Is it time to forget the past and trust Jordan De Goey? Is a young Essendon star finally reay to break-out? What is going on with this Adelaide Crows midfield? There are so many questions coming out of round 1. 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
Jordan De Goey – FWD, Collingwood Magpies (132 points)
Ghee it's taking a lot of love and trust to include Jordan De Goey in the risers category but are we all actually sleeping on him? I know that he has burnt us all in the past, but it seems as though his role has drastically changed this off-season. De Goey scored 119 GDS fantasy points in Collingwood's preseason game and has backed it up now with a juicy score of 132 against Geelong off the back of what can only be explained as a majority midfield role for De Goey! De Goey attended a team high 67% (Tied with Tom Mitchell) centre-bounce-attendances in the round 1 matchup, which will surely have De Goey owners licking their lips! That sort of opportunity will have coach's applying aloe vera to the previous De Goey burn blisters, is it time to love and trust?
Harry Sheezel – FWD, North Melbourne Kangaroos (141 points)
So... Harry Sheezel the half back flanker? I certainly didn't see it coming! And kudos to anyone who did, as we saw Sheezel deployed as a defender, spending 80% of his time-on-ground percentage in the defensive half of the field. He took the role and absolutely made it his own! Sheezel had 22 kicks, 12 handballs, 9 marks, a free kick for and 631 meters-gained... on debut! I hope we see him in this role long-term, we know from his junior footy that he is an obvious goal threat but he looked so clean and natural down back for the new look Kangaroos. I'm not sure he's start-able until we have a larger sample size of his role, but he has to be on everyones radar now!
Archie Perkins – FWD, Essendon Bombers (125 points)
Is it actually Archie Perkins season?! He's definitely got Essendon and fantasy footy fans up and about off the back of a 17 kicks, 3 handballs, 7 marks, 1 tackle and 3 goal outing against Hawthorn in round 1! The performance was good enough for a 125 GDS fantasy score and at times it looked like Perkins had the ball on a string! Perkins spent a lot of time on the high half forward flank, as well as the wing for Essendon, which historically, has proven to be less than fruitful for fantasy scoring in the past. But, with a budding break-out season pending and a skillset that Essendon has been crying out for, will those centre-bounce-attendances finally arrive for Perkins?
FALLERS
Liam Duggan – DEF, West Coast Eagles (84 points)
With Elliot Yeo ruled out with injury prior to the Eagles matchup against North Melbourne on Saturday, expectations were high for West Coast's other half back flanker Liam Duggan! Everything was pointing toward Duggan having an enormous game, however, coach's were left deprived. It's not like 84 GDS fantasy points is to be scoffed at, but when you consider Duggan's last 5 average of 127 GDS fantasy points and Duggan's preseason score of 126 GDS fantasy points and pair that with the opportunity of more ball in Duggan's hands with Yeo ruled out, coach's have to be discouraged by that score of 84. Duggan has every opportunity to rectify his score, and should remain start-able, but maybe not to the degree we thought before round 1.
Sam Berry – MID, Adelaide Crows (46 points)
Now... Because he's not the title player (Don't get me wrong... Sam Berry was horrible as well) I can get away with putting Rory Laird here right? Rory Laird (64) was horrendous! I am full aware that he is more than capable of coming out and scoring 200+ next week, but a performance like this cannot go noticed. 64 GDS fantasy points from a guy we have come to expect 164 from just cannot fly. It's not like he was tagged out either, Harry Perryman left the contest early in the first quarter. The only excuse I can find for Laird is that the only place hotter on earth today than Giants Stadium is Mount Vesuvius, but even then... If Tom Green can rack up 40 odd possessions and score well, you would fully expect Rory Laird to as well. Obviously you can't bench Laird, his ceiling is too high and he will likely bounce back. Coach's should consider themselves lucky that just about every team has some level of Rory Laird sprinkled in.
Tom Stewart – DEF, Geelong Cats (18 points)
Injuries in sport suck! Simply gut-wrenching for Tom Stewart owners who witnessed one of their safest defenders go down with a self-induced knee injury that should take a fair chunk of time to heal from. Stewart came into this matchup against Collingwood matchup viewed as a top 5 defender for some, and rightfully so! He's regarded as one of the best and most consistent scorers at the position, and he was scoring well up until he suffered the injury. It's always cruel to see a player like Stewart go down and miss some time, GameDay Squad coach's will always have time to make up lost points.