Player of the week: Brent Harvey (142). The brother of former junior star, Shane, stepped up in style for Glenn Archer’s 300th match. His 142 points covered all bases; he had wayyy more kicks than handballs (23 to 4), six tackles, ten marks, and two goals. The only thing missing was a hit-out or two, but being 172 cm tall, we’ll forgive him for that.
Honourable mentions: Dane Swan (125), Daniel Giansiracusa (128), Dean Cox (129), Daniel Motlop (131)
Biggest disappointment: Peter Everitt (37). After yours truly predicted him to step up in Hall’s absence, Spida had a shocker against the Cats. His fellow ruckman Darren Jolly wasn’t any better, scoring just 38. With Aaron Sandilands’ late withdrawal, it was a dud week for ruckman. Only Dean Cox, Jamie Charman and Hamish McIntosh managed to score 100s.
Other points of interest:
– Judd and Koschitzke’s injuries were adequately covered by the more popular fill-in choices. Joel Selwood copped a heavy knock against the Swans but still managed a decent 80 (up $18k to $289k now, with a break-even of just 20). And while Koschitzke is both a Forward and Back, Alwyn Davey (98, his highest score ever) and Jesse Smith both pulled their fingers out. Smith’s score of 75 came at the right time; it was his best for six weeks.
– For the Dockers, Aaron Sandilands‘ late withdrawal didn’t mean a thing; youngster Robert Warnock taught Cain Ackland a lesson in the ruck, scoring 82 points to Ackland’s 38. Warnock jumped $32k to $138k – and he’s looking like the best mid-season cash-cow ruckman this year. A big surprise, but I reckon he’s well ahead of Justin Longmuir as Freo’s second ruckman of choice. The only worry is if he starts to get more gametime and pinch points from Sandilands. Other Freo players did well, too; Steven Dodd scored 108, while Dean Solomon‘s 116 was his third career DT ton, and his first at the Dockers.
– As many have noted, Fev‘s awful score of 44 was much, much worse in Supercoach; he scored just one. Far out, no wonder they dropped him.
– As you’d expect in a 77-point loss, the Blues struggled for good DT numbers. Bryce Gibbs’ score of 18 was his lowest this year, and Jordan Russell’s 51 continues a worrying trend. The 2004 number nine draft pick has only topped 70 twice this season. To put that in perspective, do you want to know who went two picks before him? Another Jordan – Jordan Lewis
– Adam Goodes’ score of 102 was encouraging; it’s his third match in a row over 95
– Another faded gun this season is Adelaide’s Graham Johncock. Johncock sank to below $240k in price not long ago, but his score of 86 against the Eagles was his highest of an injury-interrupted 2007 season. Is he worth getting? Maybe not – there’s plenty of other reasonably priced Backs who are more reliable than Stiffy. However, he is excellent value at $254k
– Mark Ricciuto is one Crow whose DT price is still falling. After scoring 49 against the Eagles, he’s down $28k to $239k. It’ll get worse; his breakeven is 130. Nathan Van Berlo was one Crow who fired, big-time, scoring 110 to rise to $329k
– From the Eagles camp, Adam Hunter scored a career-high 124. Daniel Kerr had a day out, scoring 102 – his highest since round five, causing a price rise to $291k with a breakeven of just 41. Andrew Embley registered 100 (he’s averaging 92 in his five games this season), and another Eagle scored his career high against the Crows; All-Australian Darren Glass, who scored 80
– Good scores all round in the free-flowing, high-possession Hawks-Pies clash. As well as Swan’s 125, Tarkyn Lockyer scored 96, young Martin Clarke scored 85, and Travis Cloke scored 89. The only real mis-fire was Scott Burns, who had his second bad week in a row to score 57. From the Hawks, Ben McGlynn scored a great 115, while Grant Birchall and Jordan Lewis both showed a return to DT form, scoring 85 and 84 respectively. Another one worth pointing out; Shane Crawford had a day out, scoring 102. He’s still quite cheap at $319k…- All the talk this week will surround the competition’s two top players, Kane Cornes and Jimmy Bartel, who scored 61 and 43 this week. That will hurt a lot of teams, since (especially with Judd out) those players are popular captain choices. Bartel was injured, but could be back this week – but Cornes had a shocker. It was his lowest since round six last year (against Adelaide) and should see him fall roughly $19k to $411k. He will drop even further in coming weeks, as will Bartel. When you’re over $450k, you need stunning scores just to hold your price, and that 43 will see him almost certainly plummet to under $400k within a few matches.
– Essendon’s two goalkickers, Matthew Lloyd and Scott Lucas, did well against Melbourne on Friday night. Their combined 229 points was the highest aggregate score since round one last year. However, despite Lucas’ excellent score of 119, he will still fall slightly after some underwhelming recent performances.
– It wasn’t all good for the Dons – several young midfielders had a terrible night. Brent Stanton had 63, Jobe Watson scored 60 and Jason Winderlich registered 59. Against that, Alwyn Davey had his best Dream Team match ever, scoring 98 while Jason Laycock covered for the suspended David Hille with a career-high score of 94
– For the Dees, Cameron Bruce and James McDonald led the scoring with 103 and 97 respectively. Brock McLean looks set for a price fall after scoring 68; he should fall around $15k to $313k – and his break-even will be around 149
– Brett Kirk continued his stellar form for the Swans in their loss to Geelong. He’s now averaging 119 over the last four weeks, after scoring 128 against the Cats. If you picked him up at $305k a few weeks ago, you’re laughing
– Meanwhile, Geelong captain Tom Harley scored 47; that is exactly his average after five games in a disappointing season so far
– Daniel Motlop’s score of 131 against the Brisbane Lions was just his second DT hundred – the other was in 2004 – and it was a stylish one. Aside from Kane Cornes’ dud night, other Power players did well; The Chad scored 129, while the Burgoyne brothers both topped the ton. Peter scored 105, and Shaun scored 101, his second DT hundred this year. Unfortunately for Brendan Lade fans, the big bloke scored just 46 and will slump to $274k this week, with a break-even of 174
– Justin Westhoff scored just 55 despite kicking three goals (and probably winning this week’s Rising Star nomination), while fellow first-year forward Robert Gray had a disappointing 36. Westhoff is now up to $177k, having risen $41k, while Gray is now at $150k. Who’ll be most expensive at season’s end – anyone want to bet?
For the Lions, all of the big guns fired – bar one. While Nigel Lappin scored 129 (his highest of the year), Luke Power scored 120 and Josh Drummond (118), Jamie Charman (106) and Jonathan Brown (106) did not disappoint. However, Simon Black scored a miserable 49 – which will see him fall around $25k to under $260k. His break-even will be over 150 next week, so he’ll fall even further
