Warnie from The Traders, AFL.com.au’s NAB AFL Fantasy experts, will be taking a look at the Bombers each week exclusive to essendonfc.com.au.
LAST WEEK
Unfortunately the Bombers couldn’t hold on our round one match in Sydney. Dyson Heppell (MID $607,000) was the only player to crack the Fantasy ton, racking up 26 disposals, five marks, three tackles and a goal for 111 points. With David Myers (MID $423,000) going down in the early stages of the game, Ben Howlett (FWD/MID $444,000) took off the green substitute vest and finished with 99, mostly thanks to his 12 tackles.
The most popular Don, Tom Bellchambers (RUC/FWD $287,000), managed to still increase $6,000 in value despite his 62 points while Brendon Goddard (FWD/MID $538,000) dropped $12,000 due to his 72. The 22.5% of coaches who started with him shouldn’t panic as the dual position player will be one of the top scoring forwards this season.
TOP 5 SCORERS V SYDNEY
- Dyson Heppell (MID $607,000) 111
- Ben Howlett (MID $444,000) 99
- Jake Melksham (FWD/MID $365,000) 95
- Jobe Watson (MID $584,000) 93
- Cale Hooker (DEF $429,000) 75
ON THE RADAR
With player values quite steady after the first round of price movements, there is still plenty of value on the Essendon list worth considering if you don’t have any yet. Heppell is a great replacement for the injured Tom Rockliff and Steele Sidebottom. As many premium rucks mis-fired, Bellchambers is priced well to downgrade to and enjoy price rises while scoring 75+ over the next few weeks.
I will be keeping an eye on Brent Stanton (MID $545,000) after dropping $20K due to copping a tag from Craig Bird last weekend. He has the ability to pump out big scores and I am pretty happy I drafted him on my Elite bench.
WHAT’S COMING UP
The Bombers take on the Hawks in round two, the same round they met last year. Stanton was the top scorer in that match with 121 as the Bombers lost by 4 points. Watson (120), Jake Carlisle (111) and Paul Chapman (110) were also among the best scorers. Based on history, Fantasy Coach projects Watson to be the highest scorer on Sunday with 106 and Heppell on 101. Personally, I think they will both add at least 10 points to those projections with the eight day break!
Follow @AFLFantasy and @WarnieDT on Twitter for news, information and advice from Warnie and The Traders.
