I’ve already launched this on the latest edition of the Coaches Box podcast yesterday, but I should let readers of the FanFooty blog know about it as well.

Each AFL player is classified by Champion Data (official stat providers to the AFL) in the 2008 AFL Prospectus according to their position, their size and their role. For instance, Brett Burton is a medium-sized general forward, which means his classification is Fwd-Med-Gen. Similarly, Sam Mitchell is a small inside midfielder, giving him the designation of Mid-Small-In, and Sam Fisher is a tall key-position defender, meaning he has the code of Def-Tall-Key.

The Breakdown - there is a Dream Team Breakdown and a Super Coach Breakdown - is a table that lists the averages of each Champion Data player type against each AFL team in 2008, along with how many players have played against that team of that designation, with links to drill down on each score from each player against each opponent. The cells in the table are colour-coded according to their ranking: the lowest team average is coloured red, the second- to fourth-lowest are light red, the second- to fourth-highest are light green and the highest is solid green.

Those who are long-time listeners of the Coaches Box know that this kind of table made its public debut on the Round 22 episode last year, when we had Statsman74 on the show. Among the numerous spreadsheet screenshots he shared with us were two labeled DT scores by player positions and types - Part 1 and DT scores by player positions and types - Part 2, which are pretty much what you see in the Breakdown. Unlike those spreadsheets, however, the Breakdown includes links to the full list of players of each position who have already played against that opponent in 2008, as well as a list of this week’s relevant players.

The Breakdown is a powerful tool for helping to pick captains and figuring out which players are worth selling due to their rollercoaster coming to an end… or not. For instance, Dean Cox traditionally has a day out against the Swans, but even he struggled in the reverse fixture earlier in the year, and no ruckman has scored over 86 against Sydney all year so it might be time to take the captain’s armband off him this week. As we said in the podcast, it’s also an indicator that this week is not the time to sell Cyril Rioli because small forwards tend to carve up the Dons. It should also prove useful for those participating in the Lethal League or Premium DT competitions who are looking to pick up new players for a week or two of service: Michael Gardiner against the Bulldogs has a great matchup, as do small Kangaroo defenders like Gavin Urquhart and Ed Lower.

Enjoy!

It was quite surreal watching a football match being played in bright Dubai sunshine starting at 8.45pm local time, but that’s the brave new internationalist world of football. Adelaide were more than up to the task, which would have been slightly disappointing for the Collingwood hierarchy who didn’t put on much of a show for their major sponsor Emirates, but we can blame three weeks of altitude training in South Africa plus a timely bout of gastro going through half the team for that. Nevertheless, there were some points to be taken out of the game.

• Brent Reilly looks like a million dollars, but he might not be the real deal. Yes, a fair few fantasy coaches of some note, including some in the EliteDre@mTe@mers league, love this bloke like a brother, and he did show flashes of brilliance in the second quarter including some Judd-like pack-bursting runs and a lovely supergoal to rack up 50 DT points at half time… but he ended up with only 75, good for 8th among the Crows. I’m still not convinced that he’s going to be able to post consistent tons. He has averaged 40 minutes on the pine across the last two seasons, according to the AFL Prospectus, so he’s one of those players whose TOG (time on ground) fantasy coaches keep very close eyes on, but in my mind it’s not certain that he’s going to take that extra step just yet. We’ll have another opportunity to see him against the Eagles in a fortnight.
• Fans of Scott Pendlebury have a slight cause to worry. Pendles and Dane Swan are supposed to be the replacement inside midfielder package for the ageing Scott Burns and Shane O’Bree. With Burns missing the Dubai game and O’Bree not starring, this was a perfect opportunity for Pendles to show that he can step up to the level that Swan has already attained. Sadly, he could only manage a DT total of 59 with 8 kicks, 9 handpasses, 3 marks and 2 tackles - including a duck egg in the first quarter (admittedly due to him being benched… but why?). One to watch with a furrowed brow.
• Tyson Edwards on the backline and Tarkyn Lockyer on the forward line? That was weird. Edwards’ move is far more likely to be permanent, which would probably remove him completely from fantasy calculations for DT/SC because he won’t be designated as a back and it’s not going to be healthy for his numbers. As for Lockyer, surely that was a crazy experiment that Mick won’t ever try again… please?
• Ivan Maric is probably not going to be worthy of a spot in your 22, and Kurt Tippett is probably not going to be worth stowing on your bench either. Neil Craig rotated several players through the ruck, not only Maric and Tippett but Scott Stevens and anybody else in a German-coloured shirt who looked tall enough. The Crows ruck division is going to be a shambles this year, no two ways about it, and there won’t be much fantasy value there.
• The replacement for James Clement’s “quarterback” position will not be Nick Maxwell, as some had surmised, but Heath Shaw. This will be an excellent move for him in DT, and an outstanding move in SC. Get on board.
• Nathan Bock is going to have some very good days at centre half back when he gets a good match-up, as he did with Travis Cloke in a BOG performance in Dubai, but he still won’t deliver significant fantasy value. On a day where he dominated his position and thrashed his opponent, he still managed only 79 DT points.
• Rhyce Shaw is worth keeping an eye on, but no more. He has burnt fantasy coaches before.
• Brad Symes is the real deal, but temper your expectations. A highly impressive 35 points in the third quarter underlined how good he can be. Nevertheless, he’s more of an accumulator than a gun. Expect him to improve from his 61 average in 2007 to around 80 at most, but don’t be disappointed if he doesn’t crack it for many tons.
• And finally, be wary of getting excited about this hyper-attacking gamestyle that Neil Craig sprang on Collingwood in this game. It’s not the way Adelaide has gone about it in recent years. The Crows might even get to the NAB Cup Grand Final playing that sort of game all the way through, only to drop it for their old Wall-based strategy in the regular season. Don’t be fooled into assuming that their games are going to become Carlton-under-Pagan-style goalfests where Crow plodders are going to transform into fantasy superstars. Then again…

