Player of the week: Jonathan Brown (155). Fourteen marks and ten goals will do that to your Dream Team score… When you combine this with Brown’s 128 last week against Melbourne, he’s back in devastating 2006 form. His price reflects that: it’s $355k, with a break-even of minus 14.
Honourable mentions: Ben Cousins (140), Luke Ball (155), Kane Cornes (144), Tarkyn Lockyer (142)
Hey, wha’ happened?: Matt Priddis (37). Reckon this is the end of Priddis’ reign as an elite DT player? Hard to gauge, but the early numbers are in and it doesn’t look good. Priddis averages 93 this season (before Saturday night’s game) but Cousins’ return to AFL saw a measly score of 37. That includes six tackles (if you believe ProStats…) However, Peter Everitt can count himself lucky he’s not getting the big boo this week. His score of 28 was even worse, but he’s off the hook due to Priddis’ far higher price.
Other points of interest:
It’s a shorter edition of Talking Points this week, since a hand injury sustained last week makes it hard to type
Aside from Brown’s massive score against the Blues, there were a couple of notable successes (Lappin, Adcock) and some noticeable disappointments (Drummond = 51, Rischitelli = 32). Meanwhile several Carlton players had their best games in a while – Bryce Gibbs’ score of 87 was his highest ever, while Fev’s 97 is his second highest this year. And Heath Scotland’s 102 was his first ton since round 11. Meanwhile, Marc Murphy fell flat with a score of 35.
Cousins starred but other Eagle inclusions also did well against the Swans. Tyson Stenglein scored 88, Ashley Hansen scored 101, and Daniel Kerr scored 90. Chris Judd did well to score 92 (with plenty of tackles to encourage Dream Team coaches that he’ll continue to score well despite a groin injury).
Another return to form this week was Dream Team gun Kane Cornes. Kornes bounced back from some dodgy scores with 144, while Warren Tredrea’s 116 was his first ton of 2007. Will he keep it up or was a once-off? The only black spot for Port Adelaide players was Justin Westhoff and Robert Gray’s form which yielded 45 and 26 points respectively. For the Tigers, Troy Simmonds’ 86 was his best of the year, as he regains match fitness after an ankle injury.
Andrew Mackie, with a classy 134 is the story to take home from Friday night’s match. Gazza Jnr snared a lazy 130, Joel Corey 120 (after a 50-point opening term) and Paul Chapman scoring 117. Jimmy Bartel had 38 touches and scored 117. For those without him, now is the time… But little Joel Selwood – 118 this time, an incredible effort and his fourth ton in ton games (an average of 109 over this period).
For the Doggies it was a bleak night, highlighted only by Tom Williams, who bobbed up with a ton. Scott West scrambled 95 on one leg, while Andrejs Everitt rolled in 77 and looked classy. Aker had a disappointing 60, while a backline favourite, Lindsay Gilbee, scored a paltry 34 after a second quarter injury. Word is he will be sidelined for up to a month. Meanwhile the Coon-dog’s bubble burst when he came up against The Pink Pig, and broke his run of six straight hundreds with only 41.
Tarkyn Lockyer was everywhere against the Dons, scoring 142, while Travis Cloke backed up last weeks 121 with 110 this week. Ireland’s Judd did his nation proud with 86, however the news was not so good for those with Heath Shaw who scored just 53. And it looks like Dane Swan has become an ugly duckling – just 52 this week. He will plunge down into the waters of a price drop soon. But the story of the week comes in the form of everyone’s favourite DT champ, Presti, who blasted back onto the scene with 23. Incredibly, he in now worth 87k (most debutants are 82k!) For the Dons, Damien Peverill led the way with 119, while Adam McPhee was quieter than usual with 60, and Dustin Fletcher returned from his suspension with a ho-hum 70.
Nine Freo players cracked three figures, headed by the popular Matthew Pavlich with a dominating 139. The Purple Haze kicked three and got 125 breaking his run of low scores, and Peter Bell bounced back into form in his 300th match with 129. And Marcus Drum, in his first game for the year, kicked four majors. A prospect next year, perhaps? For Adelaide, Simon Goodwin top scored with 110. Scott Thompson and Andrew McLeod were down a little on the past performances, scoring 82 and 75 respectively. Also disappointing was the talented Stiffy Johncock, who just didn’t stand up on Saturday night and managed a limp 50.
From the Hawk camp, Buddy Love kicked 5.5 on his way to scoring 113, while Grant Birchall scored 110. Let downs came from Jordan Lewis and Shane Crawford who scored 65 and 55 respectively. For the Sainters… whoa! Luke Ball came from nowhere, kicking three goals and scoring a mammoth 154. Leigh Montagna returned in style to form with 143, and Lenny Hayes showed his value with 130. The Volt (109), Nick Dal Santo (105) and Sam Fisher (101) also impressed on a good night for the Saints.
