Another huge five-game Super Saturday for Round 18 for the 2024 AFL Premiership Season. Things get underway with Sydney hosting North Melbourne at the SCG in what will likely be a one-sided affair and game stack option for fantasy. Hawthorn will be playing Fremantle down at Tasmania at their second home UTAS Stadium. Then in the mid-afternoon game the Western Bulldogs will attempt to keep their finals hopes alive with a big clash against the second placed Carlton. At night time we get a bit of a dead rubber between Adelaide and St Kilda before Melbourne and Essendon square off 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 ($1.08) vs North Melbourne ($7.50)
Points: 175.5
Line: Sydney -47.5
Hawthorn ($2.05) vs Fremantle ($1.76)
Points: 158.5
Line: Fremantle -2.5
Western Bulldogs ($2.74) vs Carlton ($1.44)
Points: 176.5
Line: Carlton -13.5
Adelaide ($1.50) vs St Kilda ($2.53)
Points: 157.5
Line: Adelaide -11.5
Melbourne ($2.53) vs Essendon ($1.50)
Points: 163.5
Line: Essendon -10.5
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 18 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
Adelaide – 15 degrees and cloudy with a high chance of showers in the afternoon q
Melbourne – 13 degrees and cloudy, with chance of showers in the morning
Launceston – 12 degrees and partly cloudy
Sydney – 18 degrees and possible morning shower
Football weather for this Saturday’s game, no real rain to impact our fantasy selections.
Where to Attack?
Load up on the Adelaide backs on this slate as they matchup against the Saints who have been the best matchup for players across all back positions for going on two seasons now. This includes wings who float back picking up uncontested possessions.
Sydney stacks will come into play as they are over 45-point favourites at home against North Melbourne. Any position is ok when stacking but lean towards forwards who can hit the score board and midfielders. Surprisingly North have actually been quite tough to score against over the last ten games with only wings and attacking half backs really scoring above average against them during this period.
Melbourne are the sneaky hammer game to target. They have been relatively dismal at defending opposition forward lines for the last 10 games and their midfield has also been conceding heavy amounts of points. Essendon forward and midfield stacks might be a nice point of difference on this five-game slate.
Game Script – Sydney midfielders and forwards, Adelaide backs
VALUE PLAYS
Harrison Petty ($6,000) / Jacob Van Rooyen ($9,720) with Max Gawn going down and the Demons not replacing him with their VFL ruckman, there will be plenty of points around for the player picking up the majority of the ruck duties. Petty has been named to start there will like be used as cannon fodder to start the game and at minimum price you cannot ignore him as a play.
Van Rooyen is the pinch hitter who plays mostly forward and he is coming off one of his better games of his young career going for over 100 points last week. Additional ruck time will allow him to boost his score again this week but he is coming off a higher starting price.
Harrison Jones ($8,280) has seen a role move in the last two weeks going to back and then last week playing on the wing. This has resulted in back-to-back scores of 74 and 84, both of which would be solid returns at this price point. Last week he looked sensational in the wing role and will have every opportunity to continue with that form against Melbourne who have been conceding fantasy points this year.
MID PRICED PLAYS
Luke Nankervis ($10,160) / Brodie Smith ($10,110) the Crows will have the best matchup in the league for backs and will be without their usual designated kicker in Michael Hinge. That leaves both Nankervis and Smith to hand the duties (unless they send Dawson back). Both players have 100+ point upside and I would be looking to stack these two up or mix in some other value options across the Crows backline in this matchup, such as Mark Keane ($9,630) or Max Michalanney ($9,860).
PREMIUM PLAYS
Luke Jackson ($13,570)… This is the dream scenario for Jackson as we have had Darcy go down with injury once again, which alone always opens up huge scoring potential. But in addition, Jackson draws one of the top matchups in the league for rucks against Lloyd Meek. The Hawks have been giving up the second most points to the position over the last 10 games and Jackson offers us 120+ point ceiling games in the right situation.
Errol Gulden ($16,850) will be the start for my Sydney midfield stacks. Both consistent with huge upside and this week with Isaac Heeney out there will be more ball available for all of the Swans midfielders. Gulden has shown the ability to break slates open with two 150+ point games already this season.
Suggested Draftstars Team
Cheat Sheets