So Carlton “hosted” Fremantle at SuperSports Park in South African this past Saturday, but it was only this evening that we got to see footage of the historic event. As the first televised game of the 2008 AFL season, I’m sure you’ve been gagging to get some idea of how some of the players you’ve had an eye on are traveling in preparation for another big fantasy campaign. Here are the things we learnt:

• Matthew Kreuzer looked very impressive. He was known for loving life under the packs as a junior, and it looks like he hasn’t lost that lust for the footy wearing a Blues jumper, putting his body on the line and his head over the ball on several occasions. We still don’t know what his TOG (time on ground) will be like during the year but he’s going to be a fantasy gun eventually, if not in 08.
• Des Headland is a downhill skier. Looked like a man playing with boys, especially early, but drifted out after the first quarter.
• Fans of Brad Fisher should be worried. Not only did Kreuzer bomb a huge 65m goal post-high from 50, but Cameron Cloke also sailed one through from 60m late in the game, and apparently both of those players are going to be rotating though centre half forward for Carlton this year. That means less TOG for Fisher, and it probably dampens the fantasy prospects of all three players.
• If Byron Schammer stays fit and is given time in the engine room, he will deliver 90+ DT scores.
• There are still question marks over Andrew Carrazzo’s 2008 DT production. With the retirement of Matthew Lappin and speculation that Ryan Houlihan will spend more time on the forward line, along with talk of Setanta O’hAilpin being left at half-back, it’s going to be left to Carrots to hoover up a lot of garbage on the ground in the Blues backline. This might sound like a good fantasy move, but it would mean that he gets less time to run into space and receive marks, which is vital to average 100+ like Carrazzo did in 2007. On his South African performance I’d lean towards Carrots a bit more for Super Coach, where making turnovers is more important than uncontested marks.
• Perennial under-achiever Ryan Murphy might get upstaged this year by new draftee Chris Mayne. Mayne did some nice things, with two goals including a nice long one plus some good-looking leading up the middle. Most importantly, he has the McManus-style blonde curly Shirley Temple hairdo.
• Shaun Grigg knows how to get the footy, but doesn’t know as much about how to get rid of it. Consider for DT, but not SC.
• Finally, Nick Stevens has a big arse. He’s got a few kilos still to drop, but he should be fine.

Player of the Week: Matthew Priddis (160)

Ok, ok we were wrong. Not only did the Paddle Pop Lion step up and fill the void left by Daniel Kerr, he also filled up the Chris Judd-void as well…

Five weeks ago he looked like he might get pushed out as we edged closer to the finals. But due to Ben Cousins, Judd, Chad Fletcher and Kerr all missing games in this period he has recaptured his early season form. Don’t expect this to change at home against Essendon, who have one of the poorer midfields going around.

Biggest Disappointment: Michael Johnson (29)
Johnson was one of the steals of the 2006 season, but he has failed to reach the same dizzying heights in 2007. A 29 this week was his worst output of the season, and he has averaged only 57 since Mark Harvey took over. This is down on his average of 68 for the season – both are incredibly disappointing figures.

