Player of the week: Tyson Edwards. In his 250th game, Edwards was everywhere. Goodwin and Knights started stronger, but Edwards ran out the game better to rack up plenty of touches, and a good goal, after the match was sealed; perfect for DT coaches. He’s an interesting choice – not many coaches have him, but he’s a pretty consistent performer who feasts on the possessions. Could be a very useful upgrade in weeks to come
Apologies: Andrew Carazzo, Heath Black, Brett Deledio
Biggest disappointment: Cain Ackland. With Cam Cloke out, plenty would have expected Ackland to shoulder more of the load, racking up a few more points. Instead, Ackland was second-choice ruck to a skinny Irishman, and scored a measly 24 points. Matthew Pavlich should consider himself lucky that a late goal took him up to 43, handing this ‘award’ to Ackland, while Daniel Wells and Brendon Goddard were ineligible due to injury.
Other points of interest:
Luke Ball cracked the ton for the first time this season, with an incredible 56 points scored through tackles. His count of 14 tackles was more than double the next best of six, from
Sydney’s Brett Kirk who is no tackling slouch himself. Keep that in mind, gang – a good tackler racks up the points. Even Steven Milne had more kicks than Ball, but he only scored 76
Kouta’s return to footy didn’t do anything for his DT prospects – a measly 18 was all that he has to show for it
Jimmy Bartel again played a brilliant DT game, racking up 118 against the Weagles. Everyone’s harping about Daniel Kerr’s “doughnut†in the second half yesterday, but 61 isn’t exactly bad for half a game’s work. Don’t be fooled – Kerr got several tackles in the second half, even if he didn’t touch the pill. And on that note, keep an eye on Kerr’s price after next week, since he needs to score over 160 to avoid dropping even lower
Daniel Cross and Brad Johnson, the machine men, again both topped 100 for the Dogs. Scott West, surprisingly, had a downer with 70-odd, while Adam Cooney was back in the money with 93. For the Dees, Colin Sylvia showed why a pre-season will make him a gun if he ever has one, scoring 112, but Brent Moloney’s shocker of just 30 will see his price plummet.
Adam Goodes dropped slightly in price, but appeared to regain some of his touch on Saturday night, I thought. It’s welcome news to many DT coaches who will be eyeing him off at the cheap-as-chips price of $256k. It won’t get lower – his break-even this week is just 64.
