Welcome to Round 16 of the 2024 AFL Premiership Season and we have finally finished all the bye rounds, which means 9 games of footy the rest of the year. We are once again kicking off on the traditional Friday night with the Brisbane Lions and Melbourne Demons clashing at the Gabba. It would have been considered a huge shock preseason if you were told both teams would be outside the top 8 come Round 16 this year, but here we are. The loser of this game might just have their finals hopes ended for 2024, so that is the level of importance we are looking at for this contest.
Draftstars continue to offer massive prize pools with the Friday night main being worth $50,000 along with their usual variety of alternate contests:
- AFL $50,000+ Lions vs Demons
- AFL $5,000+ Lions vs Demons High Roller ($150 Entry)
- AFL $2,000+ Lions vs Demons Fiver
- AFL $3,000+ Lions vs Demons 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
Brisbane ($1.14) vs Melbourne ($5.50)
Points: 168.5
Line: Brisbane -32.5
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 Brisbane vs Melbourne Betting Preview for the game where we provide our best bet for the game as well as a great value Same Game Multi!
Weather
23 degrees and partly cloudy.
Where to Attack?
It is an attack Melbourne everywhere according to the data in this matchup. While Brisbane have been one of the stingiest fantasy teams all season, the Dees have been giving up boat loads of points across all positions apart from the ruck. The betting market agrees with this as Brisbane are over 5 goal favourites at home and they absolutely love racking up fantasy points at the Gabba.
Game Script – Brisbane backs, midfielders, forwards – stack them all!
VALUE PLAYS
Brandon Starcevich ($6,000) at the bar minimum price seems like an obvious value play in a single game slate. He is little to no sub risk, will play the majority of the game and likely offers a 50+ point floor in a matchup where Brisbane are heavily favoured. He makes a nice value play to stack up with other Lions backs in this game where the Demons have been giving up above average scores to all backs for multiple seasons now.
Koltyn Tholstrup ($7,250) has huge wraps around the club and must be considered again this week in a single game matchup after posting a 72 point game last week. This is much harder competition and Tholstrup did not get any centre bounce action, but he is a top-notch tackler which will likely suit a dewy night in Brisbane.
Callum Ah Chee ($8,910) really suits the Lions stacks narratives and he has been playing further up the ground on the wings this season. He has posted three 90+ point games from his last 6 matches and gets on the end of a number of possessions when Brisbane dominate possession and have big wins like they are projected to in this matchup. If you are looking for alternatives options from the Lions to roster up forward, I would consider fading Eric Hipwood ($10,560) this week as he will likely draw the Steven May matchup while Joey Daniher roams further up the ground. Zac Bailey ($10,820) was back in form last week with 26 disposals, 1 goal and 92 fantasy points.
MID PRICED PLAYS
Darcy Wilmot ($12,150) has been electric off half back in recent weeks posting four scores of 97+ from his last 6 games and back-to-back games of 100+. If you don’t want to spend all the way up on the Lions half backs for Dayne Zorko ($15,920) I love taking the savings and rostering Wilmot at this price point.
Trent Rivers ($12,810) has moved into the midfield for the Demons with Christian Petracca going down. Rivers attended 80% of the Demons centre bounces last game, the most of any midfielder on their team, and you could make a case that he is their best player in that position right now. He posted 110 fantasy points last week and at this price point is almost a lock and load play with this role. If you are looking to save a few thousand in the midfield, Tom Sparrow ($10,860) is the other player who is benefiting from the Melbourne injuries. He attended 52% of their centre bounces last week and returned a modest 72 fantasy points.
PREMIUM PLAYS
Max Gawn ($17,010) still looks like the most dominant big man in the game despite the Demons downfall in 2024. He is averaging a ridiculous 119 fantasy points and when the Demons met Brisbane earlier in the season, he destroyed them to the tune of 149 fantasy points. The one area that you cannot target against Melbourne is the ruck as Max gives up the second fewest in the game to the position this season.
Suggested Draftstars Lineup
Cheat Sheet
