Full steam ahead for Round 16 for the 2024 AFL Premiership Season with a fully loaded Super Saturday slate with five games to play. Sydney vs Fremantle at the SCG is likely to be the closest thing to a top of the table clash with first taking on fifth, although Swans will still be heavy favourites in this matchup. The other afternoon game between North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium looks tasty from a fantasy perspective and will be a source of many game stacks. The Gold Coast Suns have a must win game against Collingwood if they are any chance of making the finals. Then at night time we will see Adelaide hosting GWS at Adelaide Oval and another exciting top eight clash between Geelong and Essendon at the MCG.
Draftstars continue to offer massive prize pools with the Saturday main contest being worth $50,000 along with their usual variety of alternate contests:
- AFL $50,000+ Saturday
- AFL $5,000+ Saturday High Roller ($150 Entry)
- AFL $3,000+ Saturday 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
Sydney ($1.20) vs Fremantle ($4.35)
Points: 172.5
Line: Sydney -27.5
North Melbourne ($6.25) vs Western Bulldogs ($1.11)
Points: 182.5
Line: Western Bulldogs -38.5
Gold Coast ($2.03) vs Collingwood ($1.78)
Points: 165.5
Line: Collingwood -2.5
Adelaide ($2.05) vs GWS Giants ($1.77)
Points: 160.5
Line: GWS -2.5
Geelong ($2.08) vs Essendon ($1.75)
Points: 167.5
Line: Essendon -3.5
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 AFL Round 16 Betting Previews for all five games where we provide our best bet for the game as well as a great value Same Game Multi!
Weather
Sydney – 19 and partly cloudy
Gold Coast – 23 and possible shower, less than 1mm
Adelaide – 12 and up to 12mm rain
Melbourne – 12 and up to 15mm rain
Typical winter football weather in Sydney and Gold Coast, but plan for wet weather in the the Adelaide game and the game at the MCG. Focus on inside midfielders and players who tackle as well as rucks in this contest.
Where to Attack?
Targeting Geelong with inside midfielders has been an elite play all season and that continues with Geelong giving up the second most points in the league over the last 10 games at 7.8 points per game above league average. Essendon will take advantage of that matchup and if there is a bit of rain that will only help the inside players.
It is no surprise that North Melbourne have been getting well beaten by forwards this season. They have given up the second most points in the league over the last ten games to key forwards at over 6 points per game above league average. In addition, they are giving up over 3 points per game above league average to general forwards. This week will likely be no different with the Western Bulldogs over 5 goal favourites in the matchup.
Game Script – Essendon midfielders, Western Bulldogs forwards
VALUE PLAYS
Lawson Humphries ($6,000) will make his debut for the Cats this week and he has huge wraps coming out of Geelong right now. He has been racking up the touches at the VFL level with just two games under 20 touches all season and three 100+ fantasy point games from his last six at that level. Likely starting off half back with also potential to push up onto the wing he will have a great role at this price point.
Mark Blicavs ($9,450) is another solid value option to go back to this week. He didn’t pay off last week but did attend 80% of the centre bounces so he has plenty of opportunity. He will likely be used more in the ruck this week if the Cats don’t continue to go with De Koning (if you hear otherwise in the lead up, De Koning will be another great value play this week).
MID PRICED PLAYS
Ed Richards ($13,060) has been a revelation for the Bulldogs in the midfield role. His time at the centre bounces was cut down with Tom Liberatore back in the lineup, however he brings huge upside as a mid as we saw with his 141 point game back in May. I love stacking up the Bulldogs in this matchup and there are rumours that Bontempelli will be a late out, which will further increase the opportunity for Richards. Side note, if the Bont is out I love playing Ryley Sanders ($9,110) as a value option.
Aaron Naughton ($10,450)… there are plenty of opportunities in the Bulldogs forward line this week. As mentioned at the top they have one of the best matchups in the league and if anything the Dogs are too tall up forward with all of Rory Lobb ($9,180), Jamarra Ugle-Hagan ($9,970) and Sam Darcy ($10,730) in the lineup. Stack them up every which way, but I start with Naughton who had posted back to back scores of 88 and 111 before being injured.
PREMIUM PLAYS
Zach Merrett ($16,070) is the head of the snake for the Bombers and will draw the best matchup in the league for inside midfielders. You can mix and match with Merrett, Caldwell ($14,570), Durham ($13,410) and Perkins ($11,340) as the main players through the inside for the Bombers. Merrett is having one of his best seasons of his career and has not gone under 100 fantasy points in the last four games.
Suggested Draftstars Lineup
Cheat Sheets
