The popular Brisbane duo of Matthew Leuenberger and Tom Rockliff are out for multiple weeks, while reliable bench options in Jackson Thurlow, Sam Dwyer, Sam Colquhoun, Jesse Lonergan and Max Gawn are all out! With the extra trades, rolling lockouts and more media coverage than ever before, SuperCoach 2013 was meant to be “to easy” this couldn’t of been further from the truth as our once gold choices turn into headaches.
Looking back at some of the top scorers for round nine, while Friday nights Collingwood and Sydney clash was soured by the ugly issue of racism once again brought to the forefront of the football world. It unfortunately overshadowing the superb performance of Adam Goodes, at 33 years of age he was by far best-on-ground in the first game of the indigenous round.
The dual Brownlow medallist chalked up 30 touches and three goals on his way to 169 SC points in what was the real story of the night. Jobe Watson delivered 166 points to the many coaches who traded him in last week, Stevie J (151) put on a clinic over in Adelaide, Ablett (149) was simply, Ablett and Nic Naitanui (148) continued his brilliant return to AFL.
Round 10 captain choices are as follows:
Steve Johnson
Johnson has quickly become the most sought after forward in the game, and for good reason. We have always known the Norm Smith medallist has a huge ceiling, but with his recent move into the Cats midfield, consistency has been added to his devastating scoring power. Johnson has made a habit of destroying lowly ranked sides, against the Western Bulldogs, Melbourne and the two expansion clubs over the past two years, he has averaged a ridiculous 155 SC points a game! (over nine matches), in the form he’s in, who knows what he could produce against the Suns.
Dangerfield has now clicked into top gear after a slow start to 2013, he has had a sensational month of football (averaging 133) and I expect it to continue against the Dockers. Despite a reasonably quiet game by Patty’s standards in the semi-final last year, he dominated in the two sides home & away encounters, clocking up scores of 187 and 145 respectively. He is a strong captain choice.
Daniel Hannebery
“Hanners” has picked up this season were he left off, following a sensational grand final performance. He is a big game player and while much of the attention will be put into the likes of Kennedy, Jack, Watson and Stanton on Saturday night, Hannebery should continue to benefit from the strong Swans midfield and produce yet another ton.
Dane Swan
Swan is having his quietest season since 2008 with an extremely un-Swan like performance last week, registering just 67 points. After a week of scrutiny, Collingwood face a depleted Lions sides and will no doubt be fired up for the clash. Furthermore, Swan has enjoyed playing the Lions in recent years averaging 33 possessions and 141 SC points from his last four outings.
Hamish Hartlett
They say the higher you get the harder you fall, in 2013 Hartlett started in a blaze of glory and quickly became a must-have defender, a month later the many coaches who jumped aboard the Hartlett rollercoaster were just as quickly tearing up their ticket. Discounting his injury-hampered GWS match, he averaged 131 in the opening five rounds, then courtesy of a hard tag his past month has returned an average of 63. However, he comes up against one of the AFL’s weaker sides in the Dogs and we know how he can play when Port Adelaide are up and running, I’ll back him in for a return to form and maybe, if you’re brave, a sneaky vice-captain selection.
Ablett watch
Returning to his old home-ground for the first time along with Geelong’s first match under lights at the Cattery, will make for a brilliant spectacle Saturday night. Ablett is in great form and will be eager to shine in front of his former supporters and team-mates, a wise choice as always.