Other points of interest:

- Two goals, 9 points and a couple of out of bounds to boot - if that isn’t enough to frustrate a DT coach I don’t know what is. Yet Buddy Love still manages to rack up 113 Dream Team points. We forecast that if he actually managed to kick straight he would have scored something like 170 and could have featured as this week’s star… Maybe he should pick himself next year and he might kick a bit straighter!

To read more, and leave comments, go to:

http://www.dreamteamhero.com.au

(Unregistered users must have comments approved, while registered users can comment instantly. To register, click on the tool at the top right of the Dream Team Hero site)

Player of the Week: Kane Cornes (164)

Not only did Kane win lunch from his brother Chad this week, but he also collected the much-sought-after Talking Points Player of the week. 38 possessions, 14 marks and three goals will get that for you. A smart coach would have had one of the midfielders from the Hawthorn - Port game as a captain this week, with both teams always playing a loose high-possession game. This is the fourth time in the past six outings that Kornes has topped the 30 possession mark.

Honourable mentions: Jimmy Bartel (146), Andrew Carrazzo (139), Josh Carr (136), Quinten Lynch (129)

Biggest Disappointment: Brendan Fevola (15)

The Fevolution has played his last game for the year apparently, and what a way to go out! Coming off 81, 97, 92, 114 and 92, the enigmatic Fevola struggled even before getting injured just before half time. He did play the whole final quarter, so there is no excuse for 15 measly points. I imagine he cost a few managers a win in the finals this week.

Other points of interest:

- Robert Harvey (48) and Luke Ball (44) were casualties for the Saints against Fremantle. Look out for players such as Leigh Montagna, Nick Dal Santo and Lenny Hayes to get a bit more attention next week when deciding your captain if both Harvey and Ball fail to come up.

- The ‘slow’ Collingwood midfielder responded to Mick Malthouse’s postgame bake last week with Tarkyn Lockyer (76), Scott Burns (100) and Dane Swan (94) all having a decent games, but don’t expect this to be replicated against Sydney next week. For Melbourne, James McDonald and N.D Brown both put up more than handy scores of 126.

Tagger Watch:- Brett Kirk: The shaggy one had the job on West Australia’s finest, Simon Black. Black could only manage 48 well down on his average of 83 whilst Kirk was able to compile a decent score of 77

- Tyson Stenglein: Axel Foley wasn’t going to be allowed to go head to head against West Coast this game. The Steinleigner bottled Foley up all game, 58 points being his lowest outing of the year. With Adam Selwood taking the elite half forward flankers Steinleign has gone back to playing in the middle and taking the premier onballers. Expect him to take Dal Santo or Hayes this week.

To read more, and leave comments, go to:
http://www.dreamteamhero.com.au

(Unregistered users must have comments approved, while registered users can comment instantly. To register, click on the tool at the top right of the Dream Team Hero site)

- Player of the Week: Matthew Pavlich (168)… With a total of 30 touches and 6 goals, Pav is the winner of the player of the week. The Big Pavlova scored a massive 168

- Biggest Disappointment: Jared Brennan (20)… For those who finally thought he had come of age, Jared could barely get near the ball

- It was a very high scoring Dream Team, week with more than 50 players scoring over 100 points. Matthew Priddis (115) responded to our criticism of his haircut and welcomed a little more time in the midfield with Chris Judd down forward. He posted a decent score as he was consistently doing earlier in the season. With Matt Rosa (134) and Daniel Kerr (112) all scoring well it shows how good the Eagles midfield is. Those looking to strengthen their gun team for the finals may want to take note of these names.

- As mentioned last week, Daniel Gilmore is in a bit of a purple patch with the Sandiman out, scoring 126, well up on his average of 77. Would have been excellent trade potential if he was listed in the ruck rather than a centre/back. One to watch for next year, even with Sandi back.

- Wayde Skipper (62) is on the downslide and was not the bargain that the 4,348 players were hoping he was. Daniel Giansiracusa suffered a shoulder injury and his score of 18 reflects this.

- Tagger Watch: Jordan Bannister - For the second time this year The Chad was nullified by Bannister…

To read more, and leave comments, go to:

http://www.dreamteamhero.com.au

(Unregistered users must have comments approved, while registered users can comment instantly. To register, click on the tool at the top right of the Dream Team Hero site)

Player of the week: Jonathan Brown (140)
Brown scored a massive 140 this week, kicking a total of 6.6 in the Lions’ win against the hard-to-beat Kangaroos. That makes it the third week in a row he has scored over 110, and makes him an attractive captain proposition. King Brown almost doubled his output from his last outing against the only Mexican in the AFL, Michael Firrito.

Biggest Disappointment: Fraser Gehrig (0)
Welcome to the big league Fraser - you can’t play Carlton every week. I don’t care if you are playing on four players… the big G-Train should still be able to score at least one point. At least get a tackle.

Other points of interest:

- The Bulldogs and Saints were not able to get anything out of their game but those with Wayde Skipper sure did.

Daniel Gilmore is spending a bit more time in the ruck now that the Sandiman is out and his score this week (88) illustrates this. I don’t know what is worse, Matt Priddis’ recent form (58) or his haircut…

- Richmond are continuing to play its youngsters with first gamer Angus Graham scoring 34 and ultra impressive second gamer Daniel Connor getting 11 contested possesions and scoring 82 Dream Team points.

For the full edition of this week’s Talking Points, and to leave comments and join the discussion, visit:
www.dreamteamhero.com.au

By The Goat and The White Maggot

Player of the Week: Andrew Carrazzo (134)

Carrazzo didn’t get the highest score for the week - that honour went to Chad Cornes (144). Sam Fisher was next highest (142) but both of those guys played against weak opponents - Melbourne and Carlton respectively. Carrazzo went head to head with one of the form midfields in the competition (St Kilda) and managed 134. His 38 touches were a career high and the highest possession number for a Carlton player since 2000. 25 of these coming in the first half, one off the all time record of possessions for a half which is 26.

Honourable Mentions: The Chad (144), Sam Fisher(140), Jared Brennan (129), Rhan Hooper (122)

Biggest Disappointment: Josh Drummond (26)

Only played 47 per cent game time due to injury, but 26 points is 26 points. He has been a star this season but at that price you need better.

Other Points of Interest:

- Number one football caller Brian Taylor wasn’t slow in naming his man for the week as Nick Gill (Adelaide). 83 is a fair return for a first gamer, especially as a key forward. Has a great leap and a fair amount of guts - if only he could kick straight! Two misses from straight in front at crucial times in a game can hurt your DT scores. The 24 year old has been in the system for a while (once a Kangas rookie) so needs to show the signs quickly.

- The Chad found plenty of the ball playing forward and nailed 6 goals 2. It was a fair return from the big fella, but if he is going to play forward every week there is the potential for some low scores. Still with Warren Tredrea due back anytime he should move back in to the midfield and continue to find the footy. He is going to need to if he wants to start winning the sibling competition with brother Kane, (the highest possession winner gets lunch bought for them).

- The West Coast midfield is again a scary prospect with the return of Benny Cousins, giving it (dare I say it) a shot in the arm. Following up lasts weeks 140 with a solid 93 he certainly is an attractive option to strengthen your finals bound midfield. Will drop dramatically this week in price but nevertheless a very tantalising upgrade option since not many players will have him.

- The Osteitis Pubis curse seems to have hit everybody’s favorite Praying Mantis, Aaron Sandilands. With rumours coming out of the West that Sandi was struggling with the dreaded OP, the stats tell of a disappointing performance. Frankly 32 points from a starting gun ruckman leaves him now valued at a low $251,600. I’m off the Giant!

- Brisbane’s stunning performance against Collingwood brought a smile to many eyes, and the show that Jared Brennan (129) put on was simply stunning. Dreamtime was back at the G with the aforementioned Brennan and Rhan Hooper enjoying the limelight immensely. Chuck in Jonathan Brown (111) and Jed Adcock (121) to the equation and you have some pretty impressive scores.

- What is it with the Kangaroos? If it’s not Drew Petrie kicking a bag full of goals it’s Corey Jones (129). The run has got to stop at some point though surely.

- Steve Johnson (134) and Joel Corey (130) continued the rout that has been the Geelong midfield this year.

- Matthew Boyd stepped up in the absence of the injured Scott West to score a total of 130 while Wayde Skipper (remember him?) scored 108 for his first game of the year.

- The Rising Star Award goes to… Joel Selwood. With Scott Pendlebury (just three points) going down with what looks like a season ending injury, there is only one man for the prize. (Ed: Unless he gets suspended.)

- The New Coach Factor: Out goes Pagan and miraculously ‘The Fevolution’ is able to punch out a ‘measly’ 92. Not bad for a bloke with a 30 cm calf tear during the week. Youngster Ryan Jackson (107) pulled out a ton in first game under Brett Ratten, while Eddie Betts’ extended run in the midfield netted a return of 86 this week, smashing his average of 53. Meanwhile, not much has changed at either Melbourne or Freo with the change of coach but Brent Moloney (66) has seen a return to the squad and Nathan Jones (82) has found a fair bit more game time on the ball.

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 300^th 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.

