Round 11 of the AFL season sees us head west on Friday night as the Fremantle Dockers will host the Collingwood Magpies at Optus Stadium.
It’s an intriguing match up that the bookies are struggling to split. The Pies are no doubt on the improve as they now find themselves inside the top 8 after a thrilling win over Adelaide, despite some recent injuries to key players. However the home ground advantage is a significant one for the Dockers as they return home following a solid win over St Kilda in Melbourne. Can the Dockers keep things tight against the fast-flowing Magpies team?
Draftstars continue to offer massive prize pools with the Friday night main being worth $60,000 along with their usual variety of alternate contests:
- AFL $60,000+ Dockers vs Magpies
- AFL $5,000+ Dockers vs Magpies High Roller ($150 Entry)
- AFL $3,000+ Dockers vs Magpies Mini ($2 Entry)
The AFL Star contest is back for 2024 and Draftstars are offering the biggest prize pool in Australian DFS history with a $1 million guaranteed final with $250,000 top prize! There are qualifiers and satellites running for every AFL match, while there will also be a sprinkling of qualifiers across other sports such as NRL and NBA.
Meanwhile the 1000 AFL Target contests are set to return to Draftstars for the first time since 2018. Enter the contest and hit the 1000-point barrier with your team to scoop the jackpot!
Betting Markets
Fremantle ($1.75) vs Collingwood ($2.10)
Line: Fremantle -3.5
Points: 153.5
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Additionally, we have a full Fremantle vs Collingwood betting preview for the game where we provide our best bet for the game as well as a great value Same Game Multi!
Weather
Perth - Partly cloudy, 26 degrees.
Wonderful weather as usual in Perth, so should be a great night for football!
Where to Attack?
Collingwood have two key AFL fantasy trends so far this season. Firstly they have been particularly restrictive against opposition rucks with Darcy Cameron and Mason Cox proving hard to combat as they concede 11 points under the league average. By comparison, Fremantle are 6 points above the league average for conceding points to opposition rucks, however that’s been with Sean Darcy injured for large portions of the season. Darcy is back this week, much to the disappointment of double-ruck stackers.
The Pies also concede over 4 points above the league average to the opposition’s designated kicker this season. The Dockers LOVE some cheap possession kicking out from the backline, so I expect this trend to continue.
While Fremantle do also concede above average to opposition defenders, they are one of the most restrictive in the league towards opposition inside midfielders.
Game script: Collingwood rucks, Fremantle defenders and midfielders
VALUE PLAYS
There’s a number of $6,000 players this week that might be tempting in order to squeeze in a few of the fantastic super premium players on this slate. I’m a bit wary about the debutants with Wil Parker ($6,000) and Ed Allan ($6,000) producing pretty average numbers at VFL level, and it's likely one of them will be given the sub vest. Keep an eye on the team announcements an hour before the bounce, and the good news is that there's a few options to switch to if your player has the dreaded sub.
Beau McCreery ($7,060) is coming back from concussion protocols and will have an important role to play as a high forward in an inexperienced lineup. Averages 52 for the season with a high of 76 which is not great, but has a pretty solid floor with plenty of tackles, so I would prefer to pay up the extra thousand for him than risk a debutant.
Jye Amiss ($7,260) was in good form last week and could've had a bag if he kicked straight, ending with 2.5 against the Saints for a solid fantasy score of 60. Obviously reliant on kicking goals to score fantasy points, but if you think Freo can go well, then he's worth including with a season high of 79 three weeks ago a great return at this price.
MID PRICED PLAYS
Steele Sidebottom ($9,300) has shifted into a half-back role in recent weeks, and although he didn’t see much of it last week, he pumped out a 94 against West Coast two weeks ago to prove that the ceiling is still there. His price is attractive if he can link up as the distributor from the defensive half. He just needs to find a bit of hunger for the Sherrin.
James Aish ($11,740) is being offered at a discounted price after his 63 last week, and I’m happy to buy at this price. Has three tons and three other 90+ scores this season, for an 85.3 average with a high of 118. They are great numbers. Missed out on the kick-to-kick between Jordan Clark and Luke Ryan last week, but the numbers and favourable matchup would indicate that Aish is worth picking tonight.
PREMIUM PLAYS
Darcy Cameron ($13,340) looks like the most reliable ruck option if we’re following the trends of the season. He’s done a great job as the Pies number one ruck to reduce the influence of his opponents, while averaging a solid 87.8 this season. While he'd prefer to just take on Luke Jackson solo, the inclusion of the injury-prone Sean Darcy does complicate the situation. We're not going to see a 171 this week like we saw from Rowan Marshall against the Dockers last week, but we're hoping Cameron can ton up.
Luke Ryan ($16,340) is one of many great super-premium options on this slate. How you pick between Ryan, Serong, the Daicos boys, Brayshaw and Young will be the decision that could win you the slate as you can’t have them all! Luke Ryan has brought his own football in recent weeks, with the Dockers strategy to just kick him the ball no matter what. While that’s great for fantasy scoring, I’d suggest it’s not the way to beat the Pies, so the risk here is if Freo decides to play properly and attack the game, rather than kick the ball sideways. Ryan’s numbers are impressive this season with a 106.6 average and scores of 126, 105 and 161 the last three weeks. He arguably has the highest ceiling of the slate and the Pies do concede ball to the opposition’s designated kicker, so they won’t mind at all if Ryan goes big.
Suggested Draftstars Team
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