Captain's Corner: Round 11, skippers to target and avoid

It feels like it’s been a lean couple of weeks for popular captain’s picks (well, it has been for me anyway!). There was only a handful of popular players who scored 130+ last week and not many of those would have been viable captains in the eyes of many coaches.



Clayton Oliver was the clear standout, scoring a whopping 178 SC points against North Melbourne on the back of 45 disposals. He’s a must-have for those without the Demons ball magnet in the coming weeks, despite a hefty price tag.



Jarrod Witts (131) and Marcus Bontempelli (130) were both excellent in the Bulldogs vs Gold Coast game in Ballarat, but popular options such as Josh Dunkley (116), Jack Macrae (104) and Touk Miller (59) left a bit to be desired to varying degrees.



A Liam Shiels tag in Launceston hampered Lachie Neale’s second half on his way to 100 SC points, while Rory Laird (105) also posted three figures but the points in that game were shared pretty evenly. Max Gawn hasn’t tonned up in three weeks and can no longer be considered for either armband until we see a turnaround in his form.



With all of that in mind, let’s dive into Round 11.



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Callum Mills



Plays first up this week which makes him a logical VC option. The Tigers have conceded some big scores to midfielders and rank 12th overall for SC points conceded to opposition midfielders in 2022. Mills pumped out a monster score against them in 2020, so no reason why he can’t do similar here.



Last 3 vs RICH: 109, 173, 62



Lachie Neale



Brisbane will be smarting after dropping what should have been a winnable game in Tasmania last week and I think Neale will be keen to make up for a pretty quiet second half of that game. What will be interesting is whether Mark McVeigh opts to send a tagger to him like the Hawks did, which proved effective.



Last 3 vs GWS: 87, 151, 85



Rory Laird



Adelaide travels to the Cattery this week and while it’ll be a tough ask for them to get the four points, I’m pretty confident that Laird will score well. I expect the Crows to bring Reilly O’Brien back after a dominant display in the SANFL and that will help them get some ascendency around the stoppages, which is good news for Laird.



Last 3 vs GEEL: 102, 120, 84



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Clayton Oliver



If Oliver is in your team, then you’d be crazy to not put the VC/C on him again this week, fresh off a big score against North. I reckon the Demons will be primed for this game against a Fremantle team that has been less than impressive over the last fortnight. That should mean another big game from Clarry.



Last 3 vs FREM: 122, 94, 114



Jack Macrae



It feels like Macrae hasn’t quite been in top gear recently and while his stats don’t read terribly (his 5 round average is 109), he’s only produced one score over 118 in that time. Gets a golden opportunity to turn that around this week against a struggling West Coast, who he has dominated in previous outings.



Last 3 vs WC: 137, 137, 117



Marcus Bontempelli



The Bont has been in red-hot form over the last two weeks, suggesting that the week off he had in Round 8 was just what he needed. Will be a popular trade in this week given he’s likely to be given FWD status next week and you could do worse than throwing the armband on him straight away, given his recent record against the Eagles.



Last 3 vs WC: 145, 156, 106



Jarrod Witts



The more I think Jarrod Witts will drop off, the more he proves me wrong. Dominated against the Bulldogs last week and scored accordingly, so the fact that he’s coming up against a Hawthorn line up with potentially no recognised ruckman means that he effectively can choose how much he wants to dominate. If your VC falls over, there’s no reason why Witts can’t go 130+ again.



Last 3 vs HAW: 59, 119, 51



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Patrick Cripps



Another guy who hasn’t set the world on fire in the last couple of weeks, but he loves a big game and there’s no bigger game this week than Sunday afternoon at the MCG against Collingwood. I reckon he’ll put in a massive performance against a Pies midfield which looks a little understrength.



Last 3 vs COLL: 82, 81, 120



SC BANDIT’S RECOMMENDATIONS



VC: One of Mills, Neale or Laird



C: Witts or Macrae

Captain’s Corner: Round 11, skippers to target and avoid

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