Blake Acres did not really want to leave St Kilda but he has certainly made a name for himself at Fremantle, playing now as a wingman in a good team heading for consistent September action. He has probably earned Brownlow votes this season with some eye-catching performances, suited by the versatility needs by the modern wing position instead of his previous key forward assignments at the Saints. He is somewhat of a barometer for the Dockers, as if he is on song you know the team is going well. Might be a cheeky spot start for fantasy today in the Derby too.
Blake Acres did not really want to leave St Kilda but he has certainly made a name for himself at Fremantle, playing now as a wingman in a good team heading for consistent September action. He has probably earned Brownlow votes this season with some eye-catching performances, suited by the versatility needs by the modern wing position instead of his previous key forward assignments at the Saints. He is somewhat of a barometer for the Dockers, as if he is on song you know the team is going well. Might be a cheeky spot start for fantasy today in the Derby too.
Acres over Nullarbor
Lacking positional continuity throughout 2019, Blake Acres returned home in the off season to don the purple haze. A lightning quick winger and half forward, the former Saint suffered declines in disposals and score involvements. His best performance came against the Hawks in round 4, registering 26 touches and a major. Fremantle's decision to trade for Acres was likely due to the loss of both starting wings. Acres had demonstrated consecutive disposal improvement from 2016-18 and expectations will be high he can continue in that vein. Available as a forward, Acres will provide value in the middle rounds of the draft.
Acres seeks hectares
A true utility, Blake Acres has shown good flashes in his AFL career to date but is yet to put together a full season at a high level. Injury cruelled what looked like being a breakout year in 2018, which began with second 30-disposal performance in Round 1. In 2019 Acres should get the opportunity to play regularly and in his preferred role of outside midfielder, assuming the Saints tall forwards don't again suffer big injuries. He has all the tools to be strong fantasy scorer and would be a good middle-round selection.
Blake's space opera
A trip to the VFL after the bye in 2017 did nothing to fix Blake Acres' trademark variability in performance off a wing, as evidenced by the last five weeks where his disposal counts were 22, 30, 16, 30 and 18. He added a mark and two handballs to the rates from his previous year, though his metres gained dropped and his contested percentage plummeted by seven points. As a club, it has been possible to forgive St Kilda over the past couple of years for lack of consistency that comes with youth as their list is still tranistioning away from the previous finals era. It's time that players like Acres grew up and started producing every week like true professionals. It's going to be difficult to predict that from the JLT, so it's a matter of faith as to whether to use anything but a late pick.
