Round 18 of the 2026 AFL Premiership Season concludes with a three-game Sunday slate. Draftstars are offering over $50,000 in guaranteed prize money in their main daily fantasy tournament!
Sunday’s three-game slate features Western Bulldogs vs West Coast at Marvel Stadium, Melbourne vs Richmond at the MCG and Brisbane vs Essendon at the Gabba. From these games we have three games with huge blow out potential with the leagues bottom three sides all playing against top end competition. This means the potential for huge fantasy scores, but picking who will go biggest will be the challenge. At Marvel Stadium, the Western Bulldogs host West Coast in what the market has priced as an emphatic Bulldogs victory with a 38.5-point line. The selection news from the Bulldogs is significant — young gun Ryley Sanders and star ruckman Tim English are both out with injury. At the MCG, Melbourne are 41.5-point favourites against a Richmond side that has won just two games all season. Dion Prestia returns for Richmond alongside young gun Sam Grlj, while Jack Ross and Jayden Short are both out injured opening some opportunity in the back line and midfield for Tigers players. At the Gabba, Brisbane are priced at $1.02 — the most lopsided game on the entire slate and a whopping 10 goal favourite — against an Essendon side coming off a heavy defeat to St Kilda. Dayne Zorko and Hugh McCluggage both return to a Lions side approaching full strength, while Archie Roberts returns for Essendon. As you can see the game stacks will be on, but the question is who.
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AFL Daily Fantasy Lineup Tips: Round 18 Sunday Slate
AFL Fantasy Round 18 Sunday: Where to Attack?
No surprise there are matchup angles everywhere to attack on this slate with three blowouts expected.
Starting with the first game, West Coast have been giving up over 14 points above league average to the ruck position — the second highest ruck concession in the competition. With Tim English out to injury this opens up a huge play opporunioty from the Dogs team with Rory Lobb expected to take the majority of the ruck duties. West Coast have also been giving up above average points to wings (+6.00), general defenders (+7.41) and designated kickers (+8.64), making Bailey Dale as Bulldogs’ primary kicker a big option backing up from his huge game last week. Strangely enough, despite struggling this year the Eagles are not conceding huge scores to key forwards or inside midfielders, and we can probably find better options on this slate in those roles.
At the MCG, Richmond are the team to attack through the midfield as they have been giving up over 9 points above league average to the position — the highest rate in the league. On the other side, Melbourne continue to give up points to opposition backs, and this opens up strong play opportunities for the Tigers given their usual designate kicker in Jayden Short is out with injury in this game.
Now for the crown jewel of the slate, up at the Gabba the Lions are positioned as 10 goal favourites against Essendon who have won a single game for the season and are currently at one of the lowest points in club history. The Bombers are giving up the most fantasy points in the league and above average scores across all positions. Specifically, general forwards are scoring at over 6 points above league average (most in the league) against them, inside midfielders are going at over 8 points above league average (second most), and they are also giving up some of the highest scores in the league to backs, including 12 points above league average to the designated kickers. The only reason not to totally load up on the Lions is the fact that it will be the most obvious play on the slate and if you are looking for a point of difference there are two other great options on this slate, and Essendon are also coming in fresh off an internal meeting that might inspire them to show a little more fire than they have in recent weeks.
Game Script – Melbourne / Brisbane midfielders and forwards, Bulldogs ruck, Richmond backs
AFL Fantasy Round 18 Sunday – Our Value Fantasy Picks
Rory Lobb ($9,540) took over the majority of the ruck duties last week with English battling injury. He attended 62% of the ruck matchups and returned 85 fantasy points. This week with English completely out of the lineup and no obvious replacement coming in, I expect that number to push up to over 80% as we saw earlier in the year when Lobb was solo rucking. This means we should be looking at a floor of 80+ and an upside of over 100. Lobb posted 102 as the lead ruck earlier in the year against Melbourne, which was a much tougher matchup than we are seeing this week with Eagles giving up the second most points in the league to rucks this season. Lobb is a total lock at this price point, the only real question is do you roster him as a forward or a ruck.
Connor Mckenna ($9,120) has found some of his career best form in recent weeks playing up forward and hitting the scoreboard. He has posted three straight scores of 78+ and kicked 6 goals over this stretch. The Lions are in season best form as they ramp up for another finals push and this week should see them win comfortably, which will offer plenty of opportunity for Lions forwards – stack them up!
Oliver Francou ($9,450) had a ripper debut last week after being selected by the Eagles as a mid season draft pick. West Coast continue to be crying out for support form big bodied midifelders and Francou has been one of their solutions, he came straight into his first AFL game attending 47% of the Eagles centre bounces and racked up 86 fantasy points. The Western Bulldogs at Marvel will be a much more formidable opponent this week, but given the midfield opportunity at this price point, he still makes a nice value option.
Sam Banks ($9,690) is my second value lock of the slate. He has had an injury plagued season after a breakout year last year where he was averaging over 90 points per game. However, things are perfectly setup for him this week to return to his best form. Jayden Short is out with injury, meaning one of the Tigers will have to pickup his kick outs (Short takes the majority for the Tigers at around 5-8 per game). My guess is that will be Banks, and we saw earlier in the season what that meant for his scoring, with back to back scores of 88 and 97 fantasy points. Throw in the fact that Melbourne leak points to backs, this is a sure thing.
AFL Fantasy Round 18 Sunday – Our Mid Price Fantasy Picks
Jacob van Rooyen ($10,360) has kicked 8 goals in his last two games, including a superstar like performance last week where he dobbed 5 against the Hawks en route to 131 fantasy points. The matchups continue to get easier this week as he heads into a Tigers team that Melbourne is favoured to beat by over 40 points.
AFL Fantasy Round 18 Sunday – Our Premium Fantasy Picks
Will Ashcroft ($16,500) is the Brisbane premium to lock in for our Brisbane midfield stacks. He has posted 120, 134, 152, 86 and 93 in his last five games and is averaging a ridiculous 135 over his last three. This is the second best matchup in the league for inside midifelders and I would be looking to combo him up with other Lions midfielders, including Josh Dunkley ($14,810) who is also in season best form with back to back scores of 115 and 130. If you are looking to switch up for the Brisbane team, look to Kysaiah Pickett ($15,410) for the Demons who has the best matchup in the league for inside midfielders against the Tigers, or even go to the Bulldogs where Ed Richards ($15,660) should have way too much pace at Marvel Stadium for the Eagles.
Suggested Draftstars Lineup for AFL Fantasy Round 18 Sunday
Weather Report for Sunday 12th July
Marvel Stadium (Melbourne) — roof closed, no weather concerns.
MCG (Melbourne) — 11 degrees, clear. Cold winter afternoon, ideal conditions.
The Gabba (Brisbane) — 18 degrees, clear. Mild winter evening under lights.
AFL Betting Markets Round 18 Sunday
Western Bulldogs ($1.14) vs West Coast ($5.50)
Points: 168.5
Line: Western Bulldogs -38.5
Melbourne ($1.10) vs Richmond ($7.50)
Points: 175.5
Line: Melbourne -41.5
Brisbane ($1.02) vs Essendon ($13.00)
Points: 171.5
Line: Brisbane -62.5
Also, be sure to check out our full AFL Sunday Preview and Betting Tips. Our experts break down each individual game and highlight some key bets that you can follow!