Player of the week: Adam Cooney (150). Cooney is a deserving recipient this week – not only for his dominant performance against the Dons, but also for his last six weeks; before Saturday night, his last five scores were: 107, 122, 103, 122, 107. Farrrk. Sorry, Lenny Hayes (who scored 146) but when you get those sort of numbers for six weeks in a row, you’ll get your medal in the mail. And to think Cooney nearly wasn’t going to play! Did anyone pick him up at $274k after round 7? Let me know.

Honourable mentions: Hayes, Chornes (139), Nick Riewoldt (138), Sam Fisher (130)

Biggest disappointment: Shaun Burgoyne (35). Didn’t see the game, so I’m not sure what happened. Apparently tagged by Adam Selwood, but by Christ there’s no excuse for that kind of a score. 13 possessions – but only four kicks. Less handball more football, Burger!

Other points of interest:

Hard to know which is more disappointing – Chris Judd’s score of 36, or the prospect of more missed matches due to that groin injury. Judd is now worth $331k and falling fast, while several other Eagle team-mates are in the same boat (Quinten Lynch, Michael Braun, Matt Priddis and Beau Waters all face breakevens over 120 next week).

Sam Fisher’s 130 followed up a 129 last week, while other Saints didn’t struggle on Saturday night. They may have won by two points, but their 22 easily outscored the Crows in Dream Team terms. Robert Harvey and Leigh Montagna also did well (122 each) while Kosi bobbed up with 110 – a relief to the thousands of coaches who have him in their teams. For the Crows, Andrew McLeod was the best performer with 117. He’s in form, after a 125 last week, while Scott Thompson is also travelling well. His 106 made it five tons in the last six weeks. Also for the Crows, Jason Torney’s 99 was his highest of this year.

How good is Joel Selwood? His score of 108 against Collingwood propelled him to $329k in price, with a breakeven of 34. It was his third ton in four weeks since coming back into the Cats’ side. Joel Corey (113) was the best Geelong player, while Jimmy Bartel’s score of 81 will result in a price fall to $361k. He’ll drop further, however; his breakeven will be 156 next week. For the Pies, Tarkyn Lockyer (128) and Travis Cloke (121) were the best Dream Team players on the ground; Cloke’s unusually accurate kicking gave him a boost on his usual solid numbers. Dane Swan managed 86 despite battling the Pink Pig, but Anthony Rocca (39) struggled.

While the Cornes brothers scored 263 between them on Saturday night, it was two youngsters who recorded career-highs. Justin Westhoff (99) and Travis Boak (90) both played really well in the Power’s win over West Coast. It wasn’t so good for the Eagles – aside from Judd’s injury (and the 91 point loss) only one player topped 100; Andrew Embley (112). That’s the first time that has happened this year – the Eagles are a notoriously prolific Dream Team side.

The Dogs had a good night on Saturday – as well as Cooney, Brad Johnson and Nathan Eagleton both scored 100s and Jordan McMahon (99) showed he’s back in form. Farren Ray scored his highest of the year (91), and Aker registered 88. Not good news from Lindsay Gilbee (69) and Luke Darcy (53). For the Dons, Damien Peverill (110) top-scored while the form of popular fantasy players Brent Stanton (106) and Scott Lucas (91) will hearten their owners.

Jonathan Brown was back with menace against Melbourne, scoring a wonderful 128; his points always come in style. But he wasn’t the only Lion to have a night out – Luke Power, Jed Adcock, Nigel Lappin, Scott Drummond and Jamie Charman were their top scorers. If you had to nominate who’d be the top six for a game, I reckon I’d go with those six. Simon Black has bottomed out in price; despite scoring just 67, he only slipped 5k and has a breakeven next week of 66. And Jared Brennan is rising fast – his score of 89 means he’s up to $264k with a breakeven of 37.

For the Dees, Brock McLean had his best game for the year with 116, while Chris (A.) Johnson’s 83 was his best since round ten, 2006. Not much other good news – wonder-kid Michael Newton, Monty’s Bubble Boy of the week last week, scored just 14.

I am, like, totally over Peter Everitt and the whole inconsistency thing. 125 against Carlton; that comes after 40, 37 and 70 in the last three weeks. His co-ruck-pilot Darren Jolly scored 87 in the points-fest, which saw Nick Malceski (109), Adam Schneider (107) and Brett Kirk (103) go well. Barry Hall (77) was better than he has been, while Jarrad McVeigh’s score of 80 was one below his career-high. For the Blues, Fev rebounded with 81 while Brad Fisher’s 101 was his second ton of 2007. Heath Scotland scored a useful 90 (but it won’t stop his price sliding) while Andrew Carrazzo disappointed with 64.