Shai Bolton had a complete mare for the first time in purple last week, given almost no supply by a Fremantle midfield that was belted around and not able to win the ball himself when rotated through the centre for bounces. After starting the season late due to an interrupted preparation, Bolton's form has been quite good as has the team's but the Dockers have fallen of late into a big, dark hole especially away. Tonight they face the Magpies on their home deck, and Bolton is just one of many at Fremantle who need to bounce back for their fans and fantasy owners.
Shai Bolton had a complete mare for the first time in purple last week, given almost no supply by a Fremantle midfield that was belted around and not able to win the ball himself when rotated through the centre for bounces. After starting the season late due to an interrupted preparation, Bolton's form has been quite good as has the team's but the Dockers have fallen of late into a big, dark hole especially away. Tonight they face the Magpies on their home deck, and Bolton is just one of many at Fremantle who need to bounce back for their fans and fantasy owners.
Shai Bolton is still one of the best players in the league even though his best years are behind him, like most if not all of the triple-premiership Tigers still left on their list. The paucity of premium forwards in fantasy this year would have had some coaches looking at him as a candidate to finish in the top six by season's end, and he may very well end up there. The problem with Bolton as a premium asset for fantasy purposes is his low floor of scoring: his best is still as good as anyone in the league but we won't see it every week. Lot of downside to assess here, as with Richmond.
Shai Bolton has been making headlines for mostly wrong reasons in midseason 2022 action, producing a series of poor goalkicking performances and taunting an opponent while running into an open goal to cause even more angst. He has been shifted to the forward line for most of the past couple of months as the Tigers search for the right mix, with the bigger bodies of Jack Ross and Jack Graham preferred at the coalface. His fantasy output has waned as a result, but he might be a sneaky play going into fantasy finals if he can find some form as Richmond chases finals.
Shai Bolton is coming back from a wasted season at Richmond like a lot of his teammates. They really didn't look like the Tigers of old in the second half of last year, and many fantasy coaches were looking to the likes of Bolton to bounce back for 2022. Last week Trent Cotchin looked as cooked as a Christmas chook, Dion Prestia went down with yet another hamstring injury and mid-week came news that Dustin Martin was taking personal leave from the club. Can Bolton maintain any sort of scoring as the list crumbles around him? Tough gig.
Shai Bolton has quietly become one of the elite midfielders of the competition, benefiting somewhat from the spotlight being on Dustin Martin and to a lesser extent on Shane Edwards. His best quality is his disposal under pressure, especially inside 50, and his goal assist stat is probably his most important KPI for Damien Hardwick. For fantasy coaches, however, quality which is not backed up by a certain quantity is not particularly useful for building impressive statistical totals, which has been true of a lot of Richmond players under Dimma.
Spike in Bolton energy
You might have picked Shai Bolton off the free agent pool for the Gold Coast game in round 16 last season, and if you did you enjoyed a handful more decent scores in a row after that. Then he reverted to the mean which, as with every other harrying small Tiger forward, is too low for a consistent fantasy start. He had minor shoulder surgery in the post season which slightly delayed his preparation. That purple patch only highlighted the flat line of Bolton's fantasy scoring in the rest of the year, and if you read these profiles in alphabetical order you are going to get sick of hearing about the Richmond mosquito fleet whose job is to disappoint fantasy coaches and please Damien Hardwick, possibly in that order. He is a lovely player to watch, and might be a decent spot start against the Suns once again.
Stutter steps for Bolton
A classic case of second-year syndrome, Shai Bolton took a few steps backwards in 2018 as he struggled with increased physical load and expectation. An off-season knee clean out and a fresh start with some time spent in his home town of Perth has Tiger coaches raving about his upside. Bolton will be aimed at a wing spot that is up for grabs after some departures of middle-aged footballers over the summer. Even his supporters acknowledge that he may need another year in the system to really fulfil his potential, so this year will probably not be the one to pick him for fantasy.
Thunder needed from Bolton
The fan and media campaign to select Shai Bolton in September amounted to nothing, so he will start his second year hungrier than Kevin Bartlett to better his six senior games from his debut season. His VFL highlights were sensational, though as with most small forwards he is not especially good at accumulation with three startable scores out of 12 in the seconds. To make and then keep a spot in the Richmond forward line in the wake of the 2017 flag, Bolton will have to knuckle down to concentrate on his chase and tackling, as the mantra from the coach is pressure over basic stats. This is not a good mix for fantasy coaches, however effective it may be for the team, so Bolton can be bypassed for the coming year.
