In this blog we will have a brief look at the previous and upcoming rounds of the AFL. In round 11, who's performances stood out for the right or wrong reasons and which players made the GDS Squad of the round. With round 12 not too far away, who should coaches consider starting and which players have positive matchups. Have a read below and gain an edge over your competition in GameDay Squad Aussie Rules! Let us know your thoughts on who we have down below on all of our social channels: twitter, facebook, instagram, discord.
GDS Squad of the week for round 11
Def- Luke Ryan– 173 - Frem
Def- Christian Salem – 158 - Mel
Def- Jordan Ridley – 158 - Ess
Def- Nick Daicos – 156 - Coll
Def- Jordan Clark – 154 – Frem
Def- Nick Hind – 135 - Ess
Def- Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera – 130 - StK
Mid- Darcy Tucker – 154 - NM
Mid- Jordan Dawson – 153 - Ade
Mid- Lachlan Sholl – 149 - Ade
Mid- Karl Amon – 147 - Haw
Mid- Errol Gulden – 141 – Syd
Mid- Jack Steele – 140 – St K
Ruck- Max Gawn – 179 – Mel
Ruck- Kieren Briggs – 137 - GWS
Fwd- Zac Fisher – 136 - NM
Fwd- Toby Greene – 127 - GWS
Fwd- Todd Marshall – 127 - Port
Fwd- Kyle Langford – 123 - Ess
Fwd- Isaac Heeney – 117 - Syd
Fwd- Darcey Fogerty – 116 - Ade
Fwd- Joe Richards – 111 - Col
Squad Base Total – 2871 GDS points
The performance of the week
Zac Fisher vs Port Adelaide
Zac Fisher wasn’t the highest scorer of the round, but it was the score we needed in a strange week for forwards.
Fisher put together a strong performance scoring 136 GameDay Squad points in what was a big loss for his side. What was interesting about the performance was all of his points came from kicks, handballs and marks. No tackles, goals or free kicks either way which you’d expect from a score like that.
Fisher has found some incredible fantasy form with scores of 124, 130 and 143 in the three games before this so it looks like he has settled nicely into the half back role that Sheezel found so lucrative last season.
What I liked most about this week’s performance was he did it against Port Adelaide who are on paper the hardest team to score against by a significant amount. If he can score 136 against them, I think we can be confident he can do it against any side.
The flop of the week
Rowan Marshall vs Melbourne Demons
I feel like I need to stop talking about Rowan Marshall at some point but this performance couldn’t go without comment. Marshall managed just 11 points by half time and only clawed his way back to 76 points by the end of the game.
The St Kilda ruckman had come off back to back 190+ scores and many were expecting that form to continue but it didn’t take long for us to realise Max Gawn was dominating him in most areas of the game. Marshall managed just 16 hitouts for the entire game to go with his 13 touches.
This season, a lot of Marshall’s points have come from taking the ball out of the ruck and kicking it straight away but that clearly isn’t a viable tactic when coming up against a quality ruckman like Gawn. He also wasn’t helped by the 6 free kicks he conceded which would have come out of frustration.
Even with this round killing score, I don’t think it’s the right time to be dropping Marshall. He comes up against West Coast this week who have been struggling in the ruck department so he should be back to his high disposal games in no time.
Round 12 Team to Beat (based off available players)
Def- N. Wanganeen-Milera (StK)–GDS average of 120.27 and positional ranking of 4th
Def-Jeremy McGovern– (WC) – GDS average of 91.5 and positional ranking of 31st
Def- Nick Daicos – (Coll) – GDS average of 128.27 and positional ranking of 3rd
Def-Tom Stewart– (Geel) – GDS average of 97.3 and positional ranking of 19th
Def- Luke Ryan – (Fre) – GDS average of 133.18 and positional ranking of 2nd
Def- Liam Duggan – (WC) – GDS average of 119.09 and positional ranking of 5th
Def- Bailey Dale– (WB) – GDS average of 111 and positional ranking of 11th
Mid- Zach Merrett – (Ess) – GDS average of 128.73 and positional ranking of 5th
Mid- Zak Butters – (Port) – GDS average of 124.64 and positional ranking of 7th
Mid-Marcus Bontempelli– (WB) – GDS average of 116.91 and positional ranking of 11th
Mid- Jordon Dawson - (Ade) – GDS average of 133.09 and positional ranking of 1st
Mid- Nic Martin – (Ess) – GDS average of 130.45 and positional ranking of 2nd
Mid-Jack Steele– (Bris) – GDS average of 121 and positional ranking of 9th
Ruck- Max Gawn – (Mel) – GDS average of 136.09 and positional ranking of 1st
Ruck- Rowan Marshall – (St K) – GDS average of 131.36 and positional ranking of 2nd
Fwd- Bradley Hill– (St K) – GDS average of 100.55 and positional ranking of 4th
Fwd-Gyran Miers– (Geel) – GDS average of 106.64 and positional ranking of 2nd
Fwd-Liam Baker– (Rich) – GDS average of 100.38 and positional ranking of 5th
Fwd-Jeremy Cameron– (Geel) – GDS average of 99.5 and positional ranking of 8th
Fwd- Sam Flanders – (GC) – GDS average of 130.1 and positional ranking of 1st
Fwd-Alex Neal-Bullen– (Mel) – GDS average of 91.64 and positional ranking of 17th
Fwd- Jake Waterman– (WC) – GDS average of 100.10 and positional ranking of 6th
Good week to start…
Dan Houston (Port Adelaide) vs Carlton Blues
Based on who is available this round due to the bye, it would be understandable to think Dan Houston could be a solid option for our backlines but I don’t think he’s the right call this week.
He’s been a relatively consistent scorer with a pretty high ceiling but he faces a tough opponent in Carlton who have been difficult to score against. All season they have only given up 5 scores of 120 GameDay Squad points or more to defenders which is one of the lowest in the competition.
Another surprising factor in this decision is Houston averages 10 points a game less at Adelaide Oval compared to when he plays away. He’s playing at home this week so I don’t know if he will have what is needed to crack into the exclusive 120 points vs Carlton club.
The last reason isn’t really based on facts but playing a risky player on a Thursday can really ruin your weekend. If you miss a good score it’s no where near as bad as having your hopes crushed in the first game.
Expected GDS Score: 90 GDS fantasy points
