remains one of the best dynasty prospects in fantasy footy right now.
Jordan Ridley – DEF, Essendon Bombers (67 points)
Jordan Ridley's ton run comes to an end in disappointing fashion! After five 100+ performances in a row, he's come crashing down back to earth with a frankly putrid 67 points in an agonising loss to Port Adelaide in round 16. Ridley has been in good form this year! Averaging 95 GDS fantasy points a game (Which has been brought down by an injury riddled score of 16 GDS fantasy points in round 8) and has nine 100+ scores to his name so far this year but he's really struggled to score above 120+ too many times this year and while coaches will take triple digits for the most part, it's those 120+ scores that really get you over the line. Add in a mix of scores like his round 16 67 point outing and it just rubs salt in the wound. Ridley should still be in the weekly selection discussions but maybe it's time to aim for some more boom players for the next few rounds at least.
Darcy Cameron – RUCK, Collingwood Magpies (68 points)
This one hurts because I have been signing Darcy Cameron's praises for weeks now and he goes and scores a dud 68 GDS fantasy points! I really thought these types of scores were behind him no matter how hard the matchup, and no matter how good he has been since returning from injury, it's worrying to see these low scores of 68 GDS fantasy points are still in his wheelhouse. Cameron still needs to remain in considerations weekly, especially in plus match up weeks because he still does have the ability to score large on any given match day, but maybe we just need to be a bit more careful about when we do select him.