Welcome to Round 11 of the 2024 AFL Premiership Season and we get things underway at Marvel Stadium this Thursday night as the Western Bulldogs will continue their quest back into finals contention as they host the best team in the league right now, the Sydney Swans. The Bulldogs have won their last two games, including a spirited win over the other Sydney team last week. It will not be easy, however, as the Swans have lost just one game all year.
Draftstars continue to offer massive prize pools with the Thursday night main being worth $60,000 along with their usual variety of alternate contests:
- AFL $60,000+ Bulldogs vs Swans
- AFL $5,000+ Bulldogs vs Swans High Roller ($150 Entry)
- AFL $2,000+ Bulldogs vs Swans Fiver
- AFL $3,000+ Bulldogs vs Swans 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
Western Bulldogs ($2.40) vs Sydney ($1.55)
Points: 170.5
Line: Sydney -9.5
If you’re looking to bet on the AFL this season, then you can bet with PlayUp by using the same account that you have at Draftstars. PlayUp are Australian owned and offer an strong range of AFL betting markets and offers, including Same Game Multis.
Additionally, we have a full Western Bulldogs vs Sydney Betting Preview for the game where we provide our best bet for the game as well as a great value Same Game Multi!
Weather
Nothing to consider with this matchup being at Marvel. Let’s play some fantasy.
Where to Attack?
Sydney have been one of the hardest teams to rack up fantasy points against all season, which is no surprise at all given they are sitting on top of the ladder. They are either giving up below average points or right around league average to all positions. Their most exposed area is designated kickers where they are conceding a “whopping” 1.4 points per game above league average. This fits the game script nicely, however, as you would expect the Bulldogs to have more ball in their back line if the Swans are to get on top this game.
On the flip side, the Bulldogs also concede limited fantasy points, but are slightly above average to opposition forwards.
Game Script – Western Bulldogs backs, Sydney midfielders and forwards
VALUE PLAYS
Caleb Daniel ($9,510) remains in the team again this week after being the sub last week. Again, this is a play you will need to monitor until the final teams are named to ensure he starting on the ground. But if he is we can expect him to float around the wings and down at half back and he has significant upside at this price point in a single game matchup.
Harvey Gallagher ($7,260) surprisingly picked up a lot of centre bounce attendances last week, which makes him a nice value option hoping that role will continue. He attended 69% of the Bulldogs centre bounces against the Giants, and while that did not result a huge fantasy score (only racking up 48 points), on a slate where finding value is going to be a challenge, I love that play again assuming he gets a similar role. Gallagher has shown upside this season posting a 90-point fantasy game, admittedly against easier competition in the Eagles.
MID PRICED PLAYS
Taylor Adams ($9,980) is a constant lock and load play for me when the Swans are on single game daily fantasy slates. As noted above, value is hard to find, so playing Adams who will always get some time up around the ball (20-40% centre bounces) and has a solid floor with the ability to score in 70-90 point range makes a lot of sense.
Ladbrokes offering $2.30 for Taylor Adams to rack up 80+ fantasy points, which looks like great value in this matchup.
PREMIUM PLAYS
Bailey Dale ($14,640) has been having a monster season after a slow start where he was made the sub by Beveridge against Essendon. Since that game he has responded in the way you would expect for a player with any sort of pride, posting fantasy scores of 160, 134, 105, 104 and 73. This matchup should suit Dale as he is taking the majority of the kick ins for the Bulldogs and as we noted above that is the one position where Sydney are at least giving up above average points. And the way this game is expected to play out we can expect the ball to be in the Bulldogs back half more often than Sydney’s.
Brodie Grundy ($14,610) is my pick of the ruck matchup on this slate as Tim English has historically been a great matchup for any ruck conceding fantasy points in huge amounts over the years. Grundy should have the advantage in the ruck contests and both players will prob run free from each other around the ground. Grundy has been in great form this season averaging just under 100 fantasy points per game as the number one ruck for Sydney and the kicker being he costs over $1,200 less than English.
Suggested Draftstars Team
Cheat Sheet
