Another three-game slate comes our way in the AFL this Sunday as we wrap up the penultimate round of the 2024 AFL Premiership season! First up, it’s the improving Kangaroos looking to cause a major upset against the Bulldogs from 1:10pm. The rampaging Hawks surely won’t let a finals berth slip through their fingers now as they take on the bottom-placed Tigers. Then we head west for another vitally important match as Carlton are now in a must-win situation against the Eagles. Remarkably the Eagles are favourites in that one!
Draftstars continue to offer massive prize pools with the Sunday main contest worth $50,000 along with their usual variety of alternate contests!
- AFL $50,000+ Sunday
- AFL $5,000+ Sunday High Roller ($150 Entry)
- AFL $2,000+ Sunday 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.
Betting Markets
Western Bulldogs ($1.08) vs North Melbourne ($8.00)
Line: Bulldogs -45.5
Points: 178.5
Hawthorn ($1.08) vs Richmond ($8.00)
Line: Hawthorn -44.5
Points: 169.5
West Coast ($1.80) vs Carlton ($2.05)
Line: West Coast -2.5
Points: 160.5
Additionally, we have a full match previews for all Round 23 action where we provide our best bet for the game as well as a great value Same Game Multi!
Weather
Melbourne - Partly cloudy, 17 degrees.
Perth - Rain, 16 degrees.
All clear in Melbourne, but Perth is in for a bucketing on Saturday before things ease a little for us on Sunday. Up to 10mm is still expected so keep an eye on the radars closer to the bounce.
Where to Attack?
It’s an interesting slate with two heavy favourites before a potential wet weather contest in Perth.
First up, let’s talk about the ruck and the form of Tristan Xerri for the Kangaroos who has grown into a man mountain and likely All Australian. We’ll dive into his numbers a bit more later, but he comes up against the Bulldogs without Tim English and no recognised ruckman named. This matchup was already a huge advantage for Xerri, but now, it’s monstrous. Can you afford to pay up for Xerri or is he simply a must have?
It’s otherwise a tough matchup for the Roos against the Dogs. The Dogs forwards should be favoured as the Roos have struggled to contain the opposition scoring and the Dogs are near 8 goal favourites.
Stacks of Hawks against the Tigers should be a popular play with the Tigers giving up points all over the ground this season. In particular, I’ll be looking for Hawks defenders, wings and midfielders to have a fill up.
If we look at the numbers of the final match, it would suggest both Carlton and West Coast have struggled in recent weeks to contain the opposition forwards, however there’s a lot to consider before diving into this one. The Blues were hit with a massive injury toll last week with stars Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay both out of this one. And then if you throw in injuries to Jack Martin and Lachie Fogarty, it’s almost a completely new forward line which makes it very hard to get a read. Look for players who might get more opportunities in a new role. If the rain hits in Perth, then expect inside midfielders and ruckmen to come more into play with the increased number of stoppages.
Game scripts: Hawthorn stacks
VALUE PLAYS
Jaxon Binns ($6,000) / Cooper Lord ($6,000) are both in play as the Blues scramble to cover their injury list. Binns has been knocking on the door for a while at the Blues and finally gets an opportunity for potentially a full game after getting a brief taste of the big time in Round 7. Three weeks ago Binns had 47 disposals, 13 marks and 3 goals for a fantasy score of 197 in the VFL! Similarly Lord has been killing it in the VFL after being added to the Blues list in the mid-season draft. Lord has scored 126, 106 and 119 in his last three in the VFL. Keep an eye on team announcements prior to the match to see who cops the sub vest.
MID PRICED PLAYS
Ed Richards ($12,980) looks tempting at a sub $13k price with a potential 130+ ceiling. Was quiet last week in Adelaide, as were most of his teammates, but before that he went 81, 114 and 131 in the last month. Draws a good matchup here against the Roos and should get plenty of opportunity to win the ball in a must-win match for the Dogs. You could also consider Tom Liberatore ($13,000) at the same price point who probably gives you a more solid floor but a lower ceiling.
Karl Amon ($13,390) hasn’t set the world on fire this season but has been good the last two weeks with scores of 91 and 124. More importantly, he gets the softest match up in the league against the Tigers who just bleed fantasy points to the opposition backs. Amon loves to kick up through the backline with some cheap touches and should be in for another massive day here.
PREMIUM PLAYS
Dylan Moore ($15,060) has led the way for the Hawks resurgence this season and is on his way to the All Australian side. I don’t think his price has ever been this high before but his form has been superb with six scores of 114+ this season including a best-on-ground 132 last week against the Blues. Draws the best matchup in the league against the Tigers and should run rampant in a big win for the Hawks.
Tristan Xerri ($18,210) is in amazing form and deserves to be the starting All Australian ruck. He’s dominated all season, and just keeps getting better and better with three 150+ scores in a row and a 114.4 season average. As we mentioned earlier, it was already a great matchup for X against the Dogs, but now that Tim English is out, it becomes even better. Who is he going to come up against? Likely Sam Darcy with a bit of Rory Lobb thrown in? Surely X is going to murder them on his way to another 150+ score. The only problem is that he’ll need to hit those highs to hit value for us at a massive $18k price tag.
Suggested Draftstars Team
AFL Fantasy Cheat Sheet